Substrates

Question
Dear Jedediah,
             I have a six month old bearded dragon and I don't know which substrates are best for my dragon.
Do you know?

Answer
Dear Jack,
thank you for your question.
In my opinion, the best substrate is a mixture of playsand and clay powder at a ratio of 1:15/1:10 depending on the quality of the clay powder. The sand must be moist when you mix it and when it dries out, the substrate becomes very hard. This is very much like the natural habitat of bearded dragons and it allows them to dig tunnels. Clay powder can be bought at brick yards, sometimes at hardware stores and on Ebay. I know that it's unusual to keep herps on sand on the US, but it's very common here in Germany and people have generally excellent experiences with it. If you offer additional calcium sources such as crushed cuttlebone, substrate eating shouldn't happen.
Other possible substrates are paper towels, astro turf (enclosure carpet)and alfalfa substrate, but I have no experience with those. They are recommended by http://www.bearded-dragons.org/
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer