Emp buries water dish

My emperor's favorite spot in his terrarium is under a log plant which is on the heated side of the cage. It's also pretty close to the water dish. He's only done the a couple times but sometimes I see that there is a whole mound of substrate that he pushes from around his burrow into the water bowl.

I believe that this could be for two reasons, one, he may just be simply doing this on accident and I need to move the dish somewhere else. OR he may be doing this in order to soak it into the soil so he can sit in it for some more humidity. If this were the case, should I get a sponge (if so, what kind?) or increase how often I mist the cage?

any other suggestions?

He's doing it by accident. The excavated substrate would be piled there regardless of the water dish.

My Emp does the same thing on occasion:

You should keep your substrate moist enough so that a few drops of water are produced if you squeeze a handful of it. Note the color of the excavated coco fiber in my picture. You can achieve this by pouring water directly onto your substrate or by using a false bottom setup. Misting is usually fruitless as most of the moisture evaporates before being absorbed into the substrate. If you keep the substrate moist, the humidity in the air will take care of itself.

shebeen wrote:

He's doing it by accident. The excavated substrate would be piled there regardless of the water dish.

My Emp does the same thing on occasion:

You should keep your substrate moist enough so that a few drops of water are produced if you squeeze a handful of it. Note the color of the excavated coco fiber in my picture. You can achieve this by pouring water directly onto your substrate or by using a false bottom setup. Misting is usually fruitless as most of the moisture evaporates before being absorbed into the substrate. If you keep the substrate moist, the humidity in the air will take care of itself.

Great post Richard.