# Exo Terra Backgrounds!



## HowseR21 (Nov 5, 2011)

Does anybody else find these nice to look at but have areas which could be improved.

I love the fact that its black polystyrene so if its scratched or whatever, it still looks good.

But crickets and other small critters just love getting down the back. I know it's there for running wires etc.

I've recently set up a big terrarium, I put the end with the inlets on at the bottom with the hope of stopping crickets climbing down the back which works good. But having a burrowing invert means that they're now cramming themselves into that available space..... Not good.

The critters I've just had to free from that little trap are 3 emperor scorpions, got pinched a couple of times to. 

I've got no problem in the lil guys burrowing  after all they love to burrow. But they were stuck, most people know what size gap I'm talking about. Imagine 3 juvenile emperor scorpions crammed in there. I hadn't seen them for nearly 2 days. Even though they're usually scurrying about at night.

Good thing I remembered crickets getting down there before so I had a look.

They're all ok now though so no harm done, I've blocked up the gap now aswell.

And just to calm the minds of any other emp keepers; I've got at least 3 inches of coco fibre in their (depth wise) and between the 3 of them I have 5 hides.

They're well looked after, I'm just having a rant over a logical idea that can be really annoying when some little critter finds out they can squeeze down there


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## Gratenkutzombie (Dec 28, 2012)

I'm not keen. My OH woke me up one morning in hysterics, telling me that our leopard gecko had escaped. After a few mins searching i found her behind the poly background pressed up against the glass. Couldn't believe the tiny space she managed to fit down. Anyway, that taught me a lesson and haven't used since.

I spose you could file/cut down the poly at the bottom so that the gaps aren't there anymore, and then to place the thermostat probe and thermometer wires through pre-drilled holes and then do something with the newly created gap at the top? Maybe you could 'fill' in the gaps instead?


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## HowseR21 (Nov 5, 2011)

Gratenkutzombie said:


> I'm not keen. My OH woke me up one morning in hysterics, telling me that our leopard gecko had escaped. After a few mins searching i found her behind the poly background pressed up against the glass. Couldn't believe the tiny space she managed to fit down. Anyway, that taught me a lesson and haven't used since.
> 
> I spose you could file/cut down the poly at the bottom so that the gaps aren't there anymore, and then to place the thermostat probe and thermometer wires through pre-drilled holes and then do something with the newly created gap at the top? Maybe you could 'fill' in the gaps instead?


Yeh we'll they look the part don't they, and they're a reputable brand with some outstanding products! But that gap even though it has a genuine purpose, it's just a Hazard to small animals/livefood


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## cjd12345 (Nov 2, 2011)

A bit of tightly rolled kitchen roll fills those gaps in my ExoTerra backgrounds. Stops my garters getting behind the background by that route, but one of my boys has worked out how to get down the back by going over the top so I've taken some of the high plants out of his viv for now.


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## ch4dg (Jul 24, 2008)

just get a sponge (the sort of kitchen sponges with the green scourer on oneside) and cut it a bit bigger than the gap and push it in
can be seen on the top of the pic










i also tend to grout mine and it makes them rub robust against crickets....also emps will defo be able to burrow throught the poly if they decide to


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## Fwoggies (Feb 21, 2013)

If you have some of that dried reptile moss, wet it and push it in the gap along the top. It works really well have done it in all my vivs


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## PhillyDee (May 17, 2010)

Blcoked all mine up, but the crickets have eaten tunnels through the whole thing. I will be removing it and using gorilla glue and coco fibre on the back.


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## wezza309 (Jun 21, 2012)

I turned mine over on my old viv .So the cut outs where at the bottom with coco fiber and used some blue tack ( non toxic ) where the cable slides are on the lid .
I will be gorrilla gluing and coco fibering the back soon before I get anything for the old viv


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