Should I mist my Leo?

[Griffinej5]

I took my first big box store Leo back due to illness, and got a new one from a local guy. The new baby is Pineapple (#2), as I'm not about to tell my 3 year old niece I took Pineapple #1 back to the store. She knows animals die, and we've had fish die in our tanks (our Leo tank was a fish tank, but fish in this room did not do well because it gets too warm in summer). Anyway, Pineapple #2 is a tremper get raptor. I think this one is a girl. The guy I got her from said he temp sexed 2 for female, 2 for mixed. I believe he called this a girl, but I don't honestly remember. I suppose I can write him and ask though, but I don't care as I will not be breeding. She's about a month old, and eating very well. I picked her up Tuesday night, and held off on food till Thurs. on the breeder's advice. Since then she's had around 25 or so mealies and 2 waxies. Not all at once of course, 5 or so the first day, then I've been putting in 10 at a time (counting out the mealies has been a great task for the 3 year old to practice her counting).
Anyway, I rarely see her out and about. I've caught her out of her warm hide (91-92 on the floor inside during the day, goes to 88 at night when I turn my ceiling fan on) twice. She was just sneaking out and heading toward the food dish when I came back into the room after taking a shower just now, and ran back into hiding when she saw me. I know she uses her cool hide because that seems to be her chosen pooping spot. I don't know if she uses her humid hide at all, as I've never seen her there, and I admittedly paranoid about the possibility of stuck shed. Would it hurt her to spray a few squirts of water from a spray bottle once in a while if I don't see any evidence she uses her humid hide? How often should I do that if I do?

 

[Yuk]

I was misting my humid hide and accidentally misted the youngest baby. She cried out (and it really startled me). I don't think they enjoy being sprayed. If it were me, I would wait a while. Mine are old enough that I can pick them up and show them a new hide if needed. If you aren't handling her, you might want to just keep an eye on her and if you see a stuck shed for a day or two then pick her up and put her in a container with damp warm paper towels and a lid slightly ajar to let her moisten up for 30 min and help her out. If it gets to that point and you had to handle her anyway, at that point you can return her to the moist hide and she can explore around it. But she will remember where it is and come back assuming it was warm, secure, and not too wet.

 

[EasiGeckos]

Honestly its not "bad" to lightly mist leos with room temp water. But I wouldn't worry much about whether or not she is or isn't using the humid hide. Make sure she has a fresh bowl of water and maybe mist the sides every three to four days. Until you actually notice stuck shed I wouldn't over do it. As long as your temps are correct and you provide a good amount of hides to not stress her out, Id leave her alone. By spraying her you could possibly stress her out even more which also increases the chances of bad sheds. Just keep up with your husbandry and she will be fine. Keep us updated

Gregory

 

[Griffinej5]

I should say I can't spray her directly, because she always hides when she sees me. I'd be spraying around her. She's always in the warm hide when I'm around, though I did see her run to the cool hide once when I came into the room. I haven't handled her at all yet. I just do some spot cleaning, replenishing of food/water, etc, and leave her alone. I did move the thermometer probe once and got near her, and she screamed at me. It scared the hell out of me. Hopefully once she gets bigger she'll calm down in that regard.
My moist hide is a plastic container with paper towels. I just have a soda cap for the water dish right now. I don't see her out and about much, and I have to peek in on her with a flash light a lot of the time. So, I'm probably just extra paranoid that I won't see it since she's in hiding so much.

 

[Griffinej5]

I caught her just now in her moist hide, so she does know how to find it.

 

[Herbiebug]

Good good. In the event that you do, at some point, see some stuck shed, helping the process along is pretty simple anyway. You can either do a bath in very shallow warm water or do a tupperware container with paper towels for 15 minute sessions (sit there with gecko while gecko is in container to be safe) to soften the excess shed. Leos do seem to be pretty smart about this anyway, so as long as you have a regularly moistened moist hide available at all times in the tank, shedding shouldn't be an issue.

As for misting, I do mist my leos tank once per day as I live in a very dry climate. 25% daytime relative humidity is typical here. Even so, I only mist the cool side and it's a very light mist. Like three seconds worth of spray and that's it. Just to get some water droplets on the plants mainly. Never spray gecko directly. They hate it.

 

[Tongue Flicker]

An early morning mist is normal in the desert where leos naturally come from and since they're still out and about before the sky gets bright, i'm guessing they won't mind an indirect fog of moisture heading their way. Like most if not all animals, just NOT in the face lol

 

[Kristi23]

Some people mist and some don't. Most of my leos do not enjoy it. I just leave water in a dish at all times plus use a moist hide. I do know that other breeders mist and have no problems. I think it's a personal preference for you and the gecko.

 

[Griffinej5]

I've been giving it 2-3 sprays in the morning. I can't spray her directly since she's always hiding from me, so I just spray into the warm area from the top.