Crushed walnuts !??!

[DragonDom]

What is everyone s opinion on the crush walnut or sand ? I have a adult dragon and as of right now we have tile in our tank . And it looks great and the dragon doesnt seem to mind it all but I wanted to get ideas or what so of you all thought might be the best option .. pros and cons ?

 

[Josh]

Welcome to the BDF community!

I would avoid sand for potential impaction issues.
I haven't used crushed walnut and haven't seen many others with experience with it. I personally prefer tile. Easy to clean, lots of color/pattern options. Retains heat, etc.

 

[Zaiden07]

I use crushed walnut with my beardie and I haven't experienced any problems yet. It definitely is a better option than sand as long as you keep up with cleaning out poop and other nasty stuff. As always there will always be cons- it goes the same for sand and walnuts, you have to make sure your dragon isn't ingesting a lot of it and that he is pooping regularly. And definitely don't feed in the walnut shells either, just so you don't risk impaction.

 

[Defianceofexistence]

I have Bowser on crushed walnut shells and he has done fine. I don't feed him in his terrarium though unless he is up on his ledge off the walnut. If he is laying on the bottom of his tank then I will take him out and feed him elsewhere just to eliminate any possibility of him ingesting the substrate with his bugs. He did lick it once or twice when we first switched him. Bowser is very curious and gives EVERYTHING a taste of two lol. After he realised it wasn't something that tasted good he's never bothered again. He really seems to like it though and its super easy to clean his poops to. Good luck!

 

[Noella]

When I had Allie and she was alive, I used paper towels. Winter time: I'd lay several layers of paper towels to give her a cushy tank bottom. She didn't seem to mind paper towels and that was easy to clean. Though, at bedtime, I wouldn't let her sleep on the straight bottom. I'd let her sleep on me for the first few hours and then go to sleep on a pillow.

Now when I get the baby bearded dragon, I'm going to use shelf liner to line the tank. That way it's much easier to clean and easier to wash off and sanitize. And it might keep the heat in the tank better than paper towels.