mirrored aquarium

[Nomad]

I'm supplying a classroom with a high yellow male as a classroom pet and noticed the teachers aquarium had a mirrored back and it made me wonder will a male try to fight with its own reflection, should I get some background paper to block it? any thoughts are greatly appreciated.:main_thumbsup:

 

[LeapinLizards]

In my experience, yes. I used to have a little tank I put my geckos into while I cleaned their huge setups. When I would set ANY of my geckos in there, male or female, they would react to their reflection...lunging at it, whipping their tails around, etc. Being that it's going to be a change in environment as it is for the high yellow, stressing him out even more with a "ghost gecko" that mirrors his every move but he can never quite seem to get, probably wouldn't be a good idea!

Another thing to keep in mind, assuming it's the actual aquarium that is mirrored (and not the wall it sits against) you'd have to put the paper on the inside to block the mirror and that wouldn't be good either. Paper is a food source for most feeders. Another thing to worry about would be contamination from excrement of both feeders and gecko. To get it TRULY clean would be almost impossible, making bacteria a problem.

When I noticed how they were reacting to their reflections, I found a different tank on craigslist for $10

Good luck, I'm sure the kids will love him!

 

[nats]

LOL! yeah, I do think you will need to cover that mirror.

Or, get a proper terrarium.

 

[Nomad]

Thanks for your input. The mirror is definitely attached, somehow stuck to the outside of the glass. The background I was planning on using was the kind you get from the pet store not sure what its made out of but its fairly tough, almost laminated seems like its water resistant. Hopefully feeders would be more interested in carrot pieces in the tank. I may try to remove the mirror first, we'll see. Its a nice size tank and I'd like to use it if possible, but I don't want to pose a risk to the Gecko.

 

[cullens]

maybe you could use some kind of spray paint on the inside? that way you could cover the mirror and the feeders wouldn't eat it, or at least hope not. . . . lol

 

[DAWNoftheLEO]

no paint!!LOL

 

[DAWNoftheLEO]

see if you can double tape the background on... Or just a new tank

 

[blightedchemist]

That laminated aquarium background would work fine, just make sure its secured well around all of the edges so nothing gets behind it. another thought which would look nice is trying to fit some of those exo-terra foam back walls to the back and or sides.