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For Your Reptile’s Best Life: The 6 Types of Animal Enrichment
The word “enrichment” is commonly discussed in the pet-keeping community, but what is considered enrichment and how to offer it to your reptile can be confusing, especially if you are new to keeping. In simple terms, enrichment is anything that can be added to a pet’s environment that provides them with the opportunity to engage in naturalistic behaviours and/or provides mental and physical stimulation. There are different forms of enrichment that can be provided to any animal, which can be used to approach your pet’s well-being from a holistic standpoint, or to decide what form of enrichment is most appropriate for your pet. Enrichment can be broken down into the following types: cognitive, physical, sensory, social, nutritional/food, and environmental.
Cognitive Enrichment
Cognitive enrichment gives an animal mental stimulation through challenges, such as puzzles or training. Birds and mammals are usually the kinds of pets that come to mind when thinking of mental stimulation, whether it’s a treat ball or performing a trick to receive a reward. Although it is less popular to give reptiles puzzles in captivity, they would have to overcome challenges in the wild to find food or prey.
The challenge provided should be appropriate for the species, otherwise they may not show any interest in the stimulus, or could easily give up. For example, a simpler species (to put it politely) may prefer the challenge of having to chase or find crickets hiding behind different décor items as opposed to a species such as a tegu who could be target trained for a food reward. The video below from Snake Discovery is a great example of how different reptiles may interact with certain kinds of enrichment!
Physical Enrichment
Physical enrichment is one of the easiest forms of enrichment to give your pet, as it primarily involves finding ways to encourage the animal to move. This could be by providing an enclosure that is beyond the minimum size requirements, placing objects in the enclosure that promote digging or climbing, or by allowing a reptile to have time outside of their enclosure (if it does not cause the reptile stress and you have a safe environment to do so).
In their natural habitats, reptiles may travel long distances to find resources. In captivity, their basic needs are readily available, leaving them with extra time and energy, and possibly the risk of becoming overweight. By encouraging movement, reptiles can gain muscle tone and maintain a healthy weight while having a positive outlet for their energy.
Sensory Enrichment
Sensory enrichment involves exposing reptiles to varying stimuli that correspond with each other their senses. For example, different textures, scents, or colours. Different species may respond better to certain types of sensory enrichment than others, depending on what sense they primarily rely on. For example, hiding a prey item in the enclosure with a scent trail would be intriguing for a reptile that relies on scent to navigate their environment or locate prey. For reptiles that enjoy climbing or roaming around, using different kinds of items to climb such as cork, slate, plants or vines will give them different tactile experiences. You may notice that your reptile shows preference for certain textures!
Social Enrichment
Social enrichment should be used with caution, as not all species will respond well to interaction with other reptiles. For species that live in groups, being able to cohabitate together will enable them to interact with one another. For example, monkey tail skinks may form social groups in the wild and could benefit from being able to cohabitate or smell their conspecifics. However, even these animals should be monitored to make sure on an individual level to make sure they get along well. Other options could include the scent of other reptiles being placed near enclosures, such as on a cloth placed outside of the tank. Interaction with humans could be considered a form of social enrichment, depending on whether the reptile is tolerant of handling (Torrini, 2022).
Nutritional Enrichment
Nutritional or food enrichment can overlap with both cognitive and physical enrichment, since food items can be incorporated in puzzles or food can be used to encourage movement. A great way to encourage movement or hunting is by holding the food item with tongs and moving the item around to allow them to chase their food instead of just having it brought to them.
If your reptile eats powdered diets, you could offer two feeding areas instead of one. This could open up the opportunity to allow the reptile to demonstrate preference or choose which flavour they want to consume.
Environmental Enrichment
This form of enrichment is what typically comes to mind when thinking about enrichment for pet reptiles. Environmental enrichment is providing naturalistic stimuli in an enclosure that promote natural behaviours (Nagabaskaran et al., 2022). It is closely tied to husbandry and overlaps with a lot of the previously mentioned forms of enrichment (Howard & Freeman, 2022). For example, providing larger enclosures with more hides can allow a reptile with not only more space to move around for physical exercise, but also allows the keeper to add in more décor that can promote sensory enrichment through different textures, and gives the reptile the opportunity for choice (e.g., which hide to use, which branch to climb, whether the animal wants to be visible or not, etc.).
The ability to exercise choice is what separates environmental enrichment from any other form of enrichment, as the animal is able to make decisions about what they are interacting with daily as opposed to being given a new item or form of enrichment occasionally (Torrini, 2022).
Conclusion
After reading this article you may be thinking about your own reptile and which type of enrichment you think they could benefit from. Considering the species of your reptile will help guide you to incorporating the best possible enrichment for your pet, but considering your individual animal can also help. For example, my leopard gecko is a terrestrial species, but I have noticed she enjoys climbing and will take the opportunity to do so whenever possible. Outside of her enclosure, I place piles of blankets or sweaters out for her to climb as a form of physical enrichment. Although fleece blankets are not part of Pakistan’s landscape, it is something that is safe and readily available for her to interact with. When thinking of enrichment ideas, there is nothing wrong with considering man-made or “unnatural” items to use for enrichment as long as they are not harmful to your reptile.
Discovering different ways to enrich your reptile’s life can be one of the most rewarding parts of keeping these animals. Whether you’ve chosen to design a naturalistic enclosure or find objects your reptile can periodically interact with, seeing your pet interact with new items and exhibit naturalistic behaviours brings a sense or pride and achievement. You could say giving your reptile enrichment is also enriching for you!
For more information on the types of enrichment and some ideas, I encourage you to read through the references listed below or check out RSPCA’s website for some more basic ideas and considerations: https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/how-will-i-keep-my-reptiles-entertained-alert-and-interested-in-their-surroundings/#behaviour-in-the-wild
References:
Howard, D., & Freeman, M. S. (2022). Overlooked and under-studied: a review of evidence-based enrichment in varanidae. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens, 3(1), 32–43. MDPI AG. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jzbg3010003
Nagabaskaran, G., Skinner, M., & Miller, N. (2022). Western hognose snakes (heterodon nasicus) prefer environmental enrichment. Animals, 12(23), 3347. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12233347
Torrini, L. (2022) Enrichment for snakes (and other reptiles). The IAABC Foundation Journal 24. https://iaabcjournal.org/enrichment-for-snakes/
Torrini, L. [Lori Torrini]. (2022). What’s the difference? enrichment vs enriched environment [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/2JpoOHwLIq0