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Momtothezoo

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I am a new beardie owner and I am starting to get really confused about what kind of substrate to use. I have been reading and there are so many contridictions that I am wondering what is right. My beardie is about 8" long. It is a boy I think.
I have a 10 gal aquarium with a tree branch and a nice rock that has places for basking and hiding under it. I also have a small log for hiding and some greenery to hide in, two small bowls 1
for water and 1 for food. I decided after all the reading I had done, that I was going to use a combination of repti-sand and aspen bedding. I am using 2/3rds sand 1/3 aspen bedding. Is there a secret to getting a beardie to eat his veggies better? He loves the baby crickets and the baby super worms ( I am growing my own super worms so I have some very tiny ones 1/2" long
:) .)
 
I decided after all the reading I had done, that I was going to use a combination of repti-sand and aspen bedding.
Click to expand...

Of all the beddings I have seen recommended for Bearded Dragons, that is a new one to me. Could you please provide a link for this??

(BTW, sounds totally rediculous.)

We use newspaper.
 
Beardie Care

Ok, I'll add my two cents on here
1) I've never heard of anyone using aspen bedding, and I would probably not recommend it. Reptisand is terrible, period, it can cause impactions in young guys, especially if they feel the need to eat it because of lack of calcium........If it has reptile on the package of the substrate I would not use it. I would go with Mark and Aimee and use newspaper, or just paper.....I use plain old sand for my adults
2) A ten gallon is way too small, your dragon will not be able to thermoregulate properly. YOu will need at least a 40 for a full size dragon
3)I think as Lynn has said, dragons are not stupid, if you give them crickets and supers, they will not eat greens. It's like if was fixing my dinner, do I want steak or salad? Cut back on the bugs, they will eventually get hungry
J. Dustin Loy
 
About the aspen....

The aspen bedding was recommended by the reptile shop I went to for supplies. They recommended I use all aspen bedding and no calci sand, they said regular repti- sand was okay. I have a calcium suppliment and I grow my own supers so I can choose the babies that have shed to feed my beardie.

I know that I need a larger housing for an adult, I am a new owner, not an idiot. I am building a larger housing unit, that I am custom designing, to fit the needs of an adult. I am sure my 8" from snout to tail, will be okay in the 10 gal until I can get the larger one built.

I will try feeding the salad first before the crickets and worms. He eats the greens okay I just would like him to eat alittle more of them.

BTW.... I'm not being a butt... I am just tired of coming to forums for advise and being treated as if Im an idiot.... People come here for help not to be criticised. The sooner the "experts" realize that and help instead of criticise, the more people will learn the right stuff to do. I did research and there is so much conflicting stuff out there, its no wonder people choose the "wrong" stuff.
 
I tried to email you and wound up sending it to outback snakehouse. I've got my glasses on now and will just post here.

Don't sweat the tone of some of the replies you get here. There are a lot of people who should NOT have reptiles asking for advice here. Sometimes it's hard to tell the know nothings from the truly looking for advice.

Sand is ok. Newspaper is also good. NEVER use wood chips of any kind with dragons. It can cause impaction.

Go to some of the bigger breeders websites and print out their caresheets.

scales.com or exoticlizards.com is a good source.
 
I guess I don't know what reptisand is then, i assumed you meant calcisand, i did not know there was a difference. As far as your tank size I was not trying to insult your intelligence. I'm sorry, but what about my response made you feel like an idiot? I was making an attempt to answer your question, I'm sorry if I was condescending. I just know of many a pet shop owners that sell kits consisting of a ten gallon tank and a heat lamp. How are new owners supposed to know what their animals need if the pet shop tells them otherwise?
If you can get your basking spot to 105 and your cool end to 80 in a 10 gallon that's great I guess. I would ditch the aspen bedding altogether, I use paper for the little ones and sand for the adults. There are very many breeders on this forum that i'm sure will chime in if they feel anyone is giving bad advice.
J. Dustin Loy
 
In response.....

I wasnt aware there were 2 types of sand until I found them side by side at the pet store... the repti-sand is the same as the calci-sand in consistency .... but the repti-sand lacks the calcium enrichment. It is a very very fine sand and it doesnt need sifting ... We have a very good reptile shop here... the guy deals in snakes, lizards, and alot of other reptiles... so he carries alot of the stuff and he sells kits if you need them.... I didnt need all that ,as I have a brother that is a Herper... he mostly has snakes, but on occassion he gets lizards... thats where I got my beardie from.... he gave me my lamp and aquarium ... he said it would be okay until could build one.

