How to Make a Blue Tongue Skink Humid Hide

Some blue tongue skink species require humidity of up to 80% in their habitats. They are classic Indonesian blue tongue skinks (Tiliqua gigas gigas), Merauke blue tongue skink (Tiliqua gigas evanescens), Kei Island blue tongue skink (Tiliqua gigas keyensis) and Irian Jaya blue tongue skink (Tiliqua sp.).

To ensure good overall health and easy shedding, a humid hide can be used in the blue tongue skink enclosure.

Humid hides are easy to make at home and you can add it to your enclosure, offering your blue tongue skink a welcome hide that offers the moisture they need for a healthy shed.

Further reading:

What You Need

In order to make your humid hole you are going to need the following:

How to Make a Blue Tongue Skink Humid Hide

The first step is to ensure you have a plastic container big enough for your blue tongue skink. They should be able to move around effortlessly inside the hide. A good rule of thumb is to work on a container that is at least two to three inches bigger than your skink and wide enough that they can turn around easily.

With your container in place, you are going to want to cut a hole that is half an inch wider and higher than your skink. The hole should be cut in the side of the container, offering an entrance and exit.

When you cut the hole, using your scissors or knife, be sure to check the surface of the hole is smooth to reduce the risk of injury.

Once your hole is cut, you can prepare your sphagnum moss. Sphagnum moss is preferred as it is anti fungal and anti bacterial. It is a natural product that can retain water, offering excellent humidity levels for your reptile pet.

Cover the bottom of the container in sphagnum moss and add about a half an inch of water across the bottom. Leave for a few minutes, pushing the moss down to encourage it to absorb all the water.

Check the sphagnum moss absorbs all the water. After a few minutes, there should be no water at the bottom of the container. When you squeeze the moss, water should run freely. This will tell you that you have the right consistency and can complete your humid hole.

It’s not uncommon that your blue tongue skink lifts the lid of the container, allowing adequate airflow and decreasing the humidity of the humid hole, which is why you want the tape. Tape the lid of the container down to avoid this from happening.

You will want to check the humid hole regularly for feces and change your blue tongue skink substrate every four to six months to ensure your humid hole remains healthy and comfortable.

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