Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am back with another question about my daughter's new love, Slinky. I think he's about 5 months old.
(We've had him 2 plus weeks now and I'm as infatuated as my daughter.) He is still quite shy although he eats from her hand and will crawl onto it now and then.
He has a tupperware-type container (not clear, solid blue) which is located in the middle of his 10 gallon container (slightly toward warm side), where he spends most of his daylight hours. It has sphagum (?) moss in it and we spray it daily if he comes out for an explore. The hole to get in is about 1.75 inches and it's located on the side. We try to never disturb him in his hide, even if guests request a peek.
We have kind of a mix of substrate. I know lots of people say NO SAND but we didn't know that to start and so he had it when we first settled him in. The thing is, he seems to LOVE digging in it. We've put in some slate and some bits of carpet, but he seems to like the sandy parts the best. I had the idea that we could ease him off it, but I guess he'll have to go cold turkey at some point. We were just thinking maybe we'd wait till he was more settled in before we took the sand away - trying to minimize stress. In the meantime I'm watching for impaction symptoms and taking all the precautions.
So, here's the question: For the last 2 nights, he barricaded himself into his hide, with sand. He piled sand so the entrance hole was blocked. Is this worrisome? My daughter was worried about him when she woke up yesterday, so she reopened the hole (he was fine!) and he left it open for the day. Then last night he filled it in again. It's actually not ALL the way barricaded and I can see his cute little face when I peek through the sliver that's open. But it's pretty well blocked.
I guess it'll stop if we go with carpet/slate throughout the container. But I wondered if it might be a symptom of something else? Excess stress? Might he be getting ready to shed and trying to increase the humidity?
I'd appreciate any thoughts the experts might have... or tales of similar experience. Thanks,
geckoGirlsMom

It is my guess that your gecko is trying to up the humidity inside his hide. I’ve seen this kind of behavior from my smooth knobtail gecko. But then again he’s my only gecko that I keep on sand. Remember to keep the humid hide pretty close to the warm spot of the cage, and maybe start misting it two times a day.
Sand probably isn’t best substrate for your leo, slate, paper towel, or newspaper have all worked well for me. Some of my leos dig at their paper towels, and ill agree it doesn’t look like as much fun as sand, but I doubt the gecko can tell much difference. Good luck and let us know if you have more questions!

Thanks for your help.
Moving the hide slightly to the warm side. Although I think he tends to hunker down on the cool side.
geckoGirlsMom

How big is he? If hes over 6 inches, you can keep him on the sand. It might not be the safest, but if your watching and taking all the precations id say its fine. Besides, sounds like hes having a blast on the sand. Not sure about the humid hide thing, but I doubt hes trying to raise the humidity. If you mist it everyday it should be plenty humid. Sounds like hes just playing around with the sand, i wouldnt worry. Later

He's about 6.5 inches...
There sure does not seem to be much agreement on the sand issue. I think we'll stick with it for a bit, even if only in part of the cage.
He seems less intent on building his barricade tonight. But maybe he's just waiting for me to LEAVE!
Thanks for your help.
geckoGirlsMom