I’m getting a bearded dragon lizard soon and for the terrarium’s substrate/flooring, I’ve decided to go with tile for ease of cleaning and to eliminate the risk of them swallowing sand and causing impaction. Anyway, I’m interested in a natural, stone-looking flooring to closely resemble an Australian desert and while I was at the Home Depot, I became interested in the slate stone because it was rough (would give them texture to walk on and would also naturally wear down the dragon’s nails) and looked nice.
I’m wondering, how does slate stone’s porousness stack up compared to ceramic tile? What kind of sealant would I use? It would need to withstand regular steam cleaning and spot cleaning with perhaps Clorox wipes or something similar. Also, would I need to frequently re-seal it? If so that’d be a turn-off. Some sites say yes but that depends on the wear/traffic it gets, and I’m not sure how a lizard and their droppings would compare to humans constantly walking and wearing it down.
If anyone has any other tiling tips or suggestions on what to use for adhesives and grout, especially what’d work best with the high density polyethylene-floored cage I’m getting, please respond. Thanks!
BrandonR, I laid slate tile from Home Depot in my home, and loved the process. Give me a few minutes to upload some photos, and I will share some more information.
The slate tile has a tendency to flake, so treat it gently while laying, cutting, and grouting. After it is sealed, it is very durable. I usually run the canister vac over it to clean, and a damp mop once a week or so.
I would use a granite slab. I don’t know how big the terrerium is, but you can get granite quite large. Either polished or unpolished it would be good for your lizard.
Slate is still used for roofing, just not very often because it’s so damned expensive. A thin piece will flake, but if you get it a bit thicker, it shouldn’t be much of a problem. I don’t know much about bearded dragons, so maybe that’s why I’m asking, but if you’d be using the slate for the bottom of a cage, is there a reason you’d want to maintain it with sealers? My parents just moved out of a house with a slate roof. Fortunately for us, we’d had the roof switched out the year before. We have all the old slate from the roof, most of it original to the roof put on in the 20’s. It’s in remarkable condition.
-Lil
Well, the lizard would be pooping on it on a daily basis and I’d want to seal it for a.) protect it against potential staining and b.) prevent all the bacteria from soaking into it and creating a germ cesspool. I figure a sealant would prevent those issues.
Thanks for the pictures, Beaucarnea, that floor looks great!
Thanks! I had a lot of fun working on it. You mentioned that the bottom of the terrarium is plastic- I would be a little concerned with flex unless you do use the concrete backerboard. Instead of screws, maybe you could flush in small diameter bolts with rubber washers or plumbing gaskets between the backerboard and the plastic bottom of the cage. Nuts could be concealed underneath the bottom of the cage.
The sealer I used is water based acrylic, and has very low odor; none after drying. I can’t vouch for the safety of the reptiles, but as far as VOCs, it seems no harsher than latex wall paint.