It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog, so I wanted to put one out on arboreal hides. I have felt that arboreal hides are something that has been missing in modern day Herpetoculture for some time now. It is definitely gaining traction and more keepers are starting to use arboreal hides with multiple species.

So, let’s get into what an arboreal hide is. An arboreal hide, to me, is a hide that is elevated or suspended off the floor of a cage or enclosure. A lot of arboreal and semi-arboreal species that are popular in Herpetoculture are known to climb and either drape themselves across branches or take refuge in a tree hollow up in the air. With understanding the natural history of the species you keep, you can take that information and determine what the best arboreal hide style would be for your species.

Here is one of the cage designs I use for my amazon tree boas with an arboreal hide used.

Arboreal hides add an extra dimension to the useable space in a cage. If you have a 4x2 cage but only have a water dish and hide in the cage. You end up with a ton of vertical space that isn’t being utilized. An arboreal hide can one of many solutions to fix that problem. Anything can be used as an arboreal hide. A branch screwed to the sides of the cage with a fake plant draped over part of the branch can work. A bucket with the lid screwed to the top of the cage and the body of the bucket fixed to the lid. The tracks that you can buy for the black reptile basics hides can be used.

Outside view of how this style of hide is secured to the cage. Just a couple nuts, bolts, and washers will do the job.

This style of arboreal hide is one that I really like using and want to try to make more of in the future. It is a 3d printed hide with a female mounted bracket and a male groove that slides into place. I also requested rounded corners on the inside so cleaning would be easier with no 90-degree angles for anything to get caught in. I have had a lot of positive observations with these hides. I usually fill them halfway with damp sphagnum moss, so they double as a humid hide as well.

This style also hold humidity well and doesn’t mold so using them as a humid hide works well too.

This hide is on the smaller side for this calico atb but she still spends about 75% of her time in there.

I have used a few different ideas throughout the years and feel like this particular design works best for what I have trying to accomplish with my cages. I want to show a couple different ideas I have used in the past as well as a couple from friends that have bounced ideas off of me and vice versa.

I used these drainpipes as faux “tree hollows” for atbs. This idea was good in theory but did not work out as practically as I would have hoped. I just used screws to hold the pipes in place and since there wasn’t an exact fit, I ran into issues with feces and urates leaking out of the sides. They also weren’t easy to remove since they ran the width of the cage. While I don’t think this idea was a terrible idea. I think more thought would have to go into it if you wanted to go this route.

Here is a cheap, disposable idea that Erick Hernandez (Basuca.ectotherms) used for his hatchling carpets. This idea came from a keeper in Australia and is one that isn’t a tough one to do. He reported that the carpets used the hides a lot and appreciated being off the floor and secure. This is a good idea since everything used is cheap and disposable. If the hide gets soiled, just throw it out and put up a new one.

Here’s another simple idea that Brenden Meyer (bm.exotics) used for his bairds rat. Just a to go container with an entrance cut into secured to the top of the tub he was using by a couple nuts and bolts. Just going to show that it doesn’t have to be fancy as long as it is functional. Just because you are using a tub doesn't mean you can’t use something like an arboreal hide.

Here is a setup I used for my neotropical bird eating snake. I always felt like this cage would have benefited from an arboreal hide. There is plenty of empty space in the top third of this cage that an arboreal hide could have added that much more to the setup.

With a large portion of the species I work with being semi-arboreal or fully arboreal, arboreal hides are something I want to incorporate into all my cages that I possibly can for those species. Species like Atbs, rhino rats, spilotes, carpets, beauty snakes, yellow rats. the list goes on. So, if you have a cage with an empty space towards the top of the cage, think about adding some type of arboreal hide. You might see a change in behavior, feeding habits, etc. I have noticed with tree boas, that they almost never leave their arboreal hides. I also have the hides close to the top of the cage and they like to lounge on top of the hide, touching the top of the cage a lot as well. I imagine different species will interact with an arboreal hide differently.

I would like to personally thank Erick Hernandez and Brenden Meyer for letting me use their pictures and ideas for this blog. Be sure to check them out on Instagram at Erick W. Hernandez Chacon (@basuca.ectotherms) • Instagram photos and videos and Brenden Meyer (@bm.exotics) • Instagram photos and videos