I have decided to remove the aspen bedding based on the info about the mouth problems.

I'm sorry as well .... guess I should lighten up and not let the small stuff get to me. i guess all the forums are like that... I know you deal with people that shouldnt have pets alot but if all the "experts" would bear in mind that most of us "novices" really want whats best for our pet.... we just dont know what to believe with all the conflicting info out there. We have to learn just like you did... only we have the fortune of having someone who has experiences to go on. What may sound ridiculas to you, sounds alright to us.

" In teaching .... one has to first understand what it means to be unknowledgable. Teaching is giving the gift of your knowledge to others, learning what is being taught is the easy part."
 
I also have never heard of aspen bedding, and considering young dragons are noted for ingesting their substrate, I do not think that would be a good idea.

Hatchling we use paper towels and non adhesive shelf liner, as they get older we add a good qualitfy reptile turf carpet and when sub adults we add a sand box or sand pit to their enclosure.

I think what the other person meant with a 10 gallon, it is hard to get a proper temp varient, not that it is too small for a gragon this age. Temperatures are very important to bearded dragons and a baby dragon can have eating and disgestion problems if that is not correct.

What heat and UVB are you using? Below is a set up of young dragons with carpet/shelf liner/paper towels substrate, their UVB is a T-Rex ActiveUV and also an additional dome fixture with a household light bulb for additional basking/heat area

shelfliner_babies.jpg
 
Substrate

Questions on substrate. I am not the expert, but I breed and supply beardies to individuals and pet stores. I have tried many different substrates, so I will put them here. First, for the babies, newspaper or papertowels are fine. I prefer paper towels. When they get to size where they are able to eat medium crickets then they can go to a substrate. By the way, depending on where you buy your crickets the size name may vary. I have pinheads, mediums and large in my area. Once the beardies get to where they can eat bigger crickets that can not hide very easily in a crack (does that clarify it better) I move them into a bigger area. I started using rabbit pellets for the substrate. After a year or so I started hating the smell. Beardies start messing in the water and it spills onto the pellets, it starts to stink and it starts to build mildew. So this is a high maintanence substrate. I use it for my little dragons only, they do not mess with the water as much. As for my adults, I have them in crushed walnut shells and have had them in such for over two years with no problems at all. It smells good and it cleans well with either a litter scoop or a small shop vac. I use a vac for my tank. Bark or wood of anykind, to say the least, it is expensive and not good at all. Sand, I found while using sand that there was a lot of sand in the beardies droppings. I got rid of it as soon as I saw this. I do know people that use finely shredded newspaper. I know how crickets hide under anything they can. So I do not use newspaper for this. Any question feel free to email me at [email protected]. I will help you as I have others. Also, remember this, and this applies to my response also. I did my research on Beardies from the internet, other breeders, and such before I ever took a dragon into my home. Please do the same and know what you are getting into. Also, do not take to heart everything you read. You have to take in many sources and then put all your information from each person together. This will help you tremendously. It has me. As mentioned, I average hundreds of babies a year, and I have numerous pet stores that I supply. So, feel free if you need help.
 
Repti-sand is not Calci-sand, too often they are confused as the same thing, it would be fine for an older dragon, but not a small baby that has tendencies to scatter salad in it and then eat the greens with the sand or grab a mouthful when eating crickets. Washed play sand is much cheaper if you are going to use any sand in an enclosure.

Aspen I would never use or recommend, this is not digestible at all and can mildew, adding the risk of fungal infections.

We use papertowels and shelf liner, as they get older we add a good quality Reptile Premium turf carpet and then later they get sand pits or sand boxes that they love to play and dig in, but still keeps any away from their food areas.

Remember as hatchling they need to build their digestive gut fauna and immune system so they are going to have parasites at times and that is normal, what becomes a problem is when they are re-ingesting those parasites and getting overloaded that it effects their health. The best way to avoid parasitic build up, is to keep the substrate simple and easy to clean

Baby tank set up
shelfliner_babies.jpg
 
oops, sorry for the duplicate post, with this new board I forget the forwards and nothing looks the same so I did not remember I already replied!
 
iva heard some really bad horror stories with bearded dragond and chrushed walnut i recommend non-adhesive shelf liner like cheriS its easy to clean, cheap, washable and safe.
 
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