Animal Enrichment

In today's post Animal Care Intern, Lia Blondo, discusses the importance of animal enrichment here at Fenner Nature Center!

The Animal Care Intern’s primary responsibility is to make sure that all the animals residing in our Visitor Center are happy and healthy. This includes maintaining a clean habitat, offering fresh food and water regularly, and providing “enrichment” opportunities.  According to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, “Environmental enrichment is the process of providing stimulating environments for [zoo] animals in order for them to demonstrate their species-typical behavior, to allow them exercise control or choice over their environment, and to enhance their well-being.”

Here at Fenner Nature Center, we work to make sure that our animals are placed in stimulating environments with opportunities to act out their instinctual behaviors. From feeding to habitat design to enrichment devices, everything we do has its place or purpose to enhance the animal’s overall environment.

Ruby and Tabitha, our Eastern Box Turtles, spend most of their time in a large aquarium that has been constructed to replicate their natural environment. With a moist soil substrate and a ramp leading into a water complex at one end of the tank, the turtles have ample floor space to explore and move about. The girls also have plenty of greenery adorning their habitat as well as logs, rocks, and branches to climb up, over and around. The water element provides a replica pond where the turtles can forage for free-ranging fish. In addition, they are fed a variety of fruits and veggies to complement their diet of worms and fish.

Our Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches require little in terms of enrichment, yet are still provided with just as many chances to demonstrate their typical behaviors. Their habitat design places a high priority on climbing space. Just as we like to play “King of the Hill” on mounds or hills, so do the cockroaches like to display dominant behaviors by climbing higher than the other cockroaches. For feeding, the roaches are offered fruits and veggies regularly to replenish lost moisture and nutrients. They can imbibe water from the food they eat as well as from the high humidity level in their enclosure.

Cockroach enjoying a ”salad”!

The salamanders of Fenner Nature Center enjoy burrowing underneath moist soil substrates and sphagnum moss, providing them with both a hiding place and a way to stay hydrated. Salamanders have very thin skin that allows water to move freely in and out of their systems. Because of this, a moist environment is crucial to the health and well-being of the salamander. The salamander enclosures, as well as other animal tanks requiring higher humidity levels are on a timed misting system to ensure that their tanks never become too dry! Their favorite snacks include worms and crickets, both of which could be found in their natural environments.

Juvenile salamander tank – notice the many hiding places!

We currently have two snake species residing at the Visitor Center – our Garter Snake and Eastern Milk Snake. These two prefer enclosures with enough floor space relative to their overall size filled with soils, moss, branches, driftwood, rocks and other objects that satisfy their need to slither over and around obstacles. You’ll find them curled up underneath their heat lamps or stretched out across their tanks. During feeding time, our garter snake loves worms, crickets and feeder fish while our milksnake prefers mice. Regular habitat design changes keeps the snakes interested in exploring their enclosures!

Our other four-legged amphibians – a Gray Tree Frog and Eastern American Toad – are content to stay nestled up on a tree branch or buried in the soil below. Their enclosure has a focus on height elements, using branches and twigs to create mock trees for the frog to sit upon. The tank bottom contains a mix of coconut fiber substrate and sphagnum moss to provide the optimal resting place for the toad. Both are fed either crickets or worms with feeding time used as a sort of natural enrichment for the animals.

And last on the tour of Fenner animals… the common snapping turtles! Our smaller turtle is kept in an aquarium composed of a water element and multiple basking areas underneath a heat lamp. The water is home to a multitude of fish and a sandy bottom, providing the younger turtle with a realistic natural environment. Our larger snapping turtle spends some of his time in an aquarium filled with just the right amount of water and a basking rock perfect for getting a little extra heat. Regular water testing ensures that the water quality is just right for the turtles. For recreation, our larger turtle is often given the chance to stretch his legs and explore the nature center on his own!

Why not explore the nature center for yourself and come see all of our animals in person? Consider it a form of “human enrichment” as you wander our Visitor Center and learn all that the natural world has to offer!

Bowser enjoying his enrichment time in our Visitor Center!