Pics of your beardies tanks/set ups please!

Hi i have a juvenile Beardie which i have had for around 6weeks. He is in a 4"x3"x2" tank and i just wondered if you could all post pics of your set ups to give meideas of what i could do for my tank

thanks

 

I hope you mean 4 foot x 3 foot x 2 foot because you have said inches there... if your tank is 4" x 3" x 2" you need to get in a much bigger tank.
Here is a pic of my old beardies tank...




pretty plain but did the job

 

If you do a forum search you'll find a lot of existing threads like this with lots of pictures that have already been posted.

 

Yea sorry i meant foot...i don't think he would fit into a 4 inch cage lol.

Ah right thanks, i was going through each page!!

Here's a pic of him:

 

You need to get him off the sand NOW. Sand is an extremely dangerous substrate. Especially for baby beardies lunging for food and whatnot... impaction is a huge risk. That and it's very unsanitary. You should go for a solid substrate.

 

What kind of sand is that, its so dark looking.

Sand really is a poor substrate for them and I assume the white in there is calcium, which he will lick up and eat the sand with it. Please look on just the first page of this forum, there are several set ups with safe flooring for them

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm not being funny but every time i come on here you all start criticising and tellingme how to look after my pets. If you look at my gecko nad bearded dragon you will see they are both doing fine...do they live on paper towels in the wild?

 

They do not live on sand in the wild either. People are not criticizing you, they are trying to help you provide the best possible care for your animal. If you not willing to listen to people who probably know more about these animals than you, maybe you should not keep a dragon as a pet.

 

No... but do they live on sand in the wild?? I know you probably think... "yes, they do!" but they don't it is more like hard packed clay. Plus whats saying some beardies dont die in the wild from impaction?? but as your pet... do you want to take that risk that your beardies could die of impaction?? Thats why people reccomend against it because there is a risk that can easily be avoided by using a solid substrate.
Another thing is how dirty sand is... it soaks up all the moisture from the poo's and the germs in it, can spread like wild fire inside your tank. Parasites naturally occur in your dragons gut but at low levels they can be controlled quite easily however if your dragon is basically living in this parasites (which it will be on sand) your dragon can quickly become sick from them.
I hope you don't take this as a "telling off" or anything like that, just letting you know the risks so *you* can make the decision.

 

Dragons live in rain corridors, shrublands, grasslands and hard pack clay type sands, not loose moving beach or desert sands.

But that is beside the point, our dragons are not in the wild, so they can not change their substarte hourly like beardies in the wild do. In the wild they also eat othr animals feces, rotten and spoiled meat and get smashed by cars. No one is going to let their captive raised dragon be sjubected to that when there is safer and better ways.

If you do not want constructive ideas to help you care for your animal, you do not have to follow them, but we will still be here to help you when/if you have problems. You the one that asked for cage ideas, why be so thin skinned when others provide them to you and why?

 

Hello, this is just my two cents... I started out with sand myself, but after hearing all the bad things that can happen, I started looking into different substrates. I thought the same thing, well ...they live on loose substrate in the wild, etc, etc, etc. I wanted my set up to have a natural look to it. I checked out slate, tiles and shelf liner. I priced them all, asked questions about easy care and what not. I decided on shelf liner. I picked out a sand color. And do you know, it looks just as natural as if I had sand in there. And is much safer and easier to clean, I mean come on who wants to have to take ALL the sand out of an enclosure every so often and replace with new, make sure it is sifted so no small pebbles to clog up their pipes??? That takes time to do that. Now with the shelf liner I have, it takes me just a few minutes a day and every week when I deep clean not to much longer. Very quick, easy, simple, and safe. I mean some people spend an arm and leg on their BDs and I know, mine wasn't dirt cheap.... so why risk all the time, money, care thay you have invested already to leave yourself open for possible problems down the road???

 

Well said Wrenchette!! Same story here! But my 2 cents would add...that sometimes people do come off very harsh sometimes...I know this by personal experience and reading other posts! Not that I believe Saucy was at all....but others have and it tends to shy people away from the good advice given on here. Humans are by nature defensive about their own actions sometimes. Wilykit...you should get him off sand...I just kept a sand play area for my BD and got rid of that too....sand is just in general a pain! It is good advice even though you took it harshly....hes a cutie by the way!!!

 

well here is a pic of my cage.
note no sand. it is 450 gallons, 4'x5'x3'

 

nick,
cant your beardie climb out?

 

What bothers me is other people make out i'm not caring for my animal and thats what annoys me, i care for my lizards a lot. I've tried lots of substrates before, and shelf liner..whats that..i'm in the uk. All other stuff i have tried is useless and the crickets just go under it and stay there. I didn't take it harshly i am sick of every time i make a post people criticise what i do and make out as if im neglecting my lizards or something.

