Why enrich an animal's environment? 

Enriching the environment is a key element in providing any captive animal-even your pet dog-with the most humane captive existence. 

If , say, you were a tiger would you prefer to live in a facility where your enclosure was a 30'x30' concrete slab surrounded by heavy duty chain link. Your 'furniture' consisted of a pile of straw, a livestock trough of water and perhaps a large ball or plastic barrel. Each day at the same time your dinner of large meat chunks arrived through a chute. Would you be happy? What would you do all day? You might pace or try to sleep time away. If there was another tiger with you, where would you go when tensions ran high? The stess of your substandard housing might cause fighting. OR you could be a tiger in a spacious 2 acre area with trees, open grassy areas, a variety of raised spots to survey your territory. A large pond to relax and swim in along with your water trough. A shelter to retire into. Other tigers that you get along with and plenty of space to avoid them for those times you don't wish to be social. While you have balls, barrels, and other toys, those toys are rotated and your keeper may spray perfume and other scents to make them more interesting. One day your keeper hides a shed python skin for you to find. You may find hidden snacks.  In the summer you're given blood 'popcicles' or meat inside an ice block. You are excited to explore and interact with your surroundings because you never know what lies waiting. you have a variety of choices to make on how to interact with the environment.

Enrichment promotes physical, emotional, and mental health. It reduces the risk of steroetypic behaviors such as pacing, swaying, excessive grooming, self-mutilation and cannabalizing of offspring. Enrichment gives the animal a choice in how to interact with the environment.

Enrichment can simulate an animals environment and allow expression of natural behaviors such as giving a burrowing lizard a digable soil/mulch substrate.Enrichment can be an artificial novel item such as a Boomer Ball with holes drilled and Bengay placed inside but out of the animals reach.  Enrichment with food is a great way to add some variety to the diet. Animals socialized to humans may find interacting with humans or going out on a leash enriching. Compatable animals provide social enrichment to each other.

At Minerva's Den we are always looking for new ways to enrich the lives of our charges. Here are a few simple enrichment ideas.

Bedding swaps-For  healthy animals with negative stool exams 'clean' used bedding is placed into another animals enclosure. This may be another member of the same species or a prey animal into a predator's or predator into a prey animal's. disease risk cannot be 100% eliminated but is minimal with healthy longterm animals. A previous wolfdog and one of the domestic dogs love digging through straw or hay from a rabbit cage.

Shed snake skins- These can be sterilized by autoclaving-you may be able to get your veterinarian to do this for you. Be careful with these around birds, the common pet birds usually panic when presented with snake like objects.

When we have large Nile monitors, they enjoy a twig pile with tasty treats to forage through. Works for many species that forage, felines, canines.

Rabbit toys-our rabbits love large balls that they must push with their nose. The balls are plastic lattice style. Some have bells inside and others have a rubber ball inside that makes them roll erratically.

Freezedried insects- While Minera's Den does not use a large amount of dried insects due to their lack of moisture they are useful for hiding under a light layer of substrate for a hedgehog to find. Using dried insects helps cut down on escapes and ensures the insects will still be there when the hedgehog arives. 

Natural sunlight-Some species are able to take trips outside year round others just during warm weather. Along with sunlight comes grass to walk on and a wind bringing interesting scents. Simple things can be the most enriching.

Enclosure design- except for quarantine or safety reasons Minerva's Den does not use sterile environments and substrates such as butcher or newspaper. You won't find an adult Burmese python in a 5' long cage with a small water bowl and piece of cage carpet here. Arboreal species have plenty of branches and climbing ledges. Semi-aquatic species have a swimming area, etc.

Rats are predatory and enjoy interactive cat toys such as the Kitten Mitten and fishing pole style.

Dust baths-They aren't just for chinchillas! Degu, gerbils, and fennec fox are a few others that use dust baths.

Horses enjoy balls that hang as well as ones on the ground. Peppermint and apple scented balls are sold just for horses. Jolly Balls have a handle so they can be picked up and thrown. Some canines enjoy peppermint scented toys.

Switching logs and driftwood between healthy long term residents. If your Florida kingsnake is a bit lazy, place a skink's log in with him!

Those 'crinkle' sacks for cats are great for ferrets and rats. We have 2 types-one has a solid bottom the other has a velcro closure so the sack can become a crinkle tunnel.

Goats love plenty of climbing structures.

Frozed pureed fruit-A warm weather treat for a variety of species.

Small dish of soil and earthworms for toads and Box turtles to dig in.

Pine cones- If you don't have a safe source to collect your own, these can be purchased at pet stores in the small mammal supplies. Stuff wiith treats or offer plain.

Environmental enrichment links.

http://www.aazk.org/committees/enrichment/comm_enrichment_whatis.php- Introductory essay on enrichment.

http://www.aazk.org/committees/enrichment/comm_enrichment_safety.php- Essay on safety and risk asessment.

http://www.aazk.org/committees/enrichment/comm_enrichment_guidelines.php -Menu of enrichment guidelines for different groups of animals reptiles, carnivores,primates, bears, etc.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/enrich/devices.htm- Suggestions for common domestic animals.

http://www.well.com/~abs/dbs/eesb/index.html- 'Scrapbook' of enrichment ideas.

http://www.enrichment.org/ - Publishes the quartely publication 'The Shape of Enrichment' Select articles can be read online.

http://www.2ndchance.info/Enrichment.htm -The enrichment program of 2nd chance animal sanctuary.

Typing environmental enrichment into a search engine will bring MANY more pages of information to read.