Wow, there is some serious misinformation being passed around out there - the same old dirt/sand argument. Dragons get impaction from dehydrated and cool temperatures along with eating substrate. Given proper caging, they can eat plastic and crap it out. I’ve hatched, kept and raised a few hundred babies along with adults - one of which is about to be 10 years old. If it makes you feel better keeping them on stone tiles or paper, go for it. But blaming health issues on dirt is hooey - your conditions (temps and humidity) suck and the dirt precipitates the animal’s poor digestive function. That’s like saying if you swallow chewing gum it stays in your stomach for 7 years (yes some people actually believe that old wive’s tale LOL). Dirt doesn’t accumulate unless there is a preexisting blockage such as GI parasites or a stricture or hardened stool that won’t pass (dehydration). My dragons eat some dirt constantly when they drop greens onto the substrate. Telling me "you’ve been lucky" is horsecrap. I’m talking about a nearly 10 yr old and 3 six year old dragons kept exclusively on deep substrate with some humidity and hotter basking than what’s recommended. They absolutely thrive in "monitor-like" caging.

If a lizard hops up on a basking platform, gets it’s body up to nearly 100*F and then opens it’s mouth to pant (cooling effort) or simply leaves the bask - what is that called? Sounds like thermoregulation (therm = temperature, regulate = alter to a desired benefit). They do it by relocating themselves as opposed to internal chemical processes that hold temperatures constant, but it’s still a form or thermoregulation.

Dragons (P. vitticeps) occur naturally in arid eastern AUS just east of the red center deserts but not coastally. They are replaced by a different species coastally in somewhat similar habitats, but less dry and barren. Ackies are from WA coastally across into Queensland taking up about 1/2 of the continent, but not in the southern approx. 1/2 of AUS. I don’t believe their ranges overlap but it’s possible in the southwestern quadrant of QUSLD. Different range maps show different things.