Posted by:
ingo
at Wed Nov 26 01:08:41 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by ingo ]
Hi,
I have tried several burrowable substrates and those times ended up with a 2/1 clay/sand mixture. This has to be moderatel ymopist when filled into the cage. Then it hardens and holds tunnels well. Anyhow, testing such things I came to the conclusion that for digging natural tunnels, the substrate has to be at least 2 ft deep and the animals should be able to dig >4 ft tunnels. Otherwiese they won´t stop digging. I have my a. nigriventris in an enclosure of >30 square feet-and I was not able to provide a perfect diggable ground in that large cage. Checking habitats of THIS subspecies, I found out that there are populations living in rocky areas where they do hardly dig their own tunnels but minlay hide in deep crevices (the same holds true for some other Uro species). So I finally ended up with stabilized rock piles, limited burrowing possibiliites in the cage and the mentioned tubing/hide boxes system, which works very well for me. Naturally digged tunnels are not only not easy to establish, but also impossible to control. You need a certain humidity level in there, but this has to be established artificially and hence needs some checking. With the Tubings/Hide boxes this is very easy to perform. BTW, I forgot to mention that I originally completely filled the tubings and boxes with sand. So the Uros initially HAD to dig their way through the system-which they did with great energy, leaving high sand pile sin the cage. Now they have their own individual hides and do not dig at all-with the exception of the famele during a few days before and after egg laying.
Hence to me the tubing/Boxes system is a very recommendable compromise.
Ci@o
Ingo
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RExplanation of my solution - ingo, Wed Nov 26 01:08:41 2003