Sand is not only a problem with impaction, but I think its unsanitary too. Think about it, any liquid or wet part of poop seeps through the sand, under the first layer, so you may scoop it out, and it looks clean, but underneath its all gross, and poopy. Kinda gross. My Bearded Dragon likes to fingerpaint with her poop a lot of the time.... which makes a huge mess, and it may get burried, or atleast some of it before you see it. Or veggies and stuff may get burried too.
Like said, Bearded Dragons lick their surroundings, even if you dont see it, Im sure you dont monitor them 24/7, so you can see them lick a lot of the time.
I use ceramic tile, easy to clean,and looks rocky, and natural. You can also use actual slate, or slate tile, which looks even nicer.

Yeah make sure you do something with it I'm after buying substraight and bugs are after crawling out of it:S

I have always used playsand for my adult Bearded Dragons and have never had the slightest problem. They ingest very little sand, when they chase and eat crickets, they catch them with their tongue skillfully without taking in sand. I have inspected their droppings and have found hardly any or no sand.
There will be the odd Bearded Dragon that behaves abnormally and eats the sand deliberately, this one should obviously be kept on a different substrate.
For newly hatched baby Bearded Dragons, I use no substrate at all and clean the viv floor frequently.
When they are bigger, they are kept on paper, when about 6 months they go onto sand.

hi

the sand that I use for my reps is T-REX bone aid calci-sand, this sand is good because it looks good and is available in a wide range of colors ranging from natural sand to glow in the dark.

this sand is also good because it is 100% digestible and if it was to be ingested by acident it will dissolve and brake down in the reps gut and intestine. it is also easy to clean and any water that is spilt on it dose not sink through to the bottom of the viv as it is absorbed by it right away.

i have kept my Leopard Geckos on this type of san for a number of years with no problems at all. i hope that this helps with your choice.

Dan

Calci-sand is bigger grains and quite sharp. It's not recommended for any herp really other than by pet stores. It's prety and it sells, and they like to push it but it isn't safe for any herp.

sand
This thread is old but educational.

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Yeah, calci sand = bad stuff. If an acute impaction doesn't occur, a chronic impaction could be present and you'd never even know it.

What I prefer to do is either provide an artificial habitat for my herps (such as the paper towels, carpet, etc)...or mimic their natural habitat. Bearded Dragons come from areas with hard packed sand/ soil, rocks, and scrub, so that's what I'd try and recreate if you really don't want the ugly artificial look. If a bearded dragon can survive on it in the wild, it shouldn't be much different in captivity as long as you do a good job of mimicking it.

To create said habitat, I'd try using pure, clean top soil (not stuff dug up from a yard, and not potting soil as it has a lot of added **** in it). Mix this with cleaned playsand, such as that used for children's sandboxes (as mentioned, don't go collecting from sandboxes, just buy new stuff). You'd have to experiment to get the right ratio of sand:soil, but there should probably be more soil than sand so it actually stays packed. Then add it to the tank, and pack it down hard. Get it wet and keep packing so it's as tight down as you can get it. Then apply heat lamps to it so it dries.

I'm not 100% sure this will even work to get the desired results, but it's worth a shot. If not, the resulting sand/ soil mixture will still be just as safe, or more so, than playsand by itself would have been.

Here're some links that show bearded dragons in their natural habitat, to give you some ideas. Their habitat ranges from sandy regions, to rocky regions, to areas with more scrub and trees. It's also a pain in the butt to find any good pics of them in their natural habitat, cause they're such common pets almost all pics found are of captive dragons

http://www.wildherps.com/images/herp...al_beardie.jpg

http://www.lacertilia.com/research/pogona.jpg

http://www.biol.lu.se/zooekologi/jon...ld/b054med.jpg

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with the reptile carpet you just wash it in mild detergent...if you buy it it usually has the directions writen on it. It's quite easy to clean and I would think sand would be a bit of a pain. I've heard that floor tiles are great and easy to clean and you can get sand stone or natural looking stuff or funky if you like.

i know this is a little old but I would like to add my two cents.

