ACrylic paints and leopard gecko hide?

roach dude

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
401
Can i paint my leopard gecko's hide. Its basically a flora (butter) tub and it looks realy ugly. I would like to paint ti browny yellowy greeen with acrylic paint, are these toxic or harmfull to my leo?
 

Falyn

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Messages
94
honestly id say no just because alot of paints can be toxic, so you might want to look into if its toxic to animals or not it should say on the bottle if it is or not but personally i wouldn't.
 

Mushroom Spore

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
4,588
Yeah, if you want a more attractive hide, I'd suggest just going to the petshop and picking up something that looks like a log or a rock or something. :) Then you won't have to worry about toxicity.
 

roach dude

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
401
Nah its just its a moist hide so needs a bottom... will check, it dosent smell or anything.
 

LeilaNami

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
2,164
i believe acrylic is nontoxic but you have to let it ventilate well before using the hide again
 

AneesasMuse

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
838
..just cuz it doesn't smell to your human nose, doesn't mean the Leo can't smell or be affected by it. :)

On the same note, I use water based acrylic paints on some of my artsy birdhouse gourds and cure them with a "known" nontoxic aqua spar after... I haven't seen or heard of a bird death yet. (The idea came to me from many other gourd artists, as well... so if your paint is water based, it may be safe.)

Good Luck!


P.s. You could probably attach stickers or contact paper (sticky backed paper) to hide the "butter'ness" of your Leo's hide ...and if you're going to do all of this, you may as well do as MushroomSpore suggest and just go buy a cool looking one. ;)
 

roach dude

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
401
Lol yea true.. i got one cool looking one, likea realy naturall one but it cost about a tenner. And i need this for a moist hide so i htink i will just put up with the butterness! who knows!
 

AneesasMuse

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
838
I just thought of something else...

You could buy a fresh coconut at the grocery and only make a small enough hole in it to get the "meat" out and/or let your Leo in. Once it's clean, you can stuff it with sphagnum, or whatever media you use to keep it moist for a shedding hide.. and it will look perfectly natural.

You could do this with an appropriantely sized and shaped gourd, as well.. but you'd need to cure the inside. I use Nordic Oil to do it.. it's food grade safe for humans, so no harm to anything else.

Too bad you're in England or I could just slap a postage on one and send it off to ya. :rolleyes:
 

roach dude

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
401
Thats a good idea but arent coconuts round and wouldnt it just roll about the place iwth a loein thats got half its skin haning off... lolw what a image!
 

AneesasMuse

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Messages
838
LOL ..uhh, yeah... that would be funny to see. Little Leo trying to change his "clothes" and spinning around like in a clothes dryer {D

I think you can probably fix the coconut into the substrate if you push it down a little... whether you use sand or bark, etc. Or you could silicone a circle around the bottom... let it dry.. and it will serve as a base to make it stable. (I think I need to market these things :D )
 
Top