Key Takeaway:
- Misting not only maintains the required humidity but, also gives leopard geckos multiple hydration opportunities.
- Leopard geckos are desert animals but they could do with some moisture in their enclosure.
- Misting a leopard gecko’s tank is necessary to maintain humidity levels of 30% to 40%.
- Misting is crucial in promoting plant growth in the tank. Besides, misting helps promote better shedding.
- When misting a leopard gecko tank, you can do it manually or install an automatic misting system.
- Avoid misting the enclosure excessively as it may raise the humidity levels to unsafe levels.
- Never use tap water or unpurified water to mist the gecko’s enclosure as it might contain chemicals and harmful impurities.
You’ve probably noticed that a fogger is a crucial leopard gecko tank accessory. Well, it turns out that leopard geckos need a bit of moisture in their tanks.
These pets thrive in low humidity but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t mist the enclosure.
In any case, misting the enclosure is key to keeping the leopard gecko hydrated. Moreover, misting the enclosure makes shedding significantly easier for your pet leopard gecko.
Nonetheless, you ought to be careful about how you mist the enclosure. Misting the enclosure often might increase the humidity to undesirable levels and expose your leopard gecko to respiratory problems.
Luckily, we are here to guide you on how to mist the enclosure the right way.
Do Leopard Geckos Need Misting?
Yes, leopard geckos need misting even though they originate from low-humidity areas. Misting helps maintain the humidity levels between 30% to 40%. Besides, leopard geckos need a certain moisture level in the air to stay hydrated.
Misting is necessary if you live in an area where the air gets so dry. You might also have to mist the enclosure often if your leopard gecko has complications with shedding.
Do Leopard Geckos Like To Be Misted?
Leopard geckos may appreciate a light mist daily as it provides hydration opportunities.
Your leopard geckos will happily drink dew drops that form on plants after you mist the enclosure. Just be careful not to mist the enclosure excessively.
Importance Of Misting Your Leopard Gecko’s Tank
Misting your leopard gecko’s tank is important in many ways. Therefore, you have many reasons to install a misting system in the enclosure. Here is why misting a leopard gecko tank is essential:
Promote Better Shedding
Leopard geckos have to shed their skin once they outgrow it. During this time, you must provide your gecko with humid conditions to promote smooth shedding.
A moist hide and slightly high humidity should help the gecko shed its old skin without problems.
Your gecko shouldn’t have old skin stuck on its toes, limbs, and tail when you mist the tank often during the shedding period.
Hydration
Hydration is a great way to keep your leopard gecko healthy. By misting the enclosure, you provide your gecko with endless opportunities to hydrate. Leopard geckos can lick off water droplets from leaves, dishes, and tank walls.
A well-hydrated gecko is less likely to suffer from skin problems or impaction. Their skin will look pretty good if you keep them hydrated.
Maintain Humidity
Leopard geckos require a humidity of 30% to 40%. To maintain these humidity levels, you must give the tank a light mist once a day or twice a week depending on how dry the air in your home is.
You want the tank humidity to remain consistent throughout the year.
Plant Growth
A terrarium with live plants needs regular misting. So, assuming you have some hardy plants in the enclosure, you should mist them twice or thrice per week. Doing so will help the plants grow and remain healthy.
How To Mist Leopard Gecko Tank
Misting helps meet a leopard gecko’s daily moisture requirements. However, you must be strategic when misting a leopard gecko enclosure. Here is how you should mist the leopard gecko tank:
Manual Misting
If you don’t have an automatic mister, you can choose to spray the enclosure manually. This requires you to purchase a cheap spray bottle.
You’ll then fill the bottle with purified water and spray it into the enclosure. Ensure the water is at room temperature before spraying it into the habitat.
During your routine misting, you should observe your gecko’s behavior. Does the gecko enjoy being sprayed directly or not? If not, you should spray the water away from the animal to avoid stressing it.
Leopard geckos don’t need excessive moisture; a few squirts of freshwater should be enough. You should only spray the tank a few times a week to avoid raising the humidity to dangerous levels.
You might have to set reminders if you opt for the manual misting method. This way, you won’t forget to mist the enclosure.
Automatic Misting
If you don’t have time to manually mist your enclosure, you can decide to purchase an automatic misting system. This system can be set to mist the tank at a specific interval.
An automatic misting system is very convenient because it will always do the job for you. The system can spray the tank once it detects that the humidity levels have dropped.
At least you don’t have to fret about forgetting to spray your tank at the required time. Your tank’s humidity will always be at the recommended levels regardless of whether your gecko is shedding or not.
How Often Should You Mist A Leopard Gecko?
Leopard geckos have low humidity requirements of around 30% to 40%. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to mist their enclosure daily.
Misting the tank daily might increase the humidity to unsafe levels especially when dealing with adult geckos.
If possible, you should only mist the enclosure twice a week to ensure the humidity levels don’t drop below 20%.
Tanks housing babies and juvenile geckos might need daily light misting because they shed more often.
Automatic vs. manual Misting
As we mentioned earlier, you can opt for automatic or manual misting. As the name suggests, manual misting means you have to use a spraying bottle to keep the air moist.
On the other hand, automatic misting means you are using an automated system to keep the enclosure moist.
Automatic misting is much better than manual misting because of convenience. Besides, an automatic mister will only spray the tank when the humidity levels start dropping.
Manual misting requires you to monitor the tank’s humidity levels actively so that you know when to spray the enclosure.
Unfortunately, sometimes you’ll forget to mist the enclosure, leaving the leopard gecko vulnerable to dehydration and shedding issues.
What Not To Do When Misting Leopard Gecko Tank?
Misting a leopard gecko tank may seem like an easy task but people still make mistakes. Here are some of the things you shouldn’t do when misting:
Excessive Misting
Misting a gecko’s tank is fun but that doesn’t mean you should overdo it. Some people get carried away to the extent that they spray excess water into the tank.
Excess moisture in the habitat exposes the gecko to respiratory issues. The leopard gecko will have labored breathing if the air around it is too humid.
For safety purposes, you should mist the tank lightly twice or thrice a week depending on your area and the age of your pet gecko.
Moreover, you should only spray the enclosure when the hygrometer indicates that the humidity levels are dropping below 20%.
Using Tap Water
Tap water isn’t good for misting a leopard gecko enclosure. You just can’t use any water to spray the tank.
Remember that your leopard gecko will lick water droplets that form on plant leaves and glass walls after you spray the enclosure.
To protect your gecko from infections, use purified water to spray the enclosure. Bottled water and regular tap water may contain harmful chemicals that could jeopardize your gecko’s health.
Don’t Spray The Gecko Directly
Some people may opt to spray their leopard geckos directly. While some geckos enjoy being sprayed directly, you shouldn’t always do it. Doing so might affect the gecko’s breathing ability.
If possible you should spray away from the gecko to avoid causing problems.
Can Leopard Geckos Absorb Water Through Their Skin?
Yes, leopard geckos can absorb fluids and electrolytes through their skin. This ability helps the geckos stay cool and hydrated.
That also explains why geckos need a humid environment to ease their shedding process.
Summary
Leopard geckos don’t need high humidity, but you must mist their enclosure to keep the humidity between 30% to 40%. Besides, misting is important when the gecko is shedding its skin.
You can mist the enclosure manually or install an automatic misting system. The latter is the best because it will maintain the required humidity levels automatically.
