I agree with kriminal. 10 inch is minimum depth for substrate. honestly mine doesnt even try to burrow. he will just kick out some from his hide every now and then to make himself more comfortable.

i thought they couldn't burrow in sand.... dosn't it just kind of fall right back into the hole? or are you talking about like a mix of sand and soil/clay?

Correct. Sand is useless for burrowing. As is any other substrate if not deep enough. As the heat will dry it out quickly.
A sandy silty mix works good with some clay in the mix as well. It's really a trial and error thing until you get the right consistency and water added.

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

You really hit the nail on the head here. A sand clay mix is ideal. It will be very heavy though. I've found for a easy to dig but very stable mix is 2:1 Sand:loam 1:1 is good but makes a very hard surface that most reptiles won't make use of.

After mixing it lay it down wet and let it dry almost compleatly and sweep the serface before adding your Uro. I'd spray it down good about 1-2 times a week and sweep up any loose sand weekly (it won't be much). I've stopped using this mix becuse of the weight but it does very well for alot of reptiles.

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what do you do with your animal whenever the clay is drying?

sounds to me like too much maintnence to deal with.

That's why many people don't do it. It is another level of dedicated care. Unfortunately Uros that don't have a place to rehydrate, will not live out their life expectancy. Dehydration is the main cause of a lot of health issues that appear with Uros.

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

what is your openion on soaking a uro in a little bit of luke warm water about every week?
i've heard that will do the job pretty well.

Definitely a good alternative. Make sure they bask for a few hours to dry off afterwards.

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

ive been told by many soaking is bad for a uro. i have never done it with mine. if they asperate any water you are asking for respitory infections.

i play it safe and do not soak mine. however I do take about 8 paper towels and soak them in hot water and let some of the water out of them but like to keep them really wet. then I place that over a bucket for the drips and put my uro on top for a few min and let him soak on it and then I squeeze the water out of the towels and I rub his back and carefully around his eyes and face and legs making shure to stay away from his nostrils. i do this about every month. i do this after he wakes up and has been basking for a hour. he usally goes right under his hide (mad at me) and then comes out about 10 min later and dries off. I dont do much with the tail (dont like to get it wet much fear of it getting tail rot) if you have the right size enclosure,temps,diet I dont think dehydration is much of a issue.