Best substrate for humid hide?

[Silverfire]

So, I’m going to admit it right now. I spoil my two adult geckos. If they decide they aren’t happy with something, I remove it. Which works for the most part. However, I’m kind of at a loss rn. My leos have humid hides, and currently I use paper towels in there. I wanted to make it more natural so to speak, so I got them some moss.

They responded by refusing to go near their respective hides and then they waved their tails at them.

So I’m back to using paper towels, but I really don’t want to keep using them. Any suggestions on what else I should use?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Eco Earth's coco fiber is also a good substrate for WARM humid hides.

 

[Silverfire]

Any suggestions on a neutral moist hide substrate? It’d be in the middle of the 20 gal.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Any suggestions on a neutral moist hide substrate? It’d be in the middle of the 20 gal.

What do you mean by a "neutral moist hide" substrate?

I recommend

paper towel strips
Eco Earth's coco fiber
sphagnum moss​

If you keep the moist hide in the middle it will be too cool, unless you have an 11 x 17 inch Ultratherm heat mat. If you keep a moist hide NOT on top of the heat mat your leo may get upper respiratory infections like pneumonia.

 

[Silverfire]

Oh my god. I had no idea that it being too cool could cause problems. I’ve been so worried about figuring out how to keep the cages less humid than the average humidity we have (during spring and summer it averages between 80% and 90%) that I didn’t even think about the fact that it not being warm enough would be a problem. I’ll be doing some rearranging the second I get home. God I feel so bad... I haven’t seen any mucus or heard any coughing or labored breathing so hopefully they’ll be fine if I move it fast enough.

I’ll look into buying some ecoearth as soon as I have the time and money. Should I also get a neutral hide to replace spot the moist hide occupied? Or do you think it’ll be fine?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I’ll look into buying some ecoearth as soon as I have the time and money. Should I also get a neutral hide to replace spot the moist hide occupied? Or do you think it’ll be fine?

Add a rock or something else to climb on where the moist hide used to be. Add a 4th hide if you like. Just keep it DRY.

As long as your moist humid hide is on top of the heat mat just like the warm dry hide, you should be fine.

Hides can be homemade like this.

​

PS: Please don't use any moist humid hide in the middle of your 20 long enclosure, UNLESS it sits on the heat mat.

 

[Sg612]

So, I’m going to admit it right now. I spoil my two adult geckos. If they decide they aren’t happy with something, I remove it. Which works for the most part. However, I’m kind of at a loss rn. My leos have humid hides, and currently I use paper towels in there. I wanted to make it more natural so to speak, so I got them some moss.

They responded by refusing to go near their respective hides and then they waved their tails at them.

So I’m back to using paper towels, but I really don’t want to keep using them. Any suggestions on what else I should use?

It’s very common for them to show suspicious body behavior with new items. I would have allowed at least 2 weeks. I’ve used eco earth and didn’t like how messy it is. Sphagnum Moss is less likely to cause problems like conjunctivitis(pieces of coco fiber fall in eye). Unfortunately, they can consume any of the 3 while eating shed.

humidity we have (during spring and summer it averages between 80% and 90%)

Where do you live that you have such high humidity in the enclosure? What type of humidity gauge are you using?

 

[Sg612]

For females I would provide a separate box with eco earth(digging) just incase they produce infertile eggs(assuming she is housed alone). If you feed crickets, just remove the box/hide during so that the crickets will not hide in it.

 

[Silverfire]

I live in a swamp. Well. It’s technically a city now but it was a swamp before anything was built. And I can’t remember the brand for the life of me but it’s a stick on one. The house also has a built in humidity gauge with the AC so I do check the stick on readings against that and it’s fairly accurate.

To give you an idea as to how humid my house can get, my sister had to order a new humid hut since her’s had grown a bit of mold (too much water in the paper towels) and her adult Leo had a completely clean shed the day in between ordering the hide and receiving it. There’s also yet to be a prob with stuck shed- even with mine who I believe lost all the toes on his front left foot due to stuck shed (I was buying crickets and petco had an actual leo adoption, so despite the fact I wasn’t looking to get another gecko I ended up with another one cause I had the money to buy a new tank and everything and I just fell in love with him. They don’t know how he lost his toes, but I’m just assuming it was stuck shed).

But yeah. I live in an actual swamp so the humidity is really high in the summer. I’ve also been debating on getting a dig box for a while, as I know they do like to dig. I’m just trying to decide how big it should be rn.

 

[DrGreatScott]

Do you have any pictures of the gecko missing its toes? I'm very curious how it compares to another I've seen.

As far as substrate for your humid hide, I'd consider Reptisoil as long as the animals in question are all adult. It's great for humidity control, tends to absorb and retain it pretty well.

 

[Silverfire]

Do you have any pictures of the gecko missing its toes? I'm very curious how it compares to another I've seen.

