Enrichment for a captive environment - The Xenopuslaevis (2004)

Brown, M. J., Nixon, R. M.

Abstract

Tubes were preferred over the other four enrichments. The foliage and the cave showed no preference over each other, similarly the wood and rocks and the tank lid cover were equally preferred. However the foliage and the cave were both more popular than the wood and rocks and tank lid cover. The animals prefer an enriched environment to a barren tank and enrichment is not detrimental to egg quality. .. X. leavis housed in enriched tanks laid more eggs (p=0.2) and of better quality (p=0.1) than those .. housed in non enriched tanks. .. We encourage those laboratories that house these creatures in barren tanks to break with tradition and to start including them in their environmental enrichment programs. We hope that X. leavis will be given the same enrichment considerations as the rest of our laboratory mammals. We believe that housing X. laevis in barren tanks can no longer be considered best practice.