Welcome to day 3 of #EnrichmentAwareness! Today we’ll be highlighting cool things you can do for species that like to burrow, as well as interesting things to do for substrate. Every reptile is going to need substrate, but there are cool things you can do with their substrate to help encourage natural burrowing behaviors and to keep them interested as they explore.
StarsReverie
One nice and easy way to offer enrichment with your substrate is to add a small corner of different substrate in the enclosure, such as children’s play sand (for snakes, I would not recommend this for most lizards), kiln-dried pine or organic topsoil. This gives them something different to burrow in and explore, and also serves as tactile (touch-based) enrichment. Another nice thing about this is that you’re not stressing out your reptile by changing the entire substrate; this gives them the choice of whether or not to interact with the new substrate, whereas they would have no choice but to interact with an entire substrate change. That’s what enrichment is all about - giving your reptile multiple options of what to interact with in its enclosure and what behaviors to engage in.
Lylesharp
For snakes that enjoy burrowing, a cheap and easy way to include enrichment within the substrate is to add toilet paper/paper towel tubes buried underneath the substrate in order to provide not only a sturdy tunnel to explore but a decent hiding place as well! You can also switch around the tubes you place every so often in order to give the snake “new places” to explore.
Another great way to provide enrichment for any snake is to change up the substrate! Snakes are very intrigued by new smells and textures. As long as you are using substrates to meet your snake’s humidity requirements and need for burrowing (if they’re a burrower) there’s nothing wrong with switching it up a bit. Some people even mix substrates together so the snake can interact with different substrates all at once. For example, for a ball python you could use 50% eco earth and 50% forest floor. Both great substrates for holding humidity and conveniently allows your snake a variety of smells and textures to interact with! Something even as simple as sphagnum moss (which is a great moss for holding humidity in an enclosure) could be considered as enrichment when placed in a snake’s enclosure.
Shadow Blazer
Note: There are many substrates you can use for turtles but things like gravel, calcisand, and the like should all be avoided as normal.
Turtles are very active foragers, especially musks and other bottom dwelling species, so I recommend washed play sand, river rocks, or preferably a mix of the two, as turtles are known to push around rocks for fun and bury themselves in the sand; and, for some species like softshells, sand is actually a requirement to help them clean themselves and give them a secure place to hide, which is almost always sand.
These substrates are pretty cheap too, especially sand; you can get enough to fill a 50 gallon for about $10.
Some keepers provide river bottom substrates but they are hard to maintain, and at that point you should just use a pond, but if it works for you power to you!!
DarkViper
Obstacles for Burrowers
Lots of snakes burrow, but burrowers like Hognose and Sand Boas who primarily dwell under substrate can enjoy natural barriers under substrate that they can navigate around. Two ways I’ve done this with my Hognose is to bury some of my cholla cactus wood for her to explore into or around. You can also place small foam objects like foam for them to engage with that aren’t overly obstructive because of their light weight.
Substrate Variation
In nature lizards aren’t always on the same substrate. They can traverse over hard pack, rock and a variety of surfaces that aren’t exactly flat. Within some of my gecko terrariums I’ve added flat rocks and ramps for them to explore above and under in addition to their standard hides. You need to take care in however you are setting up the rocks since even a slight shake (i.e. earthquake or bump on a terrarium) could cause rocks to fall over and crush your pet so try not to overly stack things that can fall over. Depending on the reptile you can also add slopes and tunnels to mixed substrate but check first to make sure the substrate you’re using is safe and will not cause impaction for your pet. Sand for example should never be used unless it’s one of the more rare species that require it.
Lucky The Tortoise
There are lots of reptiles, including tortoises, that love to burrow! However, lots of them don’t get a chance out of fear of impaction, like bearded dragons and leopard geckos. So, I figured out how to make homemade excavator clay!
First, get a bag of all natural clay cat litter, and a bag of play sand. This costed me 7 dollars in total.
Try experimenting with things other than sand! Try eco earth, soil, etc.
Next, pour some of the sand and clay into a bucket. I used a trash can lined with a trash bag because I didn’t have one. I recommend starting with more sand than clay. Then, add water and mix. You want it so be moldable, so that if you squeeze it together it’ll hold its shape. I added too much clay to mine, so definitely try and keep it 50/50, or slightly more sand. That will make it nice and burrowable.
Start putting the clay where you want it to go. If you want to make a cave, try putting an object under the clay to form a tunnel. Don’t remove it until the clay is totally dry. I made that mistake, lol
The clay takes about 3 days - a week to dry completely, however I think it’s safe to put your animal in after a few hours, or after it has time to dry overnight. I left a heat lamp on mine to make it dry faster.
Here was the finished product!
Note: I would not recommend using this with reptiles that require humidity or a humid substrate.
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