He/she could be stress or hiding from you. With the Zoo Med excavator clay substrate, you can see how they react to certain situations. Not only that it’ll be comfortable for your pet, but you can create your own design and how you want it to look. Last, It’s a big project to change out your substrate with clay. While it’s not needed very often, we know ourselves well enough to know that we will be changing up Bacardi’s home relatively often. We just couldn’t do this with clay. Also known by several other brand names, calci-sand (short for calcium sand) is possibly the worst substrate option for your bearded dragon. Sand is not a good option in and of itself (see below), but calci-sand is the worst of them.

They also retain moisture too well. Proper (read that as low for bearded dragons) humidity levels are essential to respiratory health. And speaking of unrelenting and fixed, these aren’t the safest or most comfortable surface for your beardie to be walking over, as they are pretty rough and sharp in some spots. Seriously, don’tSure, they can get impacted if they have been ingesting cups of substrate every feeding which is very unlikely.

This is why, when we were deciding on what type of substrate to use, we first looked to bearded dragons in the wild for clues. Who should you trust when it comes to the kind of substrate to use? We think that looking at Mother Nature and thousands of years of evolution is a great place to start! We just don’t trust loose particle substrate because of the health concerns they can pose and carpet or tiles obviously don’t give you the features that the clay does when it comes to digging. Top Tip: If you need a new piece of Sand Mat then simply use the old piece as a template so you don’t have to re-measure the tank again. We started by going to Curious Creatures, a fantastic reptile-only pet store in Chicago. They are experts in reptile husbandry. It’s a cool shop run by amazingly helpful people.Using Repti Chips makes this impossible and puts your beardie at risk. So what do you do if you fall into this category? Use one of our other two preferred substrate options! However, we must recognize that there will always be leo owners who will use sand, for whatever reason. If you are really into keeping your leos on sand despite everything said about this substrate, at least you can get specialized reptile sand. It should be somewhat safer than using regular coarse playground/river sand, or aquarium sand. Other types of substrate to avoid

Your beardie evolved over thousands of years to live on a very particular type of sand. The red sand of Australia is very fine, has no sharp edges, and presents a moldable material that’s conducive to burrowing, digging, and laying eggs. Despite it being a hard surface, your beardie can still dig in it. It won’t be like digging in their native sand, but they can dig. When the clay is new and softer, they can even burrow and dig their own tunnels. By retaining moisture, they can contribute to high humidity levels ( see our article on maintaining proper humidity levels in your enclosure). Improper humidity levels can easily cause a respiratory infection. When you first set up your moist hide, remember the smell of the freshly soaked fiber. If the scent happens to become funkier – it is time to change the substrate.Although different in texture, sphagnum moss has similar properties like coconut coir. It is a bit more coarse and stringy than coconut fiber. Perhaps that is the reason that moss has a slightly higher impaction potential than coco. In the leo community, there have been occasional reports of sphagnum moss ingestion by the lizards – some of them leading to impaction. Still, sphagnum moss is generally considered a safe moist hide substrate.

Tile is also the easiest to clean of all of your substrate options. This is a big part of the reason it is such a popular choice for owners. Remember to disinfect, not just wipe, as eliminating bacteria is vital to the health of your bearded dragon.As a note, you may also find a substrate made from a shredded newspaper. We aren’t a fan of this option as it can retain moisture as well as harbor bacteria and feeder insects. It’s okay for a temporary solution but probably shouldn’t be used as a permanent substrate choice. Terrarium liner Now we come to the options that we, as beardie owners, would and do actually use. After considering all the options available, which comes out on top for us?