What is a humid hide and why are they important?
Most reptile keepers know that reptiles need hides. It helps them to have a place they feel safe to hide and sleep in and significantly reduces stress if they're done correctly.
A well set up enclosure for most species will have at least 3 hides (more if the enclosure is housing multiple animals or is very large)
The 3 hide minimum isn't a random number but rather is because most terrestrial lizards and most snakes should have a cool hide, hot hide and humid hide.
I'll mainly be going over the humid hide in this post.
The idea behind having a cool hide and hot hide is so that your reptile can feel safe and secure while also thermoregulating. Because reptiles are ectotherms (don't produce their own body heat) they need to move around to keep their body at the right temperature. This is why it's important to have a heat gradient throughout the enclosure. If you only provided a cool hide for instance if your snake was more nervous they might not go over to the hot side and as such might have issues digesting for instance.
So what about the humid hide? Allowing your reptile to thermoregulate is super important but reptiles are also special in that they get most of their hydration through their food and humidity. Dehydration is more often that not caused by too low humidity rather than no access to water. Naturally their cool side will be more humid than the warm side but only slightly. It's very important to allow your reptile to regulate humidity and not just temperature. Too high or low humidity can cause issues and even species that normally like lower humidity may sometimes want to be in a more humid spot such as during a dry spell or when they're shedding. Please note that a humid hide is NOT an appropriate replacement for proper humidity in the enclosure.
I've even heard of a humid hide saving the lives of someone's reptiles! They kept a fair few species that needed higher humidity and went on vacation. They had someone who was supposed to come look after their reptiles but an emergency happened to them and so they couldn't come. When they got back they found almost every single one of their reptiles in their humid hides because the enclosure dries out much faster than their humid hide. If they didn't have humid hides their reptiles may have died of dehydration or gotten seriously ill.
If they're spending so much time in the humid hide that they develop issues which is very rare and only can happen in some species a vet visit is in order as there is likely something wrong which is causing them to stay in an environment that is too humid. Most reptiles are great at self regulating and very very few will need to have limited humid hide access.
I've found in my snakes the humid hide is the favorite as it makes them feel the most secure due to the moss. Consider adding some dry moss or cover inside of your other hides as that could be the issue!
Keep an eye out for part 2 where I go over how to make a humid hide cheap and easy!