First off is the pro's and con's of sand.

Pro's: Sand has a nice "natural" look to it and it easy to land scape and the dragon can dig in it.

Con's: sand is exteremely dirty. spot cleaning isn't enough as the wet part (esspecially from a veggie main diet like of an adult) seeps into and the only way to clean it well is to totally take it out and replace it every 3 weeks to a month. expensive. it also ahs the risk of impaction

Calcium Sand = **** in a bag. Its colorful but not anywhere near as digestible as they say it is. Calsi Sand is sharp,large, dies your anaimals whacky colors, and when mixed with the stomach acids of a bearded dragon turns into a substance not unlike salt water taffy, only to harden again further in the digestive system. all in all I would say all experiecned keepers know this stuff is colorful ****.

Sand/Dirt mixture: possibly one of the worst. not only is dirt as suseptible to impaction as sand, but top soil and other soils (evne those witho additives or fertilizers) have a HIGH chance of carrying diseases, getting very dirty, and causing the little known about disease of yellow fungus. it's harder to clean then just normal playsand too, which puts it as one of my top not to use lists.

while im at it I tohught i'd point out some pro's and con's of other substrates as well.

Lizard litter aka crushed walnut shells. i don't even know the pro;s to this one. it is hard, sharp, impaction risk is high, i's harder to clean because of thebigger peices. the only pro is it has a neat look, while it's cacpable of cutting through a lizards intestine is swallowed (they seem to have forgotten to put that on the bag)

Lizard carpet: lizard carpet comes in three colors, green grey and blue. it is simple to clean using either a 5% bleach mixture or simply giving it a washing in the washing machine. the con's is it is flat, offers no digging room, and is stainable if you don't wash it.

Newspaper: pro's: when you use the funnies you get a joke during the morning feeding. (im just messing) it has a very low impaciton risk (i won't say none because it isn't thick and can get torn off going after a cricket, evne then it is usually digested. Cleaning is easy as long as you get a weekend paper. con: its not as "natural looking" as the others and it very bland.

tile: pro's: it is a very good substrate as cleaning is as easy as using a clorox wipe, it wears down nails, comes in a variety of colors, textures, designs, and it very clean. con's: no digging room, not so natural looking, flat.

solid non adhesive shelf liner: never use the adhesive kind as it gives off fumes under great heat. use the solid kind as the bumby and holey kind can wrap around and pull out a nail. ouch. pros are it is easy to clean, machine washable, different colors, one solid peice means no hidhing prey, and no impacion risk.. Con's are not as nautral looking, flat, offers no diggin.

butcher paper: pro's little impaction risk, one peice perfectly fit means no hiding prey, cheap, easy to clean (just throw away and put down new peice.) con's: not as natural, no digging, flat.

wood chip: these are bad substrates. they are large choking size, impaciton size, sharp,and dirty, when they get wet they often harbor mold. not evne natural looking. not pros to it.

bed-a-beast: b-a-b is not suggested for dragons as it habors to much humidty and along with poor husbandry will cause an upper respitory infection. also a risk of impaction.

those are the most common substrates inuse today. If you insist on sand that is your choice. You must throughly wash it until the water runs clear, bake it, and every week I suggest rescreening it as crud builds up very often. still is a risk of imapciton, as is why I don't use it. the choise is altimatley yours I just thought you should know the pros and cons of all the substrates available and commonly used. and even though I will say you can use it, i would never use it on a Bearded Dragon until 6 months and 12 inches.

Kevin

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If I ever get a Bearded Dragon I will put it on slate sheets or some other sheet type of stone. It may not be the easiest to clean but its also no the hardest. No risk of impaction and it will also hold heat It looks natural as well

Play sand from Home Depot. 50 lbs for about $5.00