Eating paper towel in moist hide

My gecko shed about a week ago and was a bit constipated until last night when he pooped out a chunk of paper towel. He's been ok so far - hydrated (poop had urate too), no blood in the stool, and his behavior is back to normal today. I switched to paper towel in his moist hide because I had the same problem with moss. Sometimes when he sheds in his moist hide, he'll ingest the contents of it along with his skin. This isn't every time, just on occasion.

So I was wondering: is there something I can use to hold water in his moist hide that he can't ingest?

This is not something for everyone but being a breeder and having so many leos, I have over 40 and there are only 3 that I have a moist hide in with them. Many of mine never used them. It is completely up to you but to me I would keep it out and see how he sheds the next time. IF he sheds fine, then I would keep the moist hide out for safety reasons. Another option that I have used with a little eater that needed help shedding is I would take a dish of water and put it right on the heat source and that created a hydration all over that tank. This I would only leave in there when you see your leo is getting ready to shed.

Hope this helps and please everyone understand that I am not saying for everyone to completely do away with their moist hides, just given these circumstances and MY experience level with reptiles.

Anything a gecko can ingest could cause impaction issues, so it's really just up to figuring out what to use to both lessen the ingestion risk, and when ingested, that the gecko can pass them out.

With that in mind, paper towels are still the safest, and coco fiber being 2nd in my opinion as long as you pick out the rough fibers and any large chunks prior to putting them in. Coco fiber is used as a laybox medium very often by breeders, and females tend to ingest some of that while digging to lay their eggs. So far I haven't seen anything that they couldn't pass, but then like I said, I do sift through them to pick out rough fibers prior to letting my geckos use them.

Thanks for the responses I might just try taking his moist hide out (or just keeping it dry) when he's about to shed and seeing how well he does, then. He's never had any shedding problems before, even when I've forgot to re-moisten his hide around shedding time, so I don't think he'll have many problems. I see him in his moist hide pretty frequently so I guess he really likes it, apparently a little too much...

The only thing I'm worried about is hydration - I've never seen him drink out of his water dish but I always see him lick the water droplets off the side of his hide.

You can try folding the paper towel into layers so it's more of a thick pad. Folding it into thirds won't leave any exposed edge they can kink up and bite. You could also use a piece of towel or a piece of smooth table mat cut to fit, something that he can't tear apart, but he could get his teeth stuck on anything rough so the table mat might be more appealing since it's a smooth surface instead if fuzzy like a towel.

I take 2 paper towels and fold them in half twice so its a nice square, then i set it on top of my moist lid and press the container part down till it locks in. Then take some scissors or a razor blade and cut off the excess paper towel. So it looks like a nice one piece folded sheet inside.

I was thinking about something along the lines of a towel too, but I was thinking that it might harbor bacteria. I'll just have to try out a couple different things and see what ends up working out best for him

I usually fold mine so it's 4 layers deep and try to even it out, too. I have the same tupperware set up so I'll have to try out that razor method or maybe even tape the edges of the paper towel so there isn't anything for him to lift up?

Tape could be hazardous as if an edge unsticks he could get it stuck to himself or possibly worse, ingest some of it... if you go with a smooth bit of place mat you can simply wash it out every couple days with anti bacterial soap, rinse it well and you're good to go.

Thanks Kermit I tried cutting the paper towel to size and folding the edges over in his hide, but I don't really feel too comfortable with it in there... So, I've taken the paper towel out of his moist hide and just left the tupperware part in there so he can still hide in it. So far he doesn't seem to mind. I think I'll give the place mat a shot when he looks like he's about to shed

I have a cricket box with a hole cut in the end and use one paper towel folded in half. The end of the paper sticks out a bit so I folded it inwards, it never occurred to me that she might eat the towel so I'll do a better job of folding the sides inwards. The edges of any cut plastic always feel a bit sharp though I've seen this on photos on this forum, so I'm assuming it's not sharp enough to hurt the leos, and it's not like they're dashing into the hide at pace.

Does the moist hide always need to be moist? It's her favourite hide, even though it's see through on all sides - I'm happy to replace the paper towel once a day, or every other day and make it damp but she seems just as happy in there when it has dried out.

I use a small natural sponge. It holds the water nicely and my little guy likes to curl up on top of it inside his hide.

My girl thought of an idea when we ran out of paper towels. She cut up a cotton cloth and used that. works well.