Galapagos (05346) Mossy Cave Hide, 4", Green

Do not buy this for leopard geckos. I thought it'd be a nice addition to my gecko's enclosure and at first it was great my gecko loved it. But the mossy material sheds a lot. And as leopard gecko owners know, leos lick everything. My gecko was perfectly healthy until a couple months after buying this hide. She ended up with the "black spot of death" which sometimes occurs when a gecko eats something indigestible. Usually this happens when people use sand as a substrate, but I don't. The only loose material in the cage fell off this hide. There was nothing else in the cage that could have caused the blockage in her stomach.

I have already posted a review about this terrible product sometime in July (I believe Amazon removed it because I cannot see my past pictures). Therefore I will make the same comment again. The "moss" used in this mossball cave is not moss, but some sort of artificial plant.The picture on the left is a small piece from the mossball cave that was taken with a complex microscope in my lab. The picture in the middle is a picture of a green artificial lay leaf taken with a complex microscope in my lab. The picture on the right is a real bryophyte taken with a complex microscope from a quick google search. It can clearly be seen that the real moss has cells. Oval-like shapes are clearly defined in the real moss picture. The two examples of synthetic plants has the same texture - no clearly defined cells and a outer layer that looks somewhat fuzzy.The differences of these pictures show that the mossball cave leaves look the most similar to an artificial lay that I got at a party. It does NOT look like a microscope picture of a real moss leaf. This mossball cave is not just artificial dye being used, but also just not real moss. I would suggest that no one buys this to put into a vivarium with a real animal. I would have been devastated to find my pet snails dead by ingesting something possibly plastic. I would only use this in a terrarium (no animals) or as some sort of cute plant holder. I would not put this near any animals that might ingest it.Since I could not find my last comment, here is my update: Its been several months now I have left this mossball cave on a bookshelf with no watering at all. This mossball cave is still green. There is no possible way moss would still hold a green color and stay spry/fresh without any water. I have moss, that I collected from a nearby park, that have gone brown or died even with watering inside of my regularly watered vivarium. This is just more support that this mossball cave is not made with real moss and this company needs to state that this product is all artificial. It is irresponsible for Amazon to allow this product to be sold and bought while pets are harmed or killed.

With any of our pets, I wasn't sure if my gecko would like it, I couldn't ask her.The moss was dry and brittle when the product arrived. Setting it up in my terrium and misting, the moss cave hide became lush and vibrant again. The moss cave hide includes the metal hooks on either side of the cave enterance for you to hang. The metal chain was also included with the product to hang. I chose not to hang the product and set it up on the floor of my terrarium.Initially, my gecko avoided the moss cave hide. With a little time, my gecko was more comfortable around the new thing in her terrarium and investiagted. After that she would regularly hide and curl up inside to sleep.As expected the product started to decary after just a couple months of regular misting and useage and had to be thrown away. I will purchase the product again when redesigning and updating my terrarium.

4”hideout.I bought 2….. I’m a goober and should have paused and thought about how big (or small) 4” is. Lol. I have an adult crested gecko and of course she doesn’t fit!! Hahaha. But I stuck them her cage anyway.My took my girl awhile to warm up to them but when she did she crawled all over them. She loves them. I’ll get her the 6” for sure.The natural moss is shoved into a wire structure. The basic shape is made with a thick gage and then there’s a small gage wire wrapped around the larger gage to keep the shape and give the moss something to hang onto. It’s a great product. Well made. The moss drys out pretty quickly and it doesn’t necessarily get all the moisture it needs to stay supple from misting so plan on soaking the balls about once a week depending on your environment and temperature.I will caution everyone to to run your hands inside and out squeezing the moss as you go once you unpack your moss balls. Look for loose wire ends. I found several, mostly the large gage wire ends near or at the mouth of the moss ball. The ends are sticking out enough and sharp enough to inflict serious damage to an unsuspecting lizard, snake, or frog. A quick snip or maybe a glob of nontoxic sealant or hot glue should does the trick. I used hot glue and made a small end piece on the large gage wire. Worked like a charm.

I love these for my hermit crabs bought one a year ago and 1 just recently. I recently moved my crabs to a bigger terrarium and upon removing my older moss ball discovered most of the moss in the back of the hide was coming off or had already come off and wire was being exposed. I believe my crabs probably ate it off and I had no idea. It did not kill them as they are all still thriving. I am however disappointed that the moss is off of the one that is why I gave it only 4 stars. I do know wire is not good for hermit crabs.....I heard it is toxic to them. Anyway these are great hides but buyer beware, your animals may eat the moss as my crabs did. I really do not believe it is toxic as my crabs are all still alive a year later. I did buy another ball not knowing they ate the other but the do love to hide in these balls.