We recommend that geckos are kept in enriched enclosures, ideally with naturalistic features.
Researchers say leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius), when presented to live in a bioactive enclosure, prefer that type of enclosure over others. The researchers also found that environmental enrichment is key to the optimum health and well being of these little lizards. They published their findings in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
To determine this, the researchers presented leopard geckos with three types of enclosures; a standard, a naturalistic enriched or bioactive, and a non-naturalistic enriched for one month.
Highlights:
- Geckos interacted with all enrichment items when housed in enriched enclosures.
- Enriched enclosures encouraged a behavioral range indicative of improved welfare.
- Geckos strongly preferred to spend time in naturalistic enriched enclosures.
- We recommend that geckos are kept in enriched enclosures, ideally with naturalistic features.
The geckos were given a preference test that enabled them to choose which environment that they preferred to live in. What the researchers found was the geckos housed in the enriched enclosures showcased behaviors that the researchers determined to be indicative of improved welfare. The researchers did not find a discernible difference in behavior from geckos housed in naturalistic and non-naturalistic enriched enclosures. While there was no difference in these two enclosure forms, the testing did determine that the leopard geckos showed a strong preference for the naturalistic enrichment, or bioactive enclosures.
Research Subjects
The research involved one male and five female leopard geckos between the ages of 5 and 12 years. Four weeks prior to the study, each leopard gecko was housed individually in wood vivariums that measured 24″ x 18″ x 18″ with sliding glass front doors, a ProRep 100W ceramic heater controlled by a Habistat thermostat set at 88 degrees Fahrenheit at the basking spot; an Arcadia Natural Sunlight 2% T5 UVB, 30 cm (12″) 8 Watt tube that remained on from 8 am to 8 pm. Water was also available and the leopard geckos were fed three medium sized locusts every four days. Health checks were conducted weekly throughout the study.
The standard vivarium consisted of a small rock hide, small shallow water bowl, newspaper substrate and a calcium bowl. The enriched non-naturalistic enclosure was outfitted with four different hides, including a moist hide and a hanging hide, a large water bowl big enough to submerge in, artificial plants, and a calcium bowl. Substrate was a topsoil/sand mixture. The enriched naturalistic enclosure were identical to the non-naturalistic enclosure with the addition of live invertebrates to break down the waste. Real plants were also used in this enclosure.
Video recordings were collected for 30 minutes in the morning (9 a.m.), at feeding time (7 p.m.), and in the evening at 10 p.m. Each geckos as observed for a total of 18.5 hours in each of the three enclosures for a total observation time of 55.5. hours per individual and 111 hours per housing condition.
“The findings showed us that reptiles not only benefit from enrichment but also have a strong preference for the naturalistic enrichment,” Erin Rockman, University of Lincoln Ph.D. student, now at Eckerd College, U.S., said in a press release announcing the study findings. “Therefore, we recommend that they are kept in this type of housing.”
Their findings show that these popular geckos, when housed in the bioactive enclosures, significant enhance the welfare of the reptiles.
The researchers suggest leopard geckos be kept in bioactive enclosures with multiple hides at different positions and heights in the enclosure, thick layers of appropriate substrate at different levels that enable the geckos to make use of it, live plants, soil and invertebrates that can break down waste in the enclosure.
The authors of the paper “The impact of enriched housing on the behaviour and welfare of captive leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius)” are Erin L. Rickman, Anna Wilkinson, Thomas H. Pike, and Oliver H.P. Burman. All researchers are with the School of Natural Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK. The complete paper can be read on the Applied Animal Behavior Science website.
