I dislike the carpet as well. I find it hard to clean. Right now all my girds are on paper towel but I am in the process of "remodeling" all my enclosures with Terra Cotta tiles, a lot less risky IMO. I just would not risk my lizards health. Spike was on sand for god knows how long before I adopted him and he was fine, but that doesn't mean he would never have a problem with it. I love my lizards too much to take the chance of them getting impacted.

You can always take out the sand and use something different and offer a box to dig in, which a lot of owners do. This way at least you minimize the risk. All my girls love to dig but they have oatmeal boxes that are there to meet their digging needs.