Substrates- Fussy Beardies

[Chilali]

Hey Guys,

I recently changed to tiles in my enclosure after having tried artificial grass, sand & paper.

My bearded dragons both hate the tiles and have become less active since i changed it from sand to tiles.

They used to dig and play around in the sand.

I put a tub of sand in there for them but they dont like that either.

How can i go back to sand and keep the smell/odour down?

Em

 

[Ned_fisch]

You could try mite spray, it kill's mite's and also deodorises

 

[falconboy]

Unless you are doing quite regular sand changes and make sure you get any bits of poopies in the sand, it will start to smell. The more you change and more regularly you change it, the lower the smell. However, if, like me, you wish to keep herps as low maintenance pets (which I think is one of their advantages), then stick to tiles. They will settle, none of mine are on sand and none of them seem to care 2 hoots. They haven't said anything, anyway.

Forget the mite spray, unless you've got mites whats the use? It won't deodorise sand.

 

[JasonL]

Give them time to get used to their new surronds, they will be fine.

 

[mysnakesau]

I use part bark and part sand in our dragon enclosures & haven't noticed any smells. We clean up poops as they are observed and regularly spot clean. Our beardy gets a full clean bedding every few weeks - we wash his cage out just with dish washing liquid and maybe spray some Repti-cleanse around but apart from that, make sure uneat food is removed and not let go off. Our dragons love digging so they get half a sandy cage and a bit of bark, too.

As for my snakes I am going back to newspaper. Have been trialing the artificial turf but now 2 of my snakes have sore noses from nosing their way underneath the mat which is quite rough on the underside

 

[CodeRed]

if you spot clean regularly (i.e daily) then they wont smell

 

[dragon lady]

are the tiles you have used stuck...or able to move them?
are they the full gloss...or rough tile?

if they are the glossy ones...& are able to move them...
replace them with rough ...the dragons will get better grip
i got my tiles at a warehouse ...the reminents..the ones they cant sell to do a entire job
sometimes they have slate or bluestone pieces they cant sell...good for us eh!