No sand.
As far as trying to copy their wild environment: This is a much debated topic, and there are many opinions and arguments. Here are some of my many thoughts on the subject.
1. Our back yards cannot possibly duplicate the vastness and myriad of micro-climates present in the wild. Further we really don't know that much about what secretive juveniles do in the wild and how they manage to survive.
2. We DO know what kills them and what keeps them alive in captivity. Well… some of us know…
3. In the wild estimates range from 300-1000 babies die for every baby that survives to adulthood.
4. The wild is not necessarily a reflection of what is optimal. Some aspects of the wild are great, like lots of space for exercise, a wide variety of the right foods during good times, real sunshine, self-dug burrows to escape the above ground weather and temperature extremes. Other aspects of the wild like predators, disease and parasites, human interference, starvation in drought times, no water for 9 months a year, etc… are literally deadly.
5. Given the above, I choose to give my babies what I know to be "optimal" conditions. I do not impose conditions that are possibly survivable, but not necessarily good, upon them.
6. One thing that must be considered is that this is a primarily fossorial species. Meaning they live most of their lives underground. This protects them from temperature extremes and dehydration. When we bring them into our backyards, they spend that vast majority of their time above ground. Even with our attempts at man-made burrows, which you will need to learn all about in the next few years, they are still subjected to unnatural temperature swings and extremes, and levels of hot dry air that they would avoid out in the wild.
Its good to study and learn all you can about the wild. Fun too. But don't ignore what we've learned about keeping them in captivity either, which is what some people tend to do.
