Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is there a way to promote burrowing? I would like to sea my little ackie burrow.

is the substrate suitable for burrows, i mean after the burrow is dug, will it hold? also, do you have hidespots, for some hidespots is all a monitor might want. My WT's have 18" of soil to dig, and burrow and all that, they choose to hide under plywood peices, or under thier large basking rock, or the water dish, etc etc.

some monitors just dont burrow, linked to personality. My Sav wont burrow for nothing, but thats because it has a cave made out of a cinder block on dirt. It'll poke it's head out to investigate any noise and slide back in and only comes out to bask or to hunt when i'm around. When i'm away, i have no idea what it does.

You may have to experiment on the type of the dirt, mineral contents, etc. but avoid organic material (potting soil, recycled tree bark etc) the stuff spoils, or gets moldy, and they wont dig in it. I use field dirt with a content of sand (less than 10%), most of it is creek bank dirt or river bank dirt.

You need only to supply what your ackies calls substrate, and at a depth and moisture to allow burrowing. They know the rest.

On the otherhand, because you think its the right stuff, does not mean the ackie thinks its the right stuff. For instance, If I gave you a big bowl of marbles, would you swim in it? After all, both marbles and water will spill out of the bowl if the bowl is tipped over.

With monitors, they call substrate/dirt, SUBSTRATE OR DIRT, only if they recognize it and use it as such, not because you call it dirt or substrate.

Oh and it also takes a healthy normal monitor. Good luck and try stuff, FR