One thing that is an essential aid to
helping your leopard gecko shed, is a nice moist hide box. I recently made
new hide boxes for all my Leos, so I'll show you the process here. These
are really cheap and really easy to make.
First I started off buying a pack of 4
"Ziploc" tubs. They're the medium sized "3 Cup" tubs,
and were about $2.50 for the pack of 4.
The Pack of Tubs!
The first thing to do is find a roll of masking
tape. Then cut off a strip about 3 or 4 inches long to wrap around part of
the tub.
Tape wrapped around par of the tub at the top.
Then find a good pen, and mark two spots on the
tape. The tape is there to ease burring round the edges when you cut the
holes. The tape I used is is about 1½" wide, so I measured a spot
halfway down the tape (¾"), and about an inch in from the end. Then
I marked a spot, also ¾" down, about 2" away.
The marks where we're going to drill.
I used two different drill bits for the next
part of the process. The first bit is a ¼" bit, used to drill a hole
to guide the larger (1") bit. Well, actually it's to drill two holes,
one at each mark. Once we've drilled the smaller hole, the larger bit has
a ¼" pilot bit which holds the bit central. Drilling a 1" hole
can be tricky without one :)
These are the bits that I used. ¼" on the left,
1" on the right with the ¼" pilot bit.
Once the holes are cut, you can remove the
tape, and you will be presented with a tub with two holes in it.
The tub with the two drilled holes.
Once you've removed the tape, you'll notice
that the edges are slightly rough, but don't worry about that for now. The
next step is to either (carefully) use a craft knife, or a good sharp pair of
scissors to cut out the part between the two holes.
The section between the holes is cut out.
Then, VERY carefully, because it's easy to make
a mistake here, use a craft knife to smooth out the edges around the remainder
of the circle cuts, and neaten up the cuts we just made with the scissors.
Once you've neatened up the edges, that's about
it. Now just pack it full of sphagnum moss, give it a good mist down (I
always use bottled water. Tap-water can contain chemicals which are
harmful to your leos - or any reptile), and stick it in a warm area of your tank
so it gets nice and humid.
Your leos will love it :)
Hershey soakin' it up in her new hide.
You can also use this method to create an
egg-laying box. Simply exchange the sphagnum moss with vermiculite,
perlite, or a mix of sand & potting soil. Make sure it's nice and
moist, but not dripping wet, you don't want the eggs to drown, and remember she
will dig down and bury them.
Good luck making your new hide boxes! :)
John
