Nesting behavior is an important part of reproduction that affects the fitness of mothers and their offspring. Females of most oviparous species choose microhabitats for nesting that have positive effects on embryo development. However, choosing suitable nest microhabitats could be challenging in environments that fluctuate unpredictably. In many reptiles, females avoid nesting in dry microhabitats because eggs will rapidly desiccate. In nature, however, microhabitats with suitable hydric conditions at the time of oviposition may eventually become lethally dry during incubation. We hypothesize that females avoid nesting in locations with unpredictable fluctuations in substrate moisture. To test this, we provided captive brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) three nest conditions to choose among: 1) substrate that predictably alternated between suitable and lethal moisture conditions, 2) substrate that fluctuated unpredictably between suitable and lethal conditions, and 3) substrate with moisture levels that remained constant. For the constant choice, some females could choose moist substrate (a “safe” choice), and others could choose dry substrate (an “unsafe” choice). Females almost always nested in substrates that were moist at the time of oviposition, regardless of the level of predictability. Additionally, while constantly dry substrate was avoided, maternal choice of nest site was equally divided between the predictable and unpredictable conditions. These results suggest that nest site choice is based on immediate environmental cues, rather than the level of predictability of future conditions of nest sites.