Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey guys, yesterday i went to the local pet store and was told to raise the humidity in my tank by misting it 2-3 times a day. However today I was reading that the cage should be kept dry, so i am a little confused. I currently do not have a humid hide but plan on getting one. Also to help with shedding i was wondering if i should get somthing sharp for the cage. Thnks guys

The relative humidity should definitely be more than dry. I think what they meant by that is not to have a dripping wet enclosure but just a humid one. There is no need to have water condensing on the glass. The humidity in Kirmys 55G enclosure sits at about 60% 24-7, She has one humid hide with nearly 100% humidity and another with about 80%. She seems to prefer the whole enclosures 60% over the higher levels of her hide. Every now and then I will lightly mist in front of her favorite cave and she seems to enjoy that as well
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SO in my cage i can have 2 spots one as a humid hide with moss and another one with no moss, or should i have 2 hide with no moss and one with moss? thanks again guys.

Also how often should i mist the cage?

ok i take the easy way out. i dont have glass enclosures but i use 32 quart plastic sterilites. i also use only paper towels for substrate. i change them everynight and mist them everynight to get them pretty wet but not dripping. i also mist half their hiding spot. i use to have them on sand but now that they are on the paper towels and they are all a lot healthier! it was great watching them get better. i have a lot of geckos, 23 to be ecxact. almost the papertowels are dry by morning and i figure spraying at night simulates the due at night and morning. i only do this at night befor i go to bed, and all my guys and galls are housed seperatly.

As long as you provide a humid hide you don't need to mist the tank at all. I never mist any of my tanks or sweater boxes.
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www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com

I have a humid hide in all my cages that I mist daily. I never mist the rest of the cage, but they are also in a rack and racks hold humidity very well.

My sweaterboxes have 2 dry hides (1-warm, 1-cool), and 1 warm moist hide. Althogh I have seen and used other setups with only 1 moist hide, and these can work fine.

i was told that all i need is 2 hides. a humid one on the warm side and another one on the cooler side. Should i have 3 all together, if so i will by another hide/

okay let me clarify, i dont exactly mist the intire sweater box. i use 2 paper towels one on each side of the box. i mist the perimeter of each paper towel around the corners and down the crease in the middle. i do this for moisture and also so that my animals have a chance to catch the crickets because the crickets get under the paper towels and hide for the rest of the night. also if my guys are looking a little dry i will slightly mist a small corner of their hide which could fit a balony sandwich in it, so if the geckos dont want to be near the misted side they can hang out on the other end. they all seem to be much happier since i have started this technique and look a lot better.
you can see in this picture where i have misted, the paper towel curves down near the wall of the sweater box. sorry this is not a leo, this is one of my baby albino tangerine african fat tails. i didnt have any other uploaded pictures that could show this.

all you need is one humid on the warm side and one dry on the warm side and one himid on the cool side and also one dry on the cool side. when i had my glass enclosures i only had one dry and one humid on warm and a dry on the cool but it would be better to have 2 of each on each side.....well that was kind confusing

i have simon in a glass terrarium on paper towels. i have one warm hide and one cool hide. i keep a moist hide on the warm side. i mist the moist hide twice daily but never the paper towels. avg. humidity in there is about 30-40% which i have been told is good.

i have a humid on the warm, and a hide in the middle and a hide on the cool...just switched to a 20 long... i had the exact same set up in the the 10 long just wanted more room for Monty to play....but the real reason i wanted to post was you have a beautiful gecko...where did you get him??? thanks heidi

well like i said shes not a leopard gecko, she is an african fat tailed gecko. all the credit on this little gecko goes to the people at hotgeckos.com. i bought my little girls form them. if you want to see more pics you can go to the hotgeckos website or you can look at my others. i have pictures posted in the fat tail forum witch inturn is in the gecko forum. thanks so much for the compliment. the pictures might be a little ways down the page now.

Everyone gave you advice on how to mist. I don't think, however, that anyone said anything about youre other question. "Do I need something sharp in the cage to help shedding?" You shouldn't have anything sharp in the cage that can injure your gecko. If you mist correctly the gecko should be o.k. getting the shed off herself. I think you can, if you want, put an object she can rub against that won't puncture her skin.

We did all miss the "sharp" object question LOL I do have a 1/2 log hide in each of my enclosures, my leos seem to love to rub up against them when they are shedding. But, no, you don't want anything "sharp" in with them.

As far as the number of hides, I have a humid hide on the warm side, dry hide on the cool side and the 1/2 log in the middle of the tanks for all my leos that are in tanks. As for the sweater boxes, just a humid hide on the warm side & 1/2 log on the cool side.
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www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com