How to encourage burrowing?

[Lewis12345]

Hi all,

My 1 year old Hermann's, Mr. T, seems to be doing well, but I've noticed that he always sleeps above his substrate underneath his basking lamp. I'm concerned that this area is the least humid area of his enclosure and that he should be exposed to higher humidity levels at night time. He never burrows down into his substrate, which seems odd. Right now, his substrate is just sterilised topsoil, but I'm going to swap it out for a peat/coir mix in the next week.
Could the reason that he isn't burrowing be that his substrate is not suitable?
Is there a way to encourage him to burrow at all?

Thanks for any suggestions,

Lewis

 

[JoesMum]

What is your substrate? They do burrow but perhaps not as much as some other species.

 

[Lewis12345]

Its just sterilised topsoil at the moment. I'm going to swap it for a peat/coir mix soon though.

 

[JoesMum]

Topsoil is pretty heavy. Something easier to shift like coco coir or orchid bark might encourage it. Equally you can make a humid hide on the surface. Take a look in the enclosures forum for examples