Reptile stimulation?

[Dummo]

I was just on a bit of a thought trail and end up wondering if snakes and lizards do anything for fun, so what could I do with the enclosures etc. that would make them have "fun" or raise interest of the animals to their surroundings? Bit of a funny thought but someone might have an idea I came up with getting leaf litter and sticks from the wild and changing them every now and then (changing the smell of enclosure) but then I am not sure how I'd keep out mites and other creepy crawlies.

 

[critterguy]

Microwaving or oven baking the leaves and substrate is a good way ridding them of mites and nemotodes, have to do that for my inverts.

Just providing a forked branch with blunt edges/hollow log/shelving and newspaper is enough for the main kept sp python, they occasionally like to explore but half the time they explore to hunt for food once they are hungry not out of boredom.
Most of the day they sleep and hide under the log/newspaper or whatever you have provided as hides, especially coming up to a shed or for a few days after a feed.

Some sp of snake are arborial, so specifically need sticks etc to hang around up in, others are ambush from a hide kind, so a hide like a half log/man made one is necessary, some are water sp, so need a half land/half water setup etc, some sp are specific setups like that, the main sp of python usually aren't.

A few different sized rocks, face of a log or hollow log to climb on/in and some leaves/paper would be plenty for most lizards, some need the face of log and sticks to climb and sleep on like some sp of goanna's and gecko's or rocks to hide between (cunninghams skink).

Some you have to avoid using fishtank gravel with so as they don't accidently eat the small pebbles and die/get internal difficulties, blue tongues being the main sp as they are gutts's and will try to eat just about anything/accidentally eat the pebbles while being fed.

 

[ronhalling]

The concept of providing a snake or lizard with articles in their enclosures to provide some "fun" is a very big trap that so many people fall into, in the wild these animals have a home range which sometimes changes gradually, which is no big deal for them, "but" if you take your snake/lizard out of it's enclosure and continually change things around you will in most cases overstimulate the animal with it's new surroundings, we all have animals that will sook if you change 1 little thing in it's enclosure (home range) and stop eating for a couple of weeks till things start looking normal again. Just imagine if you will being taken from your bed and blindfolded, then get taken away for a little while and dumped in an unfamiliar setting, how confusing would it be for you ??? it takes a long while for a snake/lizard to acclimatize to new surrounds which can be seen when you look at all the posts here about "why won't my snake eat" unfortunately this is generally why they are not eating, the stress of new environment. Your snake does not care what you have in it's enclosure as long as it does not change all the time, we human beans like to pretty up and add clutter to their enclosures for our own enjoyment, as long as it gets fed regularly and has a nice warm area to sleep and digest it is happy. .....................................Ron

 

[montysrainbow]

My enclosure is simple lol no playgyms but i do let mine explore my back yard each wk, bit of fresh air and sunshine is always nice for them

life really is like a box of chocolates

 

[dkir7979]

I was just on a bit of a thought trail and end up wondering if snakes and lizards do anything for fun, so what could I do with the enclosures etc. that would make them have "fun" or raise interest of the animals to their surroundings? Bit of a funny thought but someone might have an idea I came up with getting leaf litter and sticks from the wild and changing them every now and then (changing the smell of enclosure) but then I am not sure how I'd keep out mites and other creepy crawlies.

differently textured items i.e. hard stuff, soft stuff, smooth, rough and so on

 

[Dummo]

The concept of providing a snake or lizard with articles in their enclosures to provide some "fun" is a very big trap that so many people fall into, in the wild these animals have a home range which sometimes changes gradually, which is no big deal for them, "but" if you take your snake/lizard out of it's enclosure and continually change things around you will in most cases overstimulate the animal with it's new surroundings, we all have animals that will sook if you change 1 little thing in it's enclosure (home range) and stop eating for a couple of weeks till things start looking normal again. Just imagine if you will being taken from your bed and blindfolded, then get taken away for a little while and dumped in an unfamiliar setting, how confusing would it be for you ??? it takes a long while for a snake/lizard to acclimatize to new surrounds which can be seen when you look at all the posts here about "why won't my snake eat" unfortunately this is generally why they are not eating, the stress of new environment. Your snake does not care what you have in it's enclosure as long as it does not change all the time, we human beans like to pretty up and add clutter to their enclosures for our own enjoyment, as long as it gets fed regularly and has a nice warm area to sleep and digest it is happy. .....................................Ron

This does make sense and now that I think about it something similar happened a while back, one of my tarantulas needed a bigger home so I had to dig up it's burrow and it had the *****s for about a week before he finally decided that he could make another burrow.