As far as substrate for your humid hide, I'd consider Reptisoil as long as the animals in question are all adult. It's great for humidity control, tends to absorb and retain it pretty well.

Well, I plan on ordering eco earth here shortly and here- here’s Illusion. Poor guy wasn’t in the best home before I got him- he was housed with another male.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Well, I plan on ordering eco earth here shortly and here- here’s Illusion. Poor guy wasn’t in the best home before I got him- he was housed with another male.

View attachment 47471View attachment 47471

Here's an uncommon moist hide substrate currently being used by [MENTION=64084]Geecko123[/MENTION]. He uses it in his leo Citrine's moist hide and reports it does a great job staying moist.

Natural Sea Sponges for warm moist hides from Amazon......Geecko123 -- May 2019
Click: https://www.amazon.com/4-Pack-Spong...FQTT8QSM60H&psc=1&refRID=8YNQQK2DXFQTT8QSM60H​

Amazon is currently sold out. Maybe someone else carries them.

 

[Silverfire]

So the ecoearth came in and one of the geckos has already buried herself in it. My male is giving it a wide berth and my other female just looked at it and went back to sleep.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I live in a swamp. Well. It’s technically a city now but it was a swamp before anything was built. And I can’t remember the brand for the life of me but it’s a stick on one. The house also has a built in humidity gauge with the AC so I do check the stick on readings against that and it’s fairly accurate.

To give you an idea as to how humid my house can get, my sister had to order a new humid hut since her’s had grown a bit of mold (too much water in the paper towels) and her adult Leo had a completely clean shed the day in between ordering the hide and receiving it. There’s also yet to be a prob with stuck shed- even with mine who I believe lost all the toes on his front left foot due to stuck shed (I was buying crickets and petco had an actual leo adoption, so despite the fact I wasn’t looking to get another gecko I ended up with another one cause I had the money to buy a new tank and everything and I just fell in love with him. They don’t know how he lost his toes, but I’m just assuming it was stuck shed).

But yeah. I live in an actual swamp so the humidity is really high in the summer. I’ve also been debating on getting a dig box for a while, as I know they do like to dig. I’m just trying to decide how big it should be rn.

I'm backtracking some.

Right now and into the summer with humidity as high as you state, you don't really need to keep a warm hide (or any hide) moist!

When ambient room humidity dips below ~40%, then begin to moisten a warm hide again. I'm glad your home has a built in humidity gauge along with the A/C.

 

[Silverfire]

I'm backtracking some.

Right now and into the summer with humidity as high as you state, you don't really need to keep a warm hide (or any hide) moist!

When ambient room humidity dips below ~40%, then begin to moisten a warm hide again. I'm glad your home has a built in humidity gauge along with the A/C.

Haha, it’s a necessity here. We need to keep a close eye on the humidity to prevent mold. I’ll definitely check it daily to see if it’s above or below 40% and I’ll wet the humid hide substrate accordingly. My adult male has uh. Fallen in love with his ecoearth. Or he hates it. Half of it was outside the hide this morning haha. Also yes, he almost completely blocked the entrance with his ecoearth. One of my females is continuing to ignore it (she’s recently decided that hides are out of style so I’m not terribly surprised. She was sleeping in her calcium dish this morning). The other female hasn’t left the hide since I put it and the ecoearth in her tank- though she just went into shed so that could be it.

The only one who doesn’t have any ecoearth is the juvenile, but that’s mainly because I’m worried he’ll eat it. Once he upgrades to a 20 gal I’ll switch him from paper towels to ecoearth. And that switch will happen in a few months- I’m waiting for the petco tank sale.

 

[Marillion]

I use old bedsheets (100% Cotton) cut up into strips inside his moist hide. The fabric retains moisture well and I rinse them off with hot water every couple of days and then replace them after about a week or so. No chance of ingestion. His sheds have been trouble free.

 

[Reeko]

Peat moss and sand mixed with a little sphagnum moss worked the best for me.

 

[Silverfire]

So I’ve been using ecoearth for the adults (the sub adult will be moved to ecoearth when I upgrade him to a 20 gal- gonna wait for that amazing petco sale) and they love it. I don’t keep my male’s moist unless he’s shedding because that’s become his new favorite hide and I don’t want him to catch a respiratory infection. My largest female (Firefly) still prefers just lying under her fake aloe plant whenever she’s shedding even though I got her a nice humid hut and nice solid but she’s just ungrateful. The other adult female uses it during shedding but otherwise ignores it.

It can be a bit frustrating to find that the male has once again flung half of his dirt out onto his carpet but all in all I’d highly recommend it.

 

[Madrigal77]

I use Sphagnum moss. I spray it down every 1-2 days. My geckos never have stuck sheds with it. Granted I'm a pretty new gecko owner, but so far their sheds have been perfect.