Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what would you say is a better name for a bd, bongo or toki? oh yea and ive heard that for a substrate calci sand isnt good at all. could some one tell me why its not good and what would work for a juvenile.

Calci Sand is a bad substrate because it can kill your beardy if they accidentally injest too much.
For one, how big is the cage you have it in?
I keep my beardie in a 50 gallon tank. And I keep her on Newspaper with a cardboard box full of dirt on one side for her to dig and play in.
If you don't want to keep it on newspaper there is Dirt, Rabbit pellets, Cell Sorb, And some people use carpeting (But I wouldn't reccomend it.)
As for the names, I think Toki. Try looking for some other names though, just look for one that fits it personality.
My beardies name is Susami which fits her perfectly.
Anyway, Hope I have helped.

i would go for toki too, my male is spaz for obvious reasons if you see him
-----
1.0.0 bearded dragon
1.1.0 green iguana
0.0.1 black and gold tegu
1.0.0 knight anole
0.1.0 green anole
1.1.0 golden gecko
1.0.0 ball python
0.0.5 oriental firebellied toad
0.0.1 green treefrog
0.0.1 barking treefrog
0.0.1 cuban masked treefrog
0.0.1 gray treefrog
0.1.0 gulf hammock rat snake
0.1.0 eastern kingsnake
0.1.0 siberian husky

I like Toki better.

Calcium sand is very bad because it claims to be digestable but actually isn't. The peices of sand are jagged and sharp, when they get wet they form a hard solid clump of jagged sand. Imagine that in your beardies system?

Paper towels, carpet, shelf liner (non adhesive), lineliom or tile are all good substrates for beardies of any age

-----
0.1 Bearded dragon (Hannabil)
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake (Morticia)
2.1 Leopard Gecko's (Pogo,Jeffrey Nothing, Louise)
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn (Autumn)
1.0 Blood Red Corn (Virus)
0.1 Bullmastiff (Asha)
4.1 Cats (Poe, Tucker, Abhid, Felicity, Emmy)

Everyone mentioned very good reasons not to use calci sand. Ill just add my 2 cents. No one mentioned about how germ infested the calci sand will get. I know I wouldnt want to eat something that Ive been walking on , sleeping in and deficating all over. So any substrate that is "safe" to eat, really isnt. Even though you will spot clean it and feed in a bowl the risks are there. Eating something his feces has been incontact with can caouse him to have too much bacteria and potential parisites.

Anyways just another thought to consider when deciding on a substrate.

if you want a good example click on the link in the gross anaotomy post.

peace,
nate

Personally I think Toki is better but Toki reminds me of that old game about the monkey lol.

Both names are alright for a bearded dragon. I would use bongo if the dragon is male, and Toki if female.

Calci sand is not as digestable as the bag claims. A poster here, can't remember who he was, decided to run a little experiement on calci-sand and it's similar imitation brands (ie bone-aid). He weighed the sand, put it into acid roughly the equivelant of stomach acid (can't remember if he used human stomach acid strength or if he knew or found out what strength of acid was in bearded dragon stomachs). I think he left it for a week or two, can't remember for sure. What he found is no noticeable amount of the sand was missing, after draining off the acid and drying out the sand. He also found the strength of the acid itself, was significantly reduced, rendering it more 'neutral' than acidic. I can't remember if he indicated the sand turned into a clumb, or if he used an agitator to simulate the motion within a stomach. However, having less acidity in a stomach means it can't break down food as well, which means less food is properly digested and nutrients won't be absorbed as fast, and blockage can occur.

Some have argued that the calci-sand is the same stuff used to 'dust' crickets to feed to dragons. Big difference is, small particals break down faster than large particals. So a very fine powder will break down must faster than a mass of calcium many thousand times bigger. Want to see what I mean. Fill two glasses the same size with one cup of water. IN one glass, drop a level teaspoon of sugar. IN the other glass, drop a single sugar cube. WHich one do you t hink will break down the fastest?

If you do't hae sugar cubes handy. Take a single cube of ice from an icecube tray, and put it on a table top. Then do the same with a small chip of another icecube. Wait till one melts into a puddle first. Same ideal.
-----
PHLdyPayne