Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have my leo's humid hide on the warm side of her tank. it's one of the rock looking type caves that are pretty common. i use very fine sand as substrate. (she eats mealworms from a dish so doesn't ingest it while "hunting crickets"

i have been folding a paper towel, misting it with water, laying it on the sand and then covering it with her rock cave.

but recent reading has me thinking about using moss or something to provide better humidity for her. seems like the rubbermaid plastic container is popular and it seems better than the cave since it has a top and bottom and is closed except for the entrance. the only thing is...i hate the way a plastic container would look in her tank. any ideas on a good way to provide a moist hide box that looks good?

is my current method fine as it is?

Your hide is more 'open', so it won't combine heat and moisture the way a deli cup or tupperware-like container will (these trap moisture and thus create humidity...unlike a rock hide which is essentially just a hide sitting on top of wet paper towels)

Do your paper towels actually stay damp?

I'm lazy so I use a vermiculite base in my disposable tupperware containers, covered with sphagnum moss so the leos don't eat the vermiculite. This combo keeps the tub moist and humid so I don't have to re-wet the substrate very often.

If your leo doesn't have shed issues, I wouldn't worry. But the disposable tupperware containers are easy to disguise by glueing stones, fish tank gravel, moss, etc over the plastic. You can also make a large hide out of fake rock to disguise the humid hide nicely.
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Too many Leos
1.0 feline "Spot"
0.1 canine "Tika"

thanks! you're right - the rock den on top of a damp paper towel doesn't hold the humidity in the same way as the closed deli / plastic container method would. sometimes my girl (Willow) will have problems with the shed around her feet and i've ended up soaking them. i mist the paper towel daily but i'm now sure that's the source of the problem.

time to make a change!

2 more questions - will any of the moss sold for reptiles be fine to use inside the deli cup? as for decorating the outside to make it look nicer with rocks etc. that sounds like a great idea - but would the glue be toxic in any way? i'm a big worrier! what kind of glue could i safely use? thanks so much

hello ques #2 you can use silicon that is used for fish tanks to hold the pebbles or whatever you choose, just make sure u give a min. of 24hrs to dry and also it has a strong oder, so i would let it dry outside. u can purchase it from most pet shops