Pics?In a fun twist to all of this, 3-4(?) years ago Tom and I were speecking about incubation substrate. I was “Old school” knowing I needed to use perlite and he was going on and on about them eating it. Ultimately I changed my ways and instead went with damp paper towels. Again, Tom warned me to watch to ensure it wasn’t getting eaten. Again, as if looking over my shoulder, Tom was correct in that call, I was watching my hatchlings going at those wet paper towels with gusto!
The problem is you’ve still got to provide hydration for your youngin’s without giving them the opportunity to “play” in water or eat the medium. What I’ve found works great for me, (and yes, I stole the idea here) is I place an aquarium air-pump outsider the herbavator. To this I add an air stone submerged in a heavy bottomed coffee mug. I have the air pump hooked up to my humidifier so they both come on at the same time. This works so well I set my current leo hatchling up with the same setup for her indoor enclosure.
I regularly feed weed and grass clumps, dirt and all, with all the creepy-crawlers in them. I’ve never seen one eaten, but then I don’t watch for that either. Typically, I place these clumps under the PowerSun figuring maybe I’d get a longer life from them. Now, I may start spreading them out more to provide a larger selection of hides than the one currently always used. I’ll let y’all know.