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Best way to moisten the humid hide?

MicroZooKits

MicroZooKits

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Ok this is an issue i've been dealing with since my first leos...
What is the best source for humidity in the humid hide?

FYI
(I use coarse calci sand in both my enclosures with adult geckos and have never had a problem with ingestion. They are really good about spitting it out when hunting, and they don't lick the sand like they do their furniture when climbing over it. I believe they feel it on their feet and know what they are walking on. I provide rep cal in a dish and they use that as their extra calcium source. I have yet to find grains of undigested sand in their stools. This may be due to the fact that they were raised on paper towel with the repcal available, so they were sort of pre trained to use the repcal before they were even on the calci sand)

Anyways...

I've used paper towel and I don't really like it.
They kick it up/tear it ect, and its doesn't hold moisture like it needs to.

I've also used terrarium moss.
This worked better, but again it falls apart and you have little pieces of moss all over the cage. This is especially a problem for me because I wash and re use the sand 1. because it costs a lot to buy a $20 bag of sand each time you need to change a cage, and 2. because the more I wash it the coarser it gets. (all the little particles are washed away)

So I came up with an idea. I took some plastic mesh screen, sewed it into a pocket, filled it with moss, and stapled the end shut. Dunk it in warm water and put in in the hide. That works better because it keeps the moss in one place and it holds moisture longer, but now I ran into yet another problem. The moss being packed in the screen pocket allows for less air circulation which intern causes faster decay and provides a warm little nest for mildew spores. Not only that, but the crickets/superworms chew up the mesh and crawl inside and die speeding up the nastiness effect. You'll get about 2 weeks use before it has to be replaced.

So now it's back to the drawing board to see what other options are available.

I don't believe sponges will work because they are known bacteria collectors/breeders, and I'm assuming cloth/towel based creations will have the same affect.

Any suggestions?
 
I use ground coconut husk in my leos humid hides. I keep them on paper towels so when they make a mess it's nice and easy to clean out their enclosures.
Maybe try a container they can crawl on top of for a humid hide. You can cut a hole in the top/roof of it and your leos won't be able to kick out the substrate.
 
I use sphagnum moss. i don't have a problem with them kicking it out of the humid hide. I cut holes out of the middle of the lid.
 
This is what I use
exoterra-hideout-pt2853.jpg


I have my geckos in the living room on either side of the TV (that i never get to watch)
So I put a lot of "Showcase" items in their enclosures to spiff them up.
Mopani Wood, Different Sedimentary Rocks, and my favorite the plastic Triceratops Skull.
TRICERATOPS%20SKULL.jpeg

I try to keep everything uniform and nice, but it's getting harder now that Exo Terra has switched their plaster color to brown. (Still don't know why the don't offer both)
The sand is a mixture of blue and natural white, and after washing 20 times it has merged into a calm "sky blue" that blends nice with everything else. They are good geckos and use the paper towel toilet in the corner for the most part, but Falcor (my SHTCTB male) sometimes rebels against conformity and leaves random presents which I then have to spoon out manually. I keep the sand nice and clean and as soon as it starts to look dingy it gets thoroughly washed. The problem with the coco and the moss is that it adds particles of plant matter to the whole "scene" which makes it look less clean and harder to wash. That's why I came up with the mesh pocket to put the moss in. It did do the job as far as keeping the cage clean and particle free, but like I said it wasn't flawless and just created different problems...
 
KelliH said:
I use sphagnum moss. i don't have a problem with them kicking it out of the humid hide. I cut holes out of the middle of the lid.
Click to expand...

Same here. I also put a bit of vermiculite in with it.
 
I use sphagnum moss. Its reuseable for a while, and has some other nice propertys.

I have found my leos wont dig around in it and kick the stuff around or tear it up and make a mess unleess I let it dry out. Only needs a couple sprays with a spray bottle to add a little moisture for what drys out once a day or once every two days.

First I use those "disposeable" Glad tupperware containers. I forget the size but they are about 3"x5" ish. I personaly dont put the enterence on the roof of the tub but it would make it less messy if they do decide to tear the moss up and such. I put it on the side but just dont have it on the floor raise the enterence a little so the doorway is just at where the moss level is on the inside.
 
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