I am not sure what you mean by strong. Hognose do not use a burrow, over and over, like they make one for future use. They are more like an earthworm. When make burrows all the time and daily. This is one of the odd(different) aspects I learned about hogs. Watching them in the field is very educational.

I still am learning lots and lots, but all their odd behaviors are closely tied to this life like an earthworm. How they swallow, how they hunt, their defensive behaviors, and their supreme success in the right habitat.

ALso the way the make burrows. They only dig to start a burrow or better yet, tunnel. Then they push forward then compress their bodies which pushes the material to the sides and compresses the sand at the sides of the tunnel, this packs the sides and allows it to last for a bit.

In captivity, moisture allows the sand to keep its shape, totally dry sand or substrate, will not pack and hold its shape. Slit which is fine material, also helps sand hold its shape.

In the field badgers helped me understand this. As they male large burrows, they tend to make a series of short burrows, maybe two feet deep. They must be digging something up. Anyway, if you look into those burrows, you can see hog tunnels all over. They enter in the sides, bottom, top, where ever the hog was headed, it would pop into the badger burrow.

Anyway the point is, you do not have to provide a substrate that holds burrows for REUSE. As they normally make new ones, as its normal procedure. Deep down, they will reuse chambers and some burrows. I hope this helps

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