Substrates

Everyone has their own opinion about this as in most other areas. However everyone does seem to mostly agree on a few things.

The Basics:

• Paper towels, butcher paper, kraft paper or Carolina Designer Dragons’ Reptile Carpet (felt-like material made from recycled plastic bottles, machine washable).
• We do not recommend sand because of the well-known risk of impaction, especially with younger dragons. There is also an additional risk of eye abrasions for all dragons. Using sand also increases the risk of your dragon getting bacteria or fungus originating from the urine soaking into the sand.

What NOT to use as they are dangerous and deadly for your dragon.

1) Chippings or mulch from wood or bark

2) Corn cob granules

3) Any reptile sands

4) Calci-sand or any sand stating that it has calcium in it

5) Walnut shells

6) Gravel

7) Kitty litter

8) Play sand

These things lead to impaction which can cause the death of your dragon.

There are several other options.

1) Paper towels (remember crickets can hide under these, so move them around at night before lights out to be sure you have all the crickets out of your dragon’s home.

2) Reptile carpet – We offer the type of Reptile Carpet that we use on our Products for Sale page. It comes in 12 different colors.

3) Non-stick shelf paper

4) Newspaper if the ink used is not harmful. Also, the ink on the paper will turn your dragons’ feet black. As with paper towels, watch for hidden crickets and remove them before lights out

5) Indented Kraft paper (it comes in rolls so you can cut it to size)

6) Brown butcher paper

There are other things that some people suggest you can use. However before using any of them, I would advise that you research them thoroughly.