Reptile Cymru

If you are in the UK and ever visit Cardiff, in South Wales, consider stopping in to Reptile Cymru, a breeder and retailer, specializing in a wide range of captive bred snakes & lizards, and supplying all the equipment that you need.

RFUK

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Care Guide - Substrate


I will put to you your options for substrate. This is one of the widest debates amongst keepers. Ultimately you have to decide what is best for your reptile.

Paper Towel / Newspaper

This is highly recommended for dragons under 3 months old. Due to the inaccuracy or over enthusiasm of the hunt, young bearded dragons tend to capture mouthfuls of their substrate.

The advantages of paper towel or newspaper is that it is rare that the bearded dragon will consume it, accidentally or purposefully. The disadvantage is that it needs to be cleaned frequently, and does not look as natural as other options.

Tiling / Cage Carpet

You can use tiles from any DIY or hardware shop to make the base of your enclosure. Although it is not as natural as some options, the risk of impaction is removed, and they are easy to scrub clean. This is a more natural looking option than paper towel or newspaper, and can provide a rough surface to help keep the nails trim.

Bark Chips

If you choose bark chips make sure they are not pine, which is toxic to all reptiles. Beech is most commonly sold in reptile shops. Bark chips are natural looking and help with keeping nails trim, but do have the risk of impaction - from eating or swallowing accidentally a piece of bark. Many bearded dragons will spit out bark if they get it in their mouth, but this is a risk that the above options do not have.

Sand

There is a brand of sand manufactured by reptile lines called calci sand. The premise is that this sand is made of calcium particles, therefore, if you eat it, you can absorb the calcium. However, in practice many keepers have found that the calcium aspect encourages dragons to snack on it, and that consuming large amounts means that the sand is too heavily clumped together in the stomach to breakdown, leading to serious health complications.

Many keepers use fine play sand, manufactured for children's play areas, which is extremely fine and rounded, meaning it usually passes through the system safely.