Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What is the ideal substrate/floor for a beardie viv?
What are the substrates/floor to avoid at all costs?

At the moment I use paper, which Lujan readily eats.

its not good that its eating the paper. The absolute worst substrates are calci sand or that vita sand crap. Even small woodchips arent good. The best you can use for any age is non adhesive shelf liner or paper towel. The shelf liner comes in different colors, makes it easy to clean, and its safe and cheap. Washed playsand is ok but only for adults and I would personally just use the shelf liner or paper towel. Reptile carpet is also good but I think it makes clean up just a bit hard and the frayed edges need to be trimmed, plus a little bit more expensive then paper towel or shelf liner.

I've used paper-towls, and he eats them too. When you say shelf liner do you mean the paper variety, or vinyl? Would vinyl flooring be ok? It should be easy to clean I guess.

The vinyl ones are what is typically used. I also use plastic table cloth, you know that kind of tablecloth they use at every wedding or large gathering. You can get that in the large rolls at party supply stores or industrial paper supply stores (I got mine at Vaughan Paper Products). You just cut to fit, put it over a layer of paper towels (optional, you don't need to use thm, I just do because it gives more 'padding' for the dragon's claws and seems to help wear them down more and soaks up any leakage that gets through the plastic (tiny claw holes, etc)and tap down the ends to keep it from moving around or insects from getting under. I change it every month or so, spot cleaning poop as soon as they occur (or I notice them but she tends to get my attention after she's done her job, if I am home).

It basically boils down to what works best for you. right now I'm using duck brand shelf liner from Wal Mart in my adults cage and newspaper in my babies cages but I'm fixing to get sand for the babies because the newspaper really sucks. Crtickets get under it and hide and it dries up under the light and just looks terrible. I kinda wonder if the ink is good for them to be on anyway. The shelfliner is great, it doesn't slip around and is really easy to clean. However, if you don't cut it right to begin with or watch it after some time it can curl or develope "pockets" the crickets can hide under. Also the crickets like to chew holes in it. I would recommend it for people with only a few dragons. If you use sand, make sure it is washed AND SIFTED playsand. The only time I've heard of dragons getting impacted from sand is when people don't sift the sand and/or are feeding pinhead crickets (which is not a good idea in my opinion).
Later,
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Robert Wood
Tulsa,OK

IMHO:

avoid anything they can eat. normaly I'd say this means any kind of "Bark","Sand","chiped wood" and so on...
most BD's do not eat paper towels but some will

I use a kind of "Shelf Liner" I get at the local grocery store.

the ones I refer to are a vinyl top with a thin foam base.

easy to clean, can be scrubed and or bleached if needed. not to expensive. easy to cut to size. comes in a 16 inch wide roll thats about 4 feet long.
and the foam base means they will lay down on glass or plastic or other surfaces and not slip or lift up very easy.
fitted right stray bugs do not get under it!

it's like a linolium floor for your BD !
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Just wanted to add that there was a couple incidents when everyone started using the duckbrand and bleaching it where it wasn't rinsed thoroughly and after a misting or it somehow getting wet the vapors were released and it made the beardies sick. I would recomend that it only be cleaned with antibacterial soap and soaked in very hot water. You also have to let it hang out and dry or it will be a mold trap underneath as it takes a good day for it to dry thoroughly.
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Robert Wood
Tulsa,OK

Agreed!

when I do a strong cleanup I take the mats out of the enclosure.

clean, scrub, rinse and dry top and bottom check for any signs of residue or any "Bleach smell"

and often let them hang for several hours at least.

most of the time I buy new mats and clean the old ones as "Backups".

same basic process for any of the stuff used in, around, under etc...
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>>Agreed!
>>
>>when I do a strong cleanup I take the mats out of the enclosure.
>>
>>clean, scrub, rinse and dry top and bottom check for any signs of residue or any "Bleach smell"
>>
>>and often let them hang for several hours at least.
>>
>>most of the time I buy new mats and clean the old ones as "Backups".
>>
>>
>>same basic process for any of the stuff used in, around, under etc...
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>>This space reserved for future use...
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Robert Wood
Tulsa,OK