Laybox location

I put in a laybox yesterday, a plastic see through container that some morio worms came in. I put folded up kitchen roll in the bottom and sprayed it with fresh water. This is half on her UTH and half off, but it keeps drying out. Where do you guys put your layboxes?

Location is fine, but when using paper towels, you want to dip it in water or run water through it. Spray may not wet it enough. Also some brands of paper towels are thicker and those tend to hold moisture much better.

Also if your container has a hole on the top, use ones with opening on the side. Those will hold moisture better.

Oh they get proper wet haha, they are cheapy ones though. I ran out and just ran to the corner shop last night as a last minute thing. I havent put a lid on it, i just put some corkwood infront of it so Lipsy can climb up the corkwood and climb into it. I didnt want to risk cutting a hole in it and her getting hurt if it was too sharp or something, i will ask Adam what he can do so i can put a lid on it and keep the moisture in

Oh without a lid it'll definitely dry out fast, so a lid will really help.

Now if it's a plastic tupperware container, you can safely cut it on the side, and once done run a lighter through the edges quickly. This will make the cut sides smooth and safe to use.

Aah, thats a good tip (: Thankyou

i always place mine wherever it gets to 84 degrees in the bedding, inside the lay box. ....another great use for tempguns ;0....and i strongly suggest NOT using papertowels for a laybox...because if your gecko lays eggs directly on the papertowel, the eggs WILL absorb too much water and die. i use ground coco fiber, also sold as bed a beast. this will hold moisture for a very long time, and if you dont catch her laying, your eggs will survive in the coco fiber as long as the temps dont go above 98 or below 78 for extended periods. if you are sure your leo is gonna lay, please get the coco fiber, and a tempgun, this will ensure the survival of you hatchlings. plus if you gecko decides to eat some of the coco fiber, it will not compact it, or kill it...another great quality of the coco fiber. i use the stuff that is ground into almost powder, and is sold in bricks. it is only like fourteen dollars for three blocks, and that is enough to fill a 125 gal tank floor. you can also buy them singly, but it is much cheaper to buy the three blocks. i have used 300 dollar tempguns, and i will say the 50 dollar pe2 i am using now is just as good! you can even get the 25 dollar one, and it is totally worth it. trust me, and spend the money for a tempgun...you will NEVER go without one, once you use one! i honestly dont see how anyone who is serious, or even someone with one leopard gecko, does not use these...unless they are un~aware of them. they are honestly one of the most valuable tools you can have, as a herpoculturist....they have saved me thousands of dollars, and more importantly, the lives of quite a few of my animals lives. both in thermostat and incubator malfunctions! they are the one thing i will NEVER do without...anything else is workable, but not going without my tempguns. this is just me, im sure others may not see it, but after doing this as long as i have, my tempguns are my most important tool! they are simply the most used device i have...and save you any doubts, and you KNOW every temp, of every inch of anything you have...hides, water, temp gradients, animal temps, and even checking your temps! you simply cannot do most of that with any other temperature measuring device...period.

* oops, hehehe, it will not IMPACT your leo, not COMPACT IT!!! lol!

I knew what you meant ^_^ I will look into these on eBay when i get paid just before christmas. At the moment i have a sticky thermometer and i put it on the floor over the heat mat and left it for twenty minutes, i came back and it read 98-99. None of them have been inside the boxes, not that i've seen yet anyway. I have looked into everything i need to make their tank perfect and it is all pretty cheap, just waiting until i get paid now (:

good luck, and let us know if we can help with anything else!

Why is it so hard to keep the moist box moist?? Lipsy refuses to go in hers but Mario loves it in his - except its never moist when he's in it and i cant wet it when he's in it...which is all the time. Grrr, should i get some moss or something?

Yeah, use sphagnum moss It's really good.. Zoomed do a really good one, but you can also buy it from garden centres and sometimes it's already moist in the package

They cant get impaction from that can they?

You just need to get on a good schedule, and have a well made moist hide. If you are not using a lid, and you have a too large of a moist hide, it's natural for the moisture to evaporate quickly.

For me using a tupperware container, with a hole on the side, my moist hides stay moist for 2 days. And I have a schedule I go on where I change their water and re-moist their hides every other day. Do note that leopard geckos should not be exposed to high humidity for prolonged periods of time. So you actually want your moist hides to dry out after a day or two. Otherwise for geckos that stay in their moist hides all the time, they run into risk of respiratory infection.

I personally choose to not use sphagnum moss due to having seen other people's geckos die from moss impaction. But it's like sand, some owners have successfully kept their geckos on what they choose to use for the whole duration of their gecko's lives. It's a decision you have to make whether you want to chance it or not.

I did take your advice and found the plastic see through containers that their locusts came in, cut a hole in the end of them and put wet folded up kitchen roll inside and put the lid on. They're half on the UTH half off, but they dry out within a couple of hours. When they were in the tank together they had a big moist hide filled with wet coconut husk and they loved it. What would you recommend using other than kitchen roll that holds the moisture if you rather i didnt use spaghnum moss? I have found eco-earth stuff on eBay but i read on here today that someones gecko started to eat the stuff, i dont want this to happen but i want it to stay moist

That's strange it would dry out in a couple of hours, mine last at least a day. Can you post a pic of how you have it setup? Also I simply gave my opinions on sphagnum moss, you are free to use what you want to use. They are your geckos

But generally, any loose substrate has impaction risk. That's why paper towels are the most popular to use in moist hides (from one of the polls I saw elsewhere). Vermiculite was very popular a long time ago, but too many geckos died from impaction. So more switched to moss, cocofiber, and paper towels. My personal recommendation is to use paper towels especially if you have a juvenile or sub-adult. You can try cocofiber if you have an adult, as cocofiber is a highly recommended moist hide & laybox medium. But I wouldn't use anything loose if you are housing hatchlings, juveniles, or sub-adults.

if your hole is on top, or just too big, it will dry out faster. i use a sandwich sized sterilite. fold up three papertowels, and SOAK them...i pour water right in on top of the papertowels untill they are sopping wet. mine stay moist for five to six days, directly on the heat. i have an entrance hole just large enough for them to enter on the side of the box...these work really well for me...and i WILL pour water in there if the gecko is in the box, it does not seem to bother them much, unless i pour it on thier toes, lol.

Haha, the hole may be too big then, i didnt want them to not use it if the hole was small, Lipsy is picky about that thing i think, i've never seen her in the smaller coconut in the tank, she has the big one and Mario has the little one, even though Mario is bigger than her - but he still sleeps in it a lot of the time. I spoil her :') I will get a picture tomorrow and show you, just about to jump in the shower now and then off to bed. I've cut out the entire end of the container just so they know they can get in it. She went in the peanut butter jar and that was a lot smaller than this container but the hole was a lot larger and it was filled with coconut husk so it didnt dry out at all really. She has been in it twice today but i think that is only because she is ovulating/gravid and Mario got bored today and climbed the divider for the first time in ages and stole her warm hide :') She gets moody when he's around, i think because she's "on the blob" shall we say men obviously annoy her (Typical) But he soon buggered off back home and she went back to bed haha. Plus they both get bothered easily, if i open the lid they both get a bit uneasy at first so if i lifted the lid to pour water in they would just run off into their warm hides and they look so cosy in their moist boxes i hate disturbing them