Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, I am officially a freak. I ran to Petco to Lewiston today to find some under tank heating pads for my gecko that is coming in tomorrow. Of course I looked at their geckos. Well, I fell in love with 2. I promised myself "No more petstore reptiles" but they assured me they had been tested for diseases and they were eating like pigs. On top of all that, they have a 15 day guaruntee so even if they were acting like my first one (which did not come from Petco, btw), I would get a refund.

I got the first one because it looks like a Tangerine. I am not positive that it is though so if anybody can confirm that it would be great. The second two pictures are of the yellow one. I love its bright yellow markings and very muted gray stripes. I think the 4 black dots on its back are very interesting, so I might name it Quatro, but that reminds me of the razor so maybe not... Anyway, I almost got ANOTHER one but I restrained myself.

No worries, they will be separated from the new one that comes in tomorrow just to make sure that they don't pass any diseases to eachother. I just thought they were darling and I had to share. I'm officially obsessed.

P.S. the substrate is NOT sand - it is painted plaster as described by a member in an older post (See the housing forum).

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-Kristin

They are beautiful. Pet store lizards aren't all bad. I've bought 5 from PetCo. 4 beautiful, healthy babies and 1 that had a bad hookworm infection and died. They paided for the vet bills and gave me a refund. I've had some good and some bad experiences with pet stores and also with breeders. Although oddly enough, mostly good with pet stores and mostly bad with breeders. It's always a risk when you buy a new one. I'm glad that you didn't let a bad experience turn you off to pet stores completely. Also, you may want to see if the PetCo near you will pay for a vet to run a fecal on your new guys, the one near me has paided for all of the ones I bought to be tested.
The picture is of my first two leos, both from PetCo.

The local pet store in town admitted to me that they were mad when the delivery of geckos came in (the batch that my first came from). They shipped them really small and one even died during the shipment. Of course they didn't let me know that when I bought them... Grr.. When I talked to the Petco guy I felt pretty confident as he assured me all their reptiles are checked out by a vet prior to being allowed in the store. They had a few young adults too (separate cage of course) and they seemd perky and healthy, so I'm assuming the mine are going to be okay.

I just couldn't pass them up. At the local petstore the only geckos they have are "normal" dark yellow with a lot of black. These ones were just so bright and colorful, I couldn't pass it up. I believe the adult was a patternless (maybe even a blizzard - it was a dull light whitish yellow color with no spots) and I ALMOST bought that. My boyfriend would probably have killed me though for adding 2 or 3 extra tanks to the apartment.
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-Kristin

They are very eye-catching! I can see why they were hard to resist

You did a great job with the plaster substrate! If you want to dull down the shine a little, you can spray it lightly it with some Krylon Low Odor Clear Finish Matte spray. It's totally non-toxic and virtually fumeless.

I actually bought a krylon matte finsih, but I really didn't like the smell. Maybe mine is the non non-toxic kind. I don't know. The shine isn't too bad until the camera flash hits it.

Your tank was very awe-inspiring. I love it, and was very sad that I couln't find any fake cacti/succulents.
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-Kristin

I just saw some nice fake succulents - they looked like aloe - in a shop called "The Christmas Store" it's a chain, sorta new, and it looks more like Bed Bath and Beyond inside than anything to do with Christmas. The little things came in pots and were $1.99 each. I saw one of those stores in NJ and one in PA. Maybe they have a website? If you do find some, you can attach it with gorilla glue. It's non-toxic and super strong.
The spray you got is probably safe when dry, but the fumes are nasty when you first spray. I didn't think about the flash making it worse. The nice thing about a gloss finish is how easy it is to wipe off!

Yeah, those are some pretty color geckos. Sometimes, Petco do carry good leopard geckos from my experience. I bought two of mine from there; one is patternless yellow, and the other one is high yellow. But I bought the albino babies from the other petstore, called Tropical Haven. Same thing over there; sometimes they have good healthy animals, but sometimes they don't. However, in this case the Petco around my area really do have better animals than most other petstore, except for one. Here are pic of mine!

Can the first one pictured be considered a tangerine?
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-Kristin

I am by no means an expert...but my first thought when I saw the orange one was tangerine. So yes I think it is...could you post some pics of your other new baby once you get it? Those are very cute babies...our petsmart store never has cute babies...the best leopard baby i've gotten at a petstore was a blizzard. Most of our stores just carry normals....good luck to you! There is a pic of my blizzard below who is now 18grams! Also if you want hatchlings to have lighter coloring....keep them at warmer temps...i read this in Ron Tremper's new book which is by far the most extensive leopard gecko book i've seen.

By warmer temperatures, which range would you (or Tremper) suggest? I don't want to cook them.

The newest girl arrived yesterday. She shed and ate 4 crickets as soon as she arrived, so she seems to be adapting okay. She does hide a lot still, but as soon as those crickets are dropped in, she comes right out.

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-Kristin

Forgot to specify:

The first picture was pre-shed, the second picture was post-shed.
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-Kristin

What a cutie! Anyway I just checked the book and he says that a heated shelter between 88-90 F is good. But also provide a "cool" side.

Great, thanks for the info!

The gecko in that picture is absolutely beautiful.
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-Kristin

By Tremper's new book, do you mean 2005's "The Herpetoculture of Leopard Geckos"? If not please let me know so I can order it sometime.
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-Kristin

yeah thats the one....sorry i guess it wasn't as new as i thought but its a great book