Best leopard gecko tank decor

The jobs

Three hides, and why the humid one is different

The warm and cool hides are about cover and thermoregulation. The humid hide is a health intervention: shedding problems are among the most common complaints in this species, and the published fix is a hide lined with moistened substrate at 70-80%, placed at the middle to cool end. It should be a closed hide with a small entrance rather than an open dish of moss, because the whole point is to hold a micro-environment.

Low climbing is real enrichment

Leopard geckos are terrestrial, which is often taken to mean they never climb. They do - low. Flat stacked stone, a cork flat at a shallow angle, a low branch: all of it gets used, and it also creates the line-of-sight breaks that make an enclosure feel secure rather than exposed.

Stack stone stably and bed the base layer into the substrate. A gecko digging under an unsecured stack is the one genuine injury risk in this category.

Digging

Give the substrate enough depth and structure to hold a shallow burrow - 3 to 4 inches of a mix with a clay component. At one inch the behavior disappears, and so does the cooler microclimate a burrow provides.

What to avoid

• Heat rocks. Contact heat with no gradient.
• Tall decor at the expense of floor. Height is not the dimension this species uses.
• Unsecured rock stacks over a digging animal.
• Painted or coated ornaments with no published data - see the materials guide.
• Long-strand moss in the feeding area, which can be ingested with prey.

Live plants are possible in a dry build but harder than in a humid one. If you do use them, check the species by botanical name and deal with nursery pesticide residue - the safe plants guide covers both.