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In the wild, reptiles are known for being excellent at using their surroundings to meet their needs. You may be picturing a lizard finding the best rock to bask on, or a snake squeezing into the smallest space for security, but you might be overlooking an important aspect of their natural environment; the ground.
While we may not think much of the dirt or leaves that we see on the ground while walking, reptiles and amphibians may see the dirt as an excellent way to thermoregulate or hide via burrowing into the soil, finding the perfect area to lay their eggs, or in some cases, eat the soil for particular minerals. In captivity, providing a naturalistic or bioactive substrate allows your pet reptile to act out these behaviours, particularly if they are a terrestrial species.
Apart from enabling behaviours such as burrowing, naturalistic substrates can make managing humidity significantly easier. The use of a drainage layer alongside soil holds moisture much better than a terrarium that uses a substrate such as reptile carpet or tile, making the environment much more comfortable for tropical species. This doesn’t mean that naturalistic substrates can’t be used for arid species. Desert dwelling reptiles or reptiles that don’t require high humidity levels can use a more sandy substrate, which won’t hold moisture and still allows for burrowing. When buying a pre-made naturalistic substrate, the mixture will often list its ingredients and specify what biome it is meant for.
Unlike hard substrates, such as kitchen liners or tile, the reptile will need to use more of their muscle to walk across natural substrates since they are not as firm. In other words, they will slightly sink into the dirt as they walk, similar to how it feels when you walk on dirt or sand and need to use more of your energy to move. This can help captive reptiles maintain their muscle tone, which is important for their overall health. Using a naturalistic substrate does not necessarily mean that only a soil mixture lines the bottom of the tank. Slate or rocks can be used as well to create areas that may be warmer if they are placed beneath a basking lamp, or to generally make a variety of interesting textures for the animal to experience and explore.
For reptile owners who also enjoy plants, naturalistic substrates allow live plants to be placed in the enclosure. Using live plants can improve air quality within the terrarium, and provide additional enrichment opportunities (e.g., climbing, shelter, drinking from leaves or from rosettes). With the addition of live plants, many keepers will decide to make the substrate bioactive, which involves adding in isopods and springtails to the substrate to create a mini ecosystem within the terrarium. The bioactive substrate will help break down waste from the reptile, but should still be cleaned in areas where the clean up crew (meaning the isopods and springtails) cannot reach and to generally help with terrarium cleanliness.
As previously mentioned, the naturalistic substrate chosen should be appropriate for the reptile’s husbandry. Reptile Ready features premixed substrates available for a variety of biomes, and supplies invertebrates for those choosing the bioactive route. If plants are added to the terrarium, they should be accompanied by a growth light and be reptile safe. For more guidance on what plants to place in a terrarium, click here.
Overall, using a substrate that mimics your pet reptile's natural habitat allows them to exhibit behaviours that you might not see with other substrates, and allows you to create a terrarium that looks like a piece of nature in your own home.
