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Play Sand For Bearded Dragon

74K views 28 replies 23 participants last post by  sn8ks4life  
#1 ·
hey,

just wondering if play sand is ok for beardies.

i seen some sand in the the petstore "made for reptiles" but is it just the same as play sand?

its far cheaper for 15kg its only 2.49


theres a link to some wondering if tht would be ok?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...text%3ESAND.htm
 
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#3 ·
Lots of people use it for their beardies....I tried it once myself...the drawbacks for me and Darwin were that he constantly got it up his nostrils and in his eyes. He took in mouthfuls of it when grabbing live food (and it sticks to washed greens, ends up in water bowl)...it stunk after a short while cos of the poo and uarates (find it much easier to clean poo when its done on newspaper. Sand looks nice tho...oh yeah the other thing about it that drove me nuts was that it was always getting in the door runners and made a horrid scrapy noise every time I opened the glass...GRRRRR!!

sarah x
 
#4 ·
Its not advised to house beardies on loose substrates as they can get impacted and become very ill, in most cases resulting in death.

You're better off using newspaper, kitchen roll, rough tiles, lino or reptile carpet (I use reptile carpet - it's machine washable so you can use it again and again, it keeps warmth well and looks nice)
 
#9 ·
For babies ideally not

Though for adults, you can, i would have one half sand one half lino or something, just because it gives them a place to work the nails down And a nice place to put veggies and stuff, And if you pull the legs of crickets/locusts, a good feeding spot as well, but a few people just take their beardies out to feed.
 
#12 ·
I was gonna ask this question as my beardie is nearly 5 years old plus I feed him on a raised level same as basking spot is raised sonic might get some play sand as it wont go in his food or water as there about an inch off the ground

at mo he's got white tiles down and doesn't look much lol

think sand will make it look good, how many bags will I need if there from Argos as my viv is 4ft x 2ft
 
#19 ·
I have used play sand for over 2 years now and my beardie is fine.

Only thing I found was when it does the toilet when i am out it covers it with sand and I have to sive it daily.
 
#23 ·
We use overturned ceramic tiles (so the rough side faces up) and JUST enough sand to fill the grooves and gaps between the tiles. This way, he doesn't 'sink' in the sand when trying to run and still gets his nails filed down no matter where he is. We also have the tiles normal facing way (they're slate effect) in places for it to look a lil nicer. Though he also has a grass patch made out of short fibre astro turf lol... I only use sand because I know my beardie isn't a licker. He's also not fed on the sand, but up on his shelf :)
 
#27 ·
most of our viv is covered with slate effect lino, then we have a large slate tile that covers about 1/4 of the viv and this creates a 'sandpit' area. We also have wood etc to climb about on. The sand still ends up everywhere.

I did want to a rock pile in too but worry that the livefood will just use it as a hiding place.
 
#28 ·
My beardies were on playsand for 3 years, never had any issues, they're on slate/Lino tiles now as easier to clean and maintain, also minimises risk of injury as dave developed a sore on his foot from skidding round in the sand bless him. All healed now x
 
#29 ·
at work i use Lucky reptile dessert bedding, beardies are from australia so i try to replicate this as much as poss, a soil sand mix is perfect, they enjoy digging so i could never put them on a solid sub I.e tile, lino etc... apart from as babies of course, everyone worries far too much about impaction, ive had leos and beardies on sand and all was fine, if they've evolved to live in/on the conditions/sub then provid it....

just dry the play sand out first, brilliant stuff, made for kids so its got no adittives at all:2thumb: