Tiles w/ Sealant for Beardie?

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Cloudk

Cloudk

Candiru
MFK Member
Oct 25, 2010
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Swimming in a mountain river
Hi. I've had my dragon on crushed walnut shells, sand, and currently he's on astro-turf. The sand and shells went in the garbage as soon as i did my own research into the bedding debate. Anyway. He's been on this outdoor carpet stuff for 2 or so years. Its just not working out for us. He doesn't like it cause it tickles his belly, and i don't like it cause of its lack of good sanitation. I was thinking of ceramic tiles. The textured ones. I want to be able to reuse the tank for other things later on, so permanently attaching is not an option. But what do you guys think about sealant? Its non-toxic, i have experience with it, and it looks good. Plus, i can pick it out should i decide. I would think it would make it more sanitary because of its sealing properties. Has anyone had experience with using this idea? Any advice would be nice. Some help with the tile measurements would be helpful. Tank is: 5ftx3.5ft. I don't know if i should cut the tiles to fit at the store, because the dimensions are odd, or try to find precut tiles. Thanks.
 
What is the purpose for using sealant-- to keep waste from getting in between the tiles? I have tile in my beardie's tank, and urine does occasionally get between the tiles. I have the tiles lying over non-adhesive shelf liner, so that if a tile gets especially dirty I can just take the dirty tile out and clean it, then mop up whatever reached the shelf liner. This keeps the melamine floor of the vivarium from getting exposure to any liquids. I think it's better to not seal the tiles, so that they can be removed for full cleaning if necessary.
 
I like the shelf liner underneath idea. I think i'll go with that. I like the sealing idea, but i didn't think about needing a full cleaning. Plus. If i got sand, i'd probably have a lot left over. Thanks for the help. It's appreciated. :)
 
Sure thing. :-) yeah I contemplated sealing tiles too but heard too many instances of people regretting it. Plus beardie urine gets so stinky, it's nice to be able to take them out and sterilize them when necessary.
 
The smell is what's not working out with the astro turf. I've tried cleaning it but the smell won't 100% go away. It soaks through and its tough to clean the inside of the tank over and over and over again. The smell has built up enough that i decided enough is enough. He doesn't deserve to be in a yucky home. I have to deal with the constant changing for just 1 more month. Then i can make it to home depot and hopefully my little man will have a nice clean smelling home!
 
Oh God, yeah, I hate repticarpet and all those kinds of products. They look alright but have to be replaced often due to the smell, so in the end they're not really a bargain. I think I spent $15 on the tile for my 4x2 viv, and another $8 or so having them cut to size. I'm never going back to any other substrate!

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Where did you get the tiles cut? I heard home depot and lowes does it, but someone said it was like $40 for 2 hrs or something. My tank is a little bigger than yours, so cost shouldn't be too much more. On a budget, so any price estimates are definitely helpful! :D Your tank looks very good. Love the tile color. Looks like a fat and happy dragon! Typhoon is athletic and doesn't put on weight well... runs from tank end to tank end, and/or hops from rock to rock to avoid the carpet or he runs on the ground and picks himself high up as possible. He might stop running so much when he can enjoy sitting on the floor of his tank. Or maybe he's just a man who wants to keep his figure!
 
I got them cut at Lowes. Not all locations do it, so call ahead and make sure. They priced by the cut. I bought tiles individually (six tiles at $2 something apiece) and wrote out what kind of cut I needed for each tile. Be sure to measure the tile you want before you request the cuts, because many tiles are undersized to allow for filling in with grout.

How old is your beardie? My female was more hyper until she reached about 7 months old, then she started to veg out more. How much do you feed yours? They're definitely huge eaters, especially as juveniles. Even at 19" and 400 grams, Oola still eats a ton. She eats 3-4 large roaches and a dozen adult superworms twice a day. As a kid she'd knock back 50-75 crickets a day, easy.
 
Hm... i guess i've had him a little more than 2-3yrs. I feed him collard greens(his fav), squash, i drop a dubia or so in his tank and let him chase them around. Then i'll feed him other stuff here and there. Grapes, strawberries, carrots, and anyother beardie-safe foods we might have in the fridge. But staple is collard greens, squash, and dubias. He loves wax worms, but you can't live on treats. If i could manage, he'd be getting silkworms. But since i moved, the closest store is Petsmart. He'll only eat once a day or so. Unless its worms. He'd eat those til he popped!
 
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