I've heard alot of defferent answers on what to use as substrate for my mali and was just wondering what everyone here recomends. thanks for the input

if your uro is 7in head to end of tail then washed play sand would be fine. and if under then i would go with tiles. or papertowels or both

I would stick to tiles, newpaper or paper towel. Any kind of sand can build up in their digestive track and cause impaction. They aren't found on sand in nature. Sure, they aren't found on newspaper either, but newspaper won't get eaten.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

what about millet or bird seed?

i can't imagine thats good for them either, but I"ll let someone more experienced chime in.

Have our care sheet.
Uromastyx Caresheet - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

thanks for the input
i think i'll try the play sand and make sure he dosn't swallow any of it, if dose i think i'll try millet or bird seed..... thanks for the help!

the white proso millet is ok but they eat it and i wouldnt want them to eat the same thing the pee and poo on.

A fairly simple and effective substrate would be to use a sand/soil mix for the base layer. Then put a layer of the Excavator product on top to harden the surface.
Zoo Med Excavator Clay Burrowing Substrate - 5lb
Birdseed used to be used in previous years even by me. I don't recommend it at all. Playsand is too loose and dusty by itself.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you."

Seed can be part of their diet, actually. So while it is not likely to hurt them as a substrate, as was mentioned, they'll poop and pee on it, then they may eat portions of it. This is very bad for them.

If you're going to keep him on sand, make sure you have a "dry" area somewhere that's perhaps a piece of slate or tile, to put the food dishes on. He *will* kick sand into his food if you put his dish directly on the sand. Putting a large piece of tile in the cage and the food dishes on top of that will help reduce how much sand he gets into his food.

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ok. clay/play sand mixture with dry area for food and water.
go it. but what if he starts to eat alot of the sand? i guess putting bird seed down wouldn't help either becouse then he'll just start eating to much of that....... what about the big sun flower bird seed? he wouldn't be very inerested in eating that would he... but then theres no digging..... choices, choices!