Is sand good for the bottom of a tank for a beardie?

Question

Is sand good for the bottom of a tank for a beardie?

Answer 1

use newspaper..it stinks WAY less!!!!!

Answer 2

Sand is bad because it may cause impaction which can be fatal.  You should try reptile carpet its safe and easy to clean

Answer 3

That is a straight out NO.

sand is known to cause impaction on many many reptiles. While eating beardies may l**k up some sand and the sand clogs of the stomach and the beardie will not be able to eat, and wil starve, you can tell if your beardie has impaction by flipping him over and look on his underside for little bumps in his stomach area.

I recommend a solid substrate like repti-carpet, tile,newspaper, or even paper towel repti-carpet will give the enclosure a natural feel and is also relatively inexpensive, but if you use any of these substrates u pabove, it'll save ur beardies life.

Adam

Answer 4

NO!

Sand is VERY unsafe for bearides. All types of sand, including calci-sand, and vita-sand are dangerous for beardies.

Sand causes impaction in beardies, which can be fatal; even the types that claim to be digestable.

It can also get into their eyes, scratch their cornea, and cause permanent blindness.

Also, and is very dirty, and unsanitary. Even if it is scooped daily, the germs stay in the sand. The liquid and germs from the p**p soak into the sand are not removed when the p**p is. It is a breeding ground for bacteria, and many beardies have gotten parasites from being housed on sand.

All other loose particle substrates, like crushed walnut are dangerous too; they cause impaction.

The safest, and most sanitary choices are newspaper, paper towel, slate tile, and non-stick shelf liner. If you choose either of the paper choices, you can just take the soiled piece out everyday, and replace it with a clean piece. If you use slate tile (don't glue it down), just take the soiled tile out, and clean it; also with tile, it helps keep your beardie's nails filed. With the shelf liner, just take it out and wash it off when soiled.

Those choices are safe as they can't cause impaction, cheap, and very easy for everyday cleaning&sanitation.

I reccomend http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/ for more beardie advice.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

We use calcium sand for our beardies.  When we first got our beardies we shopped around and asked lots of questions at the reptile store.  The three stores we went to all used calci-sand in their beardie cages. Beardies will taste everything.  The calcium sand in not bad for them like other items.  If you use something like ground walnut shells, wood chips or shredded paper he may swallow it which is very bad for his system.  It can 'plug' him up and create a fatal situation.

Answer 6

I use non-adhesive shelf liner (no glue on the back) in all my lizard tanks.  It is cheap, easy to clean (can even be machined washed), and looks really nice.  Comes in lots of colors, too.  You can find it in any kitchen department of most stores.  Just cut to fit!

It is not natural to force lizards to eat, sleep, and p**p on sand.  They come from arid and semi-arid areas...lots of brush and plants.  And lots of room to get away from their p**p!  In a tank they are exposed to increased bacteria and parasites.  No sand is safe if you want to be 100% sure to avoid impactions.

Answer 7

DEFINETLY NOT! Beardies, even though a form of a desert lizard should not be kept on sand at all costs. Petstores often have ways of saying sand is fine for any reptile but I have heard way too many stories of juvenile and adult reptiles becoming impacted and dying as a result of being kept on sand. Its a loose substrate and even though it looks visually appealing to most ppl, the small grains can be ingested along with food and can become lodged in the animals digestive system and overtime this will eventually cause dehydration,lack of appetite and if it continues DEATH! There are plenty of alternative for substrate though,thank goodness, theres inexpensive newspaper,paper towel, and tile which your probably can get for like 1-2$ a piece. The tile as well as repti carpet are most washable so you can buy two and keep one in the tank while the other is being washed. Though they might not look as fancy as some of those other setups you see in petco and such, you will be doing your beardie a favor by potentially saving his life from a very preventable problem.