Enrichment & Natural Behavior

For this group, useful enrichment includes: bury or stuff hay into tunnels and paper tubes, scatter greens through the dig area, provide safe untreated wood for gnawing, create low lookout mounds, rotate tunnel routes and forage locations.

Merck notes that food can be an enrichment activity when it remains part of a balanced nutrition plan. That means enrichment should use measured portions of normal food—not a stream of extra calories.

• Make the animal use its body correctly: Provide the largest practical floor area with deep dig substrate, tunnels and nest boxes. Prairie dogs are not climbing animals; tall shelf systems are not a substitute for burrowing space. VCA recommends enough bedding to dig and notes that typical rabbit cages are often not strong enough for permanent housing.
• Change routes, not safety. Move a branch, tunnel or forage location while preserving secure shelter and predictable escape paths.
• Reward full-body movement. Place resources so the animal climbs, glides, digs, walks or stretches rather than only reaching through bars.
• Protect joints and feet. Variety should not require repeated hard landings or prolonged standing on wire.

• bury or stuff hay into tunnels and paper tubes
• scatter greens through the dig area
• provide safe untreated wood for gnawing
• create low lookout mounds
• rotate tunnel routes and forage locations
• Use the regular ration. Hide or scatter part of the food that would have been fed anyway.
• Keep difficulty adjustable. The animal should work, but not become unable to obtain enough food.
• Check what was destroyed. Any toy or feeder that splinters, frays or creates a swallowing hazard should be removed.

• Frantic repetition: constant escape attempts or stereotypic pacing can mean the environment is still inadequate.
• Resource guarding: enrichment that causes one animal to block another from food or shelter should be duplicated or removed.
• Weight gain: “enrichment treats” count as food and can quietly become a major calorie source.
• Injury or fear: remove anything that repeatedly causes falls, snagging, panic or hiding for long periods.
• No use at all: make the task more biologically relevant before assuming the animal “doesn’t like enrichment.”