The Complete Guide to Vivarium Backgrounds
Everything you need to choose, measure and fit the perfect background for your enclosure. From ready-made designs to completely bespoke themes at no additional design cost, this guide answers the questions we're most often asked about our Viv Creations backgrounds.
Choosing the Right Vivarium Background
Your background can completely transform the look of an enclosure. At Viv Creations, you can choose from our huge range of ready-made designs or have something completely bespoke created for you at no additional cost.
We create backgrounds for reptiles and small animals in almost any theme—from natural desert, rock, jungle and woodland scenes to Jurassic, fantasy and fully personalised designs. If you have an idea that’s a little more unusual or out there, we’d love to hear it. We’re often asked to create imaginative designs, and we’re always happy to bring a customer’s idea to life. Backgrounds can be made for the internal back wall only, or for the back and side walls to create a more immersive enclosure.
We can also provide self-adhesive vinyl for the external sides and top of your enclosure, perfect if you'd like to change it's colour or coordinate the outside with your chosen design. Adhesive trims can even be added to the top and bottom front edges to bring the whole creation together.
How to Measure
For the best fit, measure the external size of your vivarium or enclosure, rather than relying on the advertised size. Internal dimensions can vary between manufacturers. If you have the make and model of your vivarium, please include these also. The more information we receive the better for ensuring that perfect internal fit. Next, measure the internal area where your background will actually be fitted.
Measure the length and height of your back wall and, if you'd like matching sides, measure the width and height of the side walls too. If you're ordering vinyl to cover the outside of your enclosure, measure each external panel you'd like covered separately.
If you're unsure what measurements we need, just get in touch before ordering and we'll be happy to help.
Self-Adhesive or Non-Adhesive - Which should I Choose?
Self-adhesive is a good choice if you’re confident applying sticky-back vinyl. It needs careful positioning, with little room for error once it touches the surface. It’s easiest to fit while the vivarium is empty and fully accessible, ideally before the vivarium is built, with no lights or fixtures in the way and no substrate or dust on the surface. Once applied, it can’t be reused, so it isn’t suitable if you may want to change the theme or transfer the background to another vivarium.
Non-adhesive is usually the easier option if your vivarium is already set up with lights and fixtures, access is limited, or you’re not confident applying sticky-back vinyl. It also gives you more flexibility if you think you may want to change the theme or move the background to another vivarium.
Both finishes use the same background material, so choose the one that best suits your vivarium, your fitting confidence and whether you may want to change the background later.
How to Fit a Self-Adhesive Vivarium Background
For the best finish, we recommend watching our fitting guide before you begin. Our step-by-step video shows how to position and apply your self adhesive background smoothly and helps avoid bubbles, creases and misalignment.