Squiggydoo
Member
So my girl Mimsy just woke up from a super long (almost 9 month!) brumation. She's 2 years old now, and I've triple-checked that all of her husbandry is correct. She's in a 4x2x2 foot custom made wooden enclosure with acrylic sliding doors. She has 2 large platforms built into the back corners to give her some extra space to climb and move around, the top one being her basking area. Both platforms have tile on them for easy feeding and cleaning, while the bottom of the enclosure has a loose substrate (terra sahara from the biodude) to encourage her to dig if she pleases. I leave a layer of dust from the substrate on the inside of the acrylic doors to make extra sure she can't see her reflection, as she has had problems with glass in the past. She gets fed her "salad" every day (mostly collard greens with whatever ok veggies and occasionally fruits I have on hand), with protein every other day or so. Usually I give her live feeder insects but I am unable to get any right now so I have another soft diet I'm giving her in the meantime, which she surprisingly loves a lot. She also gets a warm bath about once a week. Her enclosure is in my bedroom as we live in a house with cats (both are known mouse killers) and roommates, so I can't leave her unsupervised. I'm home all day in the room with her as I am not working right now.
The problem is, since she has woken up, she is constantly running around, surfing, and scratching on all surfaces in her enclosure. The sound of her nails scratching on the acrylic is horrendous, and she keeps jumping into the doors and I'm worried that she is going to hurt herself. I let her out to run around the bedroom at least once a day, much more frequently than that though since she's started doing this. She constantly wants out though, and if I let her do that, she won't get enough UV or enough basking time to digest her food. She also poops regularly and I have to scramble to clean it up right away or she'll run around in it and get it all over the place. She is just as energetic before and after the poops. She calms down considerably in the evening and will bask for a few hours at around 7-8pm, but other than that she's just running around like a crazy lady all day. The only thing I can think of is that she is bored. :help:
I've tried adding live plants in the past, but she is a force of destruction and destroyed every one of them within a week. For that same reason I don't think it's a good idea to put fake plants in there, I don't want her eating plastic. I've got a few sticks in there too, but she mostly just bumps into them while she's running. Has anybody else out there had similar issues to this? Are there any good enrichment items that you have found? I'd like to put some stuff in her enclosure to hopefully keep her entertained, like toys or other stimulating items, even if they seem unconventional. All of the websites I've looked at just say to enrich them by letting them out to run around, which I already do a considerable amount of. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
The problem is, since she has woken up, she is constantly running around, surfing, and scratching on all surfaces in her enclosure. The sound of her nails scratching on the acrylic is horrendous, and she keeps jumping into the doors and I'm worried that she is going to hurt herself. I let her out to run around the bedroom at least once a day, much more frequently than that though since she's started doing this. She constantly wants out though, and if I let her do that, she won't get enough UV or enough basking time to digest her food. She also poops regularly and I have to scramble to clean it up right away or she'll run around in it and get it all over the place. She is just as energetic before and after the poops. She calms down considerably in the evening and will bask for a few hours at around 7-8pm, but other than that she's just running around like a crazy lady all day. The only thing I can think of is that she is bored. :help:
I've tried adding live plants in the past, but she is a force of destruction and destroyed every one of them within a week. For that same reason I don't think it's a good idea to put fake plants in there, I don't want her eating plastic. I've got a few sticks in there too, but she mostly just bumps into them while she's running. Has anybody else out there had similar issues to this? Are there any good enrichment items that you have found? I'd like to put some stuff in her enclosure to hopefully keep her entertained, like toys or other stimulating items, even if they seem unconventional. All of the websites I've looked at just say to enrich them by letting them out to run around, which I already do a considerable amount of. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!