best substrate for water dragon viv?

Question

I've used orchid bark in the past i think but cannot get to the same shop.

what would you recomend and wheres the best place to get it preferebly cheap and delivered (Essex, UK)

Answer 1

I agree with the reptile carpet. It's pricey for what it is, not too bad, but I feel it is a tad overpriced and doesn't come in very big sizes so I switched to regular indoor outdoor carpet(upside down so the flat side is on top) I built a nice big cage for my two dragons and noticed the bottom of some inexpensive indoor/outdoor carpet looked identical to the reptile carpet. I cut several pieces to size for the bottom of their cage. I just pull one off, shake it out outside, throw it in the washing machine and put one of the already clean ones back in. It takes a whole 30 seconds to clean the substrate.

The easier something is to clean, the more regularly we do it...or I should say the more regularly I will do it. I'm a lazy american who has nothing better to do than vote for presidents that are gifted with an extra chromosome.

I first tried sand with calcium. But after further research discovered that as the dragons nailed the crickets with their tongues...some of the sand also got stuck on their tongue and there exists a danger of impaction with sand.

Next I tried peatmoss, it was obviously a mistake a big mess, the crickets had too many places to hide, and the dragons got peatmoss stuck in their mouth with the crickets. The poor guys would claw at their mouths to try to get it out.

Bark has a tendency to get slimy and icky on the bottom of it in the high humidity climate. Can get moldy etc. It is a nightmare to clean, so I wound up just throwing it away and buying more. Also, crickets had plenty of places to hide.

Then I discovered reptile carpet. It was funny, I wasn't even looking for reptile stuff. I was walking through an aisle just to get to the aquarium section of the pet store to look at fish. I saw a pad of green carpet-like stuff, and I stopped so fast that my shoes squeaked on the floor. I didn't even read about it other than I noticed the reputable zoo-med brand. And I never looked back!

Answer 2

I would suggest reptile carpet. I use this in my Gecko and Tortoise Vivariums. Its easy to clean and maintain and looks great too! And dry droppings can just be eaily hoovered up.
I have actually seen water dragon vivariums in pet shops using this.

I know Zoomed do a range, here :

http://www.everythingforpets.com/category/use.dept.1397/

I think they deliver too.

:]

Answer 3

i use peat moss and carpet for mine, he seems to lie it and ive had no problems