I said in the post you quoted that I think they *are* capable of pleasure.
The research I've read pretty much unanimously agrees that reptiles can and do feel pleasure, so I don't think it's even up for debate :)
This exactly. I doubt we'll ever be able to see whether reptiles experience of any aspect of life is similar to our own, not truly, but we can at least study reptile neurology and behavior and try to understand from our own limited perspective. Figuring out proper husbandry as a keeper can mean...
I did a quick search on google scholar with "reptile + play" as my keywords and unsurprisingly, there is definitely a debate amongst animal behavior researchers on whether or not non-avian reptiles exhibit play behavior, so I guess I know what I'll be reading this afternoon.
I have seen a lot of...
It sounds like I conceptualize "play" a bit differently than you do in this context :)
My definition of "play" for an animal is quite loose, but at its most basic form I think of "play" as "a behavior an animal does for pleasure" which is inclusive of many behaviors since animals tend to derive...
I also made my own hides for Fig, they are rectangular plastic tubs from the dollar store turned upside down, with a doorway cut into two opposite sides so it forms a tunnel of sorts. I like this option because the tubs are cheap, easy to make/clean/replace, and they have square or nearly square...
Increasing your enclosure size will probably help, also leaving a path clear to walk along the wall (Fig flipped himself trying to move furniture so he could complete his traditional walk along the perimeter to his liking). If you have a square or rectangular enclosure and he seems to flip more...
I've definitely seen what I would categorize as play in some reptiles I've worked with: I give my blue-tongue skink supervised access to a small water fountain (from five below) for enrichment and she obviously enjoys splashing around beyond just getting clean, biting at the moving water with...