 

I don't see anyone making it out like you're neglecting your pets, not once. They are only trying to educate you on the dangers of sand, in the hopes that once you know that sand is very bad for both beardies and leopard geckos, you will change it to something more suitable. That is how it always goes and always will go. No one has said you don't care for your animals. You can care a great deal for your animals and still make mistakes. People here want you to know what's best, for the sake of your pets, because we know you care and want the best for them. Some of us have been doing this for years (and some, many many years), and too often we meet people who care for their animals and don't learn about their mistakes until it's too late. That is heartbreaking, and we'd like to spare you that.

People here will never stop preaching the dangers of sand, and as long as you keep your lizards on sand we will keep telling you it's bad. We know how dangerous it is, and the bottom line is that this forum is here is the best interest of the animals. Just understand that because they seem to be doing ok on it for now doesn't mean anything. Impaction can occur at anytime, it may already be building up and you just don't see the symptoms yet, that's the thing is you never know until it's done.


Shelf-liner is apparently hard to find in the UK, the equvilent there is to use the underside of a piece of linoleum. If you have trouble with crickets hiding under certain substrates, you can feed him outside of his cage. You definately should be feeding him outside his cage as long as he's on sand.

 

We are sorry you feel that way, no one in this has ever accused you of not caring or neglecting him. Its becasue people thought you do care, that they took the time to post and point out that sand is not usually a healthy substrate, that there appears to be calcium on the sand so that is an indicator he is eating off the sand and could be ingesting sand, builking it up in his stomach and they wanted to let you know so you might be able to change it before he was impacted and could not pass through any food due to the sand weighting down in his stomach. (WHich most of us have seen or heard many times over)

Sand also harbors bacteria when put under high heats and the animal is going to the bathroom on it, even if you sift out the feces daily, the fludis remain. It also is an irritant to the vent area, expecially for males and can cause some lethal infections there. I know a breeder that recently lost his prime breeder male due to a bacterial infection and irritation to the vent/hemipenes due to being on sand (that he always use to use) By the time they saw there was a problem, it was too late.

You posted a photo, you asked for ideas for you enclosure, that's what we tried to give you to help you and your dragon, not to be critical of you. Shelf liner is normally sold in the kitchen section of departement stores or hardware stores, it is what is put in the bottom of drawers and shelf to cushion them and make so things do not slide in them. you clean it with a damp cloth when they go to the bathroom or paper train them to a folded paper towel

Here is a photo of a dragon in one end of her enclosure (the cool end, she is starting to brumate) on shelf liner


Here is a thread with several more photos of dragons on non adhesive shelf liner and carpet.
http://www.reptilerooms.com/forumtopic-39855.html

And if you really want them to have some sand and they are not eating it, you can add a sandbox into their enclosure, we did that for several years, but most of them do not care about the sand and like their carpet and liner bottoms. But as it is smaller it is easier to keep clean and change out more often

 

Well, that's why you shouldn't really feed crickets in the cage. We feed all our beardies in a separate tub outside of their enclosure to make sure that no crickets hide and chew on the beardy while they're sleeping (which WILL happen eventually if you feed in the cage).

Nobody has said you are neglecting your animals, just suggesting that there might be a better way - a way based on experience.

If you're here asking questions regarding your animals' care, then obviously you are looking for advice on how to look after your pet. So, please don't make outbursts when somebody attempts to help you.

 

i wasn't asking on advice on HOW to look after them...i was asking if he looked ok..

 

I never saw a question asking if he looked ok or I would have answered that and rereading all this I still do not see it. Perhaps that's what you meant when you posted the photo later of the enclosure, but that is not what was said

I did see this, in your first post on this thread

amd then you posted the photo and only said

I still do not understand why you are so angry at others for giving you very sound, verified by vets, xrays and surgeries advice/information regarding your set up and it seems to be making you mad we are not praising you for it.

If you do not want to take it because you think everything is fine, and there is not a problem for your dragon, that is YOUR choice.......but do not be upset at the people that havelearned or participated in those surgeries, infections, impactions and deaths with rescues or surrendered animals, that the owners could not afford or choose not to save. Their actions created the "iknowledge" and information we do have now to share and that is ALL anyone was trying to spare you and your dragon.

If you do not want to believe this, buy or check out in the Library, Dr Douglas Mader's Reptile Medicine & Surgery, his new book and look at the photos of X-rays or go to any search engine and put in sand impaction lizard

Best to you and him, there is no sense in arguing back and forth over this