Exo Terra Reptile Caves

Reptiles and amphibians spend much of their time hidden in burrows and rock crevices. A solid cave lets yours do the same, which helps it settle, feed well, and stay calm. The natural finish blends into almost any theme. The size is overall, not the entrance or the space inside, so check your animal can get in comfortably and rest fully inside, going by its body shape and not just its length.

It suits smaller snakes such as hognose, house snakes, and young colubrids, geckos and small lizards that need a ground hide, amphibians that want a shaded retreat, as long as the rest of the habitat suits them, and bioactive and display enclosures.

• Warm and cool: one cave on the warm side, and another on the cool side if you can, keeps the temperature gradient useful.

• Bed it in by partly burying the base in substrate, for a natural look and extra stability.

• Measure inside it. Where you place it and the heating nearby decide how warm it is, so do not assume it stays cooler than the enclosure.

• Make it humid for species that need it by adding damp moss inside.

• Clean it with a reptile-safe disinfectant and rinse well before it goes back in.