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Study reveals best practices for pet reptile welfare

With reptiles gaining popularity as pets in the U.K., an understanding of their behavioral and welfare requirements has never been more critical. In contrast to what we know about the positive effects of providing enriched environments for popular pet species such as dogs and cats, there is a significant lack of scientific research regarding the best enrichments to improve housing for pet reptiles.

A new study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science increases our understanding of how different housing conditions impact the behavior and welfare of captive leopard geckos and offers guidance concerning what environmental enrichment to provide for reptiles, particularly, leopard geckos—a species of reptile that is a popular pet.

Environmental enrichment adds complexity to an animal's captive environment, which can provide them with choice, allow control, encourage their cognitive processing, and increase the opportunity for interactivity and engagement. This approach expands an animal's behavioral repertoire to include a wider range of desirable natural behaviors.

The team's findings underscore the need to prioritize the welfare of these animals through scientific, evidence-based practices to ensure that the needs of reptiles are met.

Anna Wilkinson, Professor of Animal Cognition at the University of Lincoln, explained, "It is important to be able to give your pet reptile optimal care and to do this we need to understand what is the best environment for them, both by assessing their welfare in different environments and by asking them where they would like to spend their time.

"As the popularity of reptiles as pets continues to rise, it is crucial for owners and breeders to prioritize the well-being of these animals by providing environments that promote natural behaviors and overall health and welfare."

As part of the research, geckos were housed in three different conditions: "standard," "naturalistic enriched" (also known as bioactive in the reptile-keeping world), and "non-naturalistic enriched," each for a period of four weeks. Their welfare was assessed through behavioral observations within their enclosures, followed by behavioral tests to assess their welfare.

After completing the assessments for each housing condition, the geckos were also given a preference test in which they could choose which out of the three environments they wanted to spend time in—this allowed them to determine their favored environment.

Outcomes indicated that geckos housed in the "enriched" enclosures displayed behaviors indicative of improved welfare. However, there were no significant differences in behavioral expression between the "naturalistic" and "non-naturalistic" enriched enclosures.

Interestingly, while some assessments of welfare showed no differences between "enriched" and "standard" housing conditions, the preference test revealed that the geckos had a strong preference for the "naturalistic enriched" enclosure.

Erin Rockman, University of Lincoln Ph.D. student, now at Eckerd College, U.S., added, "The findings showed us that reptiles not only benefit from enrichment but also have a strong preference for the naturalistic enrichment. Therefore, we recommend that they are kept in this type of housing."

Overall, these findings suggest that enriched housing conditions can significantly enhance the welfare of leopard geckos, advocating for the implementation of enriched enclosures for these reptiles, and emphasizing the importance of incorporating naturalistic features whenever possible.

This could include multiple hides at different positions and heights in the enclosure, thick layers of appropriate substrate and different levels for the geckos to make use of. Naturalistic enclosures can also include live plants, soil and invertebrates which can break down waste in their environment.

This research can be used to support welfare guidelines and is the evidence needed to make decisions on "positive lists"; a list of animal species which have been determined by experts and approved by governments as safe and suitable to be kept as pets.