substrate for waterdragons

[manimal]

Hi there
Im new to this forum, and think it is great!
i have a question about the ground cover in my waterdragon enclosure.
the dragons are about 12 months old, 60-70cm in length and are in a 4ft aquarium.
at the moment i have river sand on the bottom, but even though i remove their poos daily there is still a mild stink which the wife nags about.
is artificial turff suitable to use as this could be removed and hosed off on a regular baisi.
i would love to know what other people use and if artificial turff is a good option

 

[REPTILIAN-KMAN]

hi Manimal,
I have been keeping reptiles for years and just moved into eastern water dragon's and only got them two days ago but i went out and got them 2 * 2.5kg bags at $10.00 each = $20.00 the day i got them filled up a kitter litter tray with water for them which they spilt through there tanks mine are the same size as yours. so yesterday after having only one day i got home water all through their tank and theyre covered in red sand so i went and put them in 50 Ltr tub cleaned out all the red sand and now i have artifical turf in there i love it ( was left over from my python enclosures ).

 

[soundfix]

i have about a 4foot enclosure, my little fellow, is around10 inches though he lost abit of his tail.I use a big'kittylitter tray', for his water, and for substarte on the one third of the room thats left, i think they are for growing hydro, but they are clay balls, very porous, and dont inhibit any odours, or bacteria as they are dry.then ive got dried bark and a couple of small peices of wood, and he even goes ionto his log to sleep.Although he spends most of his time in the water.(Evn to sleep sometimes)
i was told that anything synthetic, could be problemmatic, due to trapped moisture, dont know if thats whats wrong her, but hope this helps. You can check out my set up in my pictures in gallery. cheers

 

[manimal]

a few reptile dealers in adelaide use the synthetic turff, but i have been told that ewd like to rip up the grass and eat it, which can cause internal problems. the main problem i have with the river sand is that it is hard to clean and the ewds seem to get heaps of it in their water container (kitty litter tray). i have used the clay balls with gtf but found that the frogs would sometimes ingest the balls. i know this because i found some in their droppings, i then changed to artificial grass.
im thinking ill stick with the river sand and have a reasonable amount so i can remove whats in their tank wash it and replace it with fresh.
thanks for the replys
ps i would like to know what other people use
cheers

 

[user 16324]

hey, this might be helpful. one of my mates (sorry cant get photos) has a large enclosure which is 10ft long and mostly glass. having such a large enclosure creates problems cleaning etc. but, what he has done, is with the area of the enclosure that is substrate, he has river pebbles as the base. these river pebbles sit on a wire bed if this makes sense which sits about 2 cm above the glass on the bottom of the enclosure. then, as soon as he notices a poo or smell, using water he washes the area effect and in the bottom of the enclosure there is a plug or bung which he removes and drains the water and any chunky bits of food or poo out of. this makes it sooo easy for him and then once a month he gives it a full clean.

so, if you used river pebbles as the substrate, and could somehow waterproof your enclosure either with a thick plastic/vinyl base or a grout of some sort, you could do a similar thing with a plug or bung so when you wash away the poo and wee and spilt food it will drain out of the bottom.

I hope this monstrous essay helps haha