| A humid hide (lay box) is a place for your gecko to | | | | hot soldering iron, slowly start a hole on the circle. |
| retreat to rest, retain moisture for ease of a shed, | | | | Slowly work the iron around the line until you've |
| and even lay eggs. Most geckos do need a humid | | | | completely traced the entire line with the soldering |
| hide but you should check your animal's specific care | | | | iron. |
| sheets. This area can be decorative or simply | | | | With the hole cut out, you may want to go around |
| functional. The information provided below will | | | | the circle one more time with the iron to melt down |
| describe one way to design a low-cost, functional hid. | | | | any small, sharper points left on the plastic. |
| Click on any image to see a larger picture. | | | | Now, you are ready now to add the hide material. |
| The supplies you will need to make your humid hide | | | | One decision you will have to make will be to decide |
| include a soldering iron, hide material (I've chosen | | | | on the contents of the hide. Materials such as paper |
| vermiculite), cheap plastic sandwich box, milk jug cap | | | | towel, sphagnum moss, peat moss, vermiculite, etc. |
| (or equally sized cap), and a marker. The hole can be | | | | can all be used. Consider the material's ability to hold |
| made with a drill bit of the appropriate size but I find | | | | moisture and how easy it is for the geckos to make |
| the iron cuts cleaner and easier to use. | | | | a mess. I typically add enough material to cover any |
| Start by tracing a circle on the top of the plastic | | | | eggs the females may lay. As an example, for |
| sandwich box lid by using the jug cap and marker. It | | | | crested and leopard geckos, I add about an inch and |
| really doesn't matter if you select one corner as I do | | | | a quarter of vermiculite or sphagnum moss. |
| or if you place the circle in the middle. It also does | | | | Ready for water! I like to add enough water to |
| not matter if the circle is not perfect. | | | | make the material damp but not 'wet'. If you can |
| Before you begin melting the hole out of the plastic | | | | pick up the material and ring water out, the mix is |
| top, make sure you are in an area that has PLENTY | | | | too wet. You will need to check the hide at least |
| of ventilation. The fumes from the melting plastic is | | | | once a week for moisture. If it is too dry, simply add |
| toxic and should not be inhaled. Also, be very | | | | a small amount of water. |
| cautious with the soldering iron as it is very hot and | | | | As simple as that! |
| can easily slip, resulting in a nasty burn. Now, with a | | | | |