Substrate

[magnus1]

Hi again,

I've seen this mentioned before somewhere. First of all, what is it? Secondly, why does the lizard need it? Thanks.


Michelle

[spike]

the substrate is what goes on the floor of the enclosure.
It can be sand, astro-truf, eco-earth etc.

I'm not sure why they need it , it looks good, doest scratch your aquirium and looks more realistic for your dragon?... thats what i can think of

[DibDip]

What Spike said, but it can also help the lizard shed. If you don't already have one then with an AWD personally I'd suggest a sandy one that they can dig around in.

[ace13]

aussies seem to like sand cause it resemble the river beds they would live by in the wild

[magnus1]

Aaahhh... duh! Sorry, dumb question. That's cool though, we have bark, rocks & a his/her beach (sand)area (where its *facilities* are located).

For those of you that handle them a lot, do they like it very much? My hubby had a savannah water monitor in the States who would sleep on you for hours. Will WD's do the same? We're still waiting on our one to arrive, so I'm still trying to gather info. Also, with breeding your own crickets, doesn't that drive you insane?? We're semi-rural & have heaps of crickets outside & just a few of them drive me nuts! Thanks.


Michelle

[spike]

If you go ot the feeder forum i think it has an in-depth explanation of breeding crickets. i believe it is relatively easy but just time consuming. I myself am thinking about breeding either crickets or roaches, i'm leaning more towards the roaches.

With the handling, ATM mine dont like being handled at all, but i've been told to stick to and handle them for about 10 minutes a day and let them run around in a small closed off room. i.e bathroom. when they are around the mature age (2-3 years) they are supposed to be just as easy going as a beardie, as long as they were bought up the right way

[dragosmom]

Re: crickets in the house
When you get your Aussie, you'll soon find that crickets become a part of your life! Think of a nice calming evening, along a gently flowing stream, fishing pole in hand, tent set-up,camp-fire and 40,000 crickets chirping at the top of the decibal system.
This is now your life. LOL Actually, crickets skittering across the floor while you watch TV WILL become a reality and you will get used to the constant chirping-I promise. Every so often one of them gets in the heat register and chirps enough to drive me crazy and I spray him with bug killer. Zap and he's gone! BTW, I put out "sticky" mouse traps in discreet corners to capture errant crickets-especially when I'm planning to have people over!

[philliphall]

Magnus One,
I have a six month old Aussie (Walter) and, after following some excellent advice from Dragosmom and handling him him every day, he is getting really, really tame. Staty with and you get your rewards. He was very skittish at first but is now my little friend.

[magnus1]

LOL. Jeez, 40,000 crickets... nice. I think life is going to be interesting when it arrives. It'll definately be handled everyday too. Do you let it run around in bathroom while its still little, or wait till it gets bigger? I bet its hard to catch, especially while its little.

Also, regarding mice, are they essential to the diet, or can they be substituted? Feeding it live bugs I can deal with, but not a wee mouse - I've had them as pets, so I'm not sure I could bring myself to use them as food.

[DibDip]

You never really NEED to feed them mice, but you really should at least try to give your guy/girl more variety than just insects, water dragons are omnivorous afterall...