This has been an ever evolving idea of mine. My most recent inspiration came from ripper7777777's new double decker enclosure thread. I also thought a lot about this a couple of years ago when I read about something similar on a savannah monitor lizard website. The dude was way ahead of his time and his way of housing his monitors was totally against the mainstream and absolutely brilliant. Basically his idea was to have a standard monitor set up built on top of a large stock tank or custom base that was at least 2' deep and full of soil that they could dig and burrow in. Just like some of our tortoise species, savannah monitors live largely underground and feel much more comfortable there.
As usual, I am primarily talking about sulcatas here, but the info might be true or helpful for other species as well. Here's where this is all coming from: Most of us advocate some form of "natural" keeping. Or worded another way; we want to attempt to duplicate what happens in nature wherever possible and beneficial. Herein lies a BIG problem. NOBODY knows what baby sulcatas (or most species) do in the wild, or where they go. Almost nothing is known. Wherever they are and whatever they are doing, they are very much out of the sight of human eyes. We don't see babies walking around at ground level, and I think we can eliminate the tree top canopies as a possibility, so where does that leave us? I am simply guessing based on wild adult behavior, observation of all ages of captives, and all the recent advances in pyramiding prevention theory. They simply must be underground a lot of the time. If this is true then EVERYBODY'S care sheets, including my own, are fatally flawed. We are advocating keeping a below ground, fossorial, species above ground all the time. No wonder they don't grow right! Some have called my current methods for raising babies "extreme" or accused me of using all the moisture, humidity and hydration to "over-compensate" for some incorrect element of their housing. They might be right. The above ground nature of our captive environments might be that incorrect element.
What follows is my attempt at more "natural" housing in a captive environment. I'm replacing my humid hide box with an underground humid "level". If they want to eat, drink or bask, they will have to come above ground. If not, they can stay underground where they feel safer. I have no idea how this will go, or what they will do, but it sure is fascinating to me. Two of these six babies are a little over a month old and four of them are around 6 weeks now. I hatched them all at my place out of my adults. From day one they have all gotten the "wet routine", which should help simulate the "rainy" season in which they normally hatch in the wild. Now these guys have always lived above ground and as such are pattered to do so. But two of them have been digging into the dirt in the back of their half buried flower pot cave in their outdoor 4x8' pen. They do seem to show some instinct to get underground. Their basking spot will be around 100 on the flat rock, and ambient for the whole room is 80-85.
Welcome to this year's first experiment!
Here are some of the pieces used.
Here is the frame for the floor, half built.
All built.
I used corrugated plastic to make the floor and ramps.
Here I am adding the coco coir that makes up the underground portion and the ramps. I patted it all down with my hands and used it to form the ramps.
Here is a tortoise-eye view of the underground portion.
Here it is all finished.
I just finished it today and have not yet put them in it. Tomorrow I will introduce the six and let them try it out.
As usual, I am primarily talking about sulcatas here, but the info might be true or helpful for other species as well. Here's where this is all coming from: Most of us advocate some form of "natural" keeping. Or worded another way; we want to attempt to duplicate what happens in nature wherever possible and beneficial. Herein lies a BIG problem. NOBODY knows what baby sulcatas (or most species) do in the wild, or where they go. Almost nothing is known. Wherever they are and whatever they are doing, they are very much out of the sight of human eyes. We don't see babies walking around at ground level, and I think we can eliminate the tree top canopies as a possibility, so where does that leave us? I am simply guessing based on wild adult behavior, observation of all ages of captives, and all the recent advances in pyramiding prevention theory. They simply must be underground a lot of the time. If this is true then EVERYBODY'S care sheets, including my own, are fatally flawed. We are advocating keeping a below ground, fossorial, species above ground all the time. No wonder they don't grow right! Some have called my current methods for raising babies "extreme" or accused me of using all the moisture, humidity and hydration to "over-compensate" for some incorrect element of their housing. They might be right. The above ground nature of our captive environments might be that incorrect element.
What follows is my attempt at more "natural" housing in a captive environment. I'm replacing my humid hide box with an underground humid "level". If they want to eat, drink or bask, they will have to come above ground. If not, they can stay underground where they feel safer. I have no idea how this will go, or what they will do, but it sure is fascinating to me. Two of these six babies are a little over a month old and four of them are around 6 weeks now. I hatched them all at my place out of my adults. From day one they have all gotten the "wet routine", which should help simulate the "rainy" season in which they normally hatch in the wild. Now these guys have always lived above ground and as such are pattered to do so. But two of them have been digging into the dirt in the back of their half buried flower pot cave in their outdoor 4x8' pen. They do seem to show some instinct to get underground. Their basking spot will be around 100 on the flat rock, and ambient for the whole room is 80-85.
Welcome to this year's first experiment!
Here are some of the pieces used.
Here is the frame for the floor, half built.
All built.
I used corrugated plastic to make the floor and ramps.
Here I am adding the coco coir that makes up the underground portion and the ramps. I patted it all down with my hands and used it to form the ramps.
Here is a tortoise-eye view of the underground portion.
Here it is all finished.
I just finished it today and have not yet put them in it. Tomorrow I will introduce the six and let them try it out.
