Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my sister in law could no longer keep her beardie, so I took him on, I keep ferrets and used to keep turtles, so I figured it would be an interesting venture....understatement ! I really love the guy, problem is the substrate she gave me gets stuck all over every thing ! his food, which in turn gets on him etc, he is also a complete spaz and jumps in his huge water dish all the time, compounding the substrate issue, I use bark for a newly aquired monitor, but I think the beardie would get it just as messy, any ideas on feeding him, or maybe a substrate change ? also Id the water bowl mandatory ? I am told they get the moisture they need through thier food, and frequent misting ? Im afraid he will compact if he eats too much of his bedding..its walnut shells I think, ground up to a medium size grain.

Get rid of that walnut shell substrate ASAP! One of the best substrates you can use is shelf liner. No chance of impaction with that. Washed play Sand is good too but still a risk of impaction. I use sand with ADULT beardies.

Lance
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1 male bearded dragon named Lenny
1 femal bearded dragon named Jewels
1 male or female mali uro named Milo or molly (not sure anymore)

as in contact paper ??? she had told me a story about her using calcisand and how she got an upper respitory infection from inhaling the dust whilst cleaning her tank so I was hesitant about sand, shelf paper sounds a bit odd though, is it not what I think it is ?

No, it's not contact paper. What you want is the stuff made by Duck. You can find it at walmart over by the dishdrainers and that stuff. It comes in rolls and there are 2 different kinds, 1 has holes and 1 doesn't, you want the kind without holes. It's kind of a rubbery spongey material. IMO it's the safest thing out there. You just cut it down to size for the bottom of your cage. You can spot clean with novalsan and then wash it in the sink once a week or so.

Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

its what i use and its pretty awsome stuff, holds up great and he doesnt seem to not like it...you can spot clean it real easy and its just awsome stuff, try it i use the thicker kind i think there are two different thicknesses either would be fine though

Just wanted to add, a water bowl is not necessary at all. They get all their water from their veggies, and you can drip water on his nose if you think he needs more.
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A mans got to do what a mans got to do. A woman has to do what he can't.

Mom to:

1 little boy born 7/19/04
2 male RES, born 2001
1 ribbon snake, age unknown
3 FBT, ages unknown
1 female bearded dragon, born 5/2002
1 male lab mix, born 5/24/03
1 female calico cat, born 6/7/04

Got the liner, good call guys, tnx for the heads up, will make feeding time MUCH easier !