Hey, nice Beardie. I have a quesion about using Aspen as a substrate. I was going to use it, but I heard a lot of negative things about it. I see that you are using it and was wondering how you liked it and if you have had any problems with it.
Thanks,
Chris
PaulMorlock
Jan 1, 2004 8:02 PM
I have tried almost every type of substrate on my dragons and always end up giong back to the aspen.It keeps the humidity down, absorbs fecal moisture, its easy to spot clean and easy to maintain in general. Its also a nice natural light color which does not absorb alot of light and looks good. It however can cause impaction but in most cases wont. The pieces are big enough that when an animal gets it in it's mouth they usually are able to spit it out. In the 10+ years ive used it on my dragons ive only had one animal get impacted.In that case I was able to get the animal to pass the blockage with a mineral oil enema, massageing, and a little patience. I like to offer veggies on a paper plate to lessen the risk of ingestion. If your only keeping 1 or 2 dragons you may want to try the shelf liner that everyone raves about in the BD forum. The only down side to the liner is it does not absorb fecal moisture very well, which means cleaning multipul times daily. With the number of animals I keep thats a big drawback.
