Monday, May 24, 2010

How much sand to use in a 75 gallon tank for bearded dragon?

Hello. I first want to start off by adding that I know basic math. Im not very good with volumes and areas and stuff like that. I have a bearded dragon that is now 8 inches and is in a 29 gallon tank. Im gonna put him in a 75 gallon tank with sand and I would like to know how many pounds of sand to put in there. Ive heard of how much for aquariums but not for terrariums. Thanks
Answers:
Hi I use playsand about 3/4 of a 20kg bag then when Pedro goes to the bathroom I just scoop it out and replace the sand as needed I do a whole tank change every 3 months and I use about 4 tablspns of baking soda mixed in for added odour control. Calci sand is the type you should avoid they lick it on purpose to get the calcium. I just keep a small dish of calcium powder in the tank with him to lick at will as well as dusting his food. you will hear much controversy on using sand as a substrate but think about thier natural habitate and make your own conclusion. :)
Don't use sand, it's horrible to work with, harbors bacteria and is generally unnatural and unsafe. Especially petstore 'calcium sand' is down right dangerous.
Use tile, bricks or repti-carpet.
DO NOT use sand. dragons lick everything to get an idea of their surrounding and ANY loose substrate- even if it says on the bag is digest able- it isn't.eventually the particles build up in the digestive system and block it- a condition known as impaction- which nearly always leads to death. i use ceramic tiles from the hardware store as flooring- they are natural looking, easy to clean(much easier than sand. if you dint believe me-sift your sand the next time you clean it and see what comes up) and cheap. they don't get to hot and there is NO risk of impaction. just lay them down in the cage and they last forever- unlike sand which needs to be replaced every month. your dragon is WAY too young to be on sand now, i would get rid of the sand and use paper towels until you get tiles . if you take my advice- stay away from vinyl floor tiles- the heat from the cage will cause them to give off fumes. good luck.
I would use ceramic tiles, you can bring the inside measurements to Home Depot and they will cut it for you. It is actually a lot safer and easier to clean.
none. Loose substrates can be very dangerous to beardies, especially a hatchling like yours. It can cause impaction when ingested; or when it goes in the other way when the vent is open. I suggest using Linoleum, tile or shelf liner. Any solid bottom is best.
For more info on Impaction, check out this article written by some of the 'top dogs' on Bearded Dragon.org
http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/im...
For a 75 gallon tank, about 5 lbs. should be plenty. We have a 100 gallon tank and put 5 lbs. in that. But yeah, don't use sand. We use grounded up walnut shell, and it's much easier to scoop up the tank with a slotted spoon.

P.S. I would not recommend a flat surface. We adopted a breadie that had 1 lb. of sand in a 40 gallon tank, so he grew up on a glass surface. His owners didn't realize they need to clip his nails, so two of his nails curled up and are permanently embedded in one of his feet now. Poor guy had it rough in his earlier years, and he hit his 10th birthday and is still going!!!
DON'T USE SAND!!! it's bad for repitles try something like small wood chips that are kinda wet
I do not recommend sand for different reasons: can causes high numbers of coccydia to build up (intestinal parasite that they have small numbers of but if they build up can cause internal damage,weaken the immune system and cause other parasites to move in), because some will ingest it especially if their not getting enough vitamins and nutrients in their diet and makes them unable to pass through their system causing death. Try rabbit pellets if they eat them it won't kill them plus it can be cheaper and easy to clean depending.

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