Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have the opportunity to buy the two geckos below for 15$. I want to, because their i'd like to see them fat again and not deadly thin, but i'm not sure if they CAN be brought back from that state. The guy says it's because they were bred recently, but those two geckos look way young to be breeding. What do you guys think? Jump in, or don't get my feet wet.

I would definately say "NO." I had the same idea about a couple skinny leos. It turned out to be Crypto and it killed all 35 of my leopard geckos. Even though they were not housed together, I screwed up somewhere and cross contaminated. It was a VERY expensive and painful lesson (as I had to watch my beloved kids die in agony). Trying to save a couple of sick leos cost me all of my others. Just my 2 cents.

Vanyul

Sorry for your loss, Vanyul. It is a hard thing to go through, I know personally, though not on that massive level.

Also consider that you can't save all the geckos all the time. Try a herp rescue, we have a great one in our state run by members of the herp society.
-----
0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

i respect the fact that you want to help these 2 animals but i def. wouldnt do it either. you feel sorry for the poor guys but you have to think about your animals at home and putting them at risk for various diseases out there. A gecko will not get that thin after breeding. i had one of my leos go 2 months without eating because of breeding and she only lost a little bit of weight, but that tail was still plump.

Stay away from skinny tailed rescues unless you don't have any other animals at home. Crypto is a killer, and you won't want to take the risk with your healthy animals.

tell me you could get them for $5 and i might say yes. then quarentine them in another room of the house and watch them for 4 months to se if those tails fill out.

i think money has nothing to do with this. $15 or $5, there really is no difference. All your doing is putting money in the sellers pocket so he can turn around and get more geckos to sell and obviously he is not a seller with morales if he is trying to off these geckos with an excuse that they have just bred.

The second one has even more than a skinny tail. Look at the pockets at the side of the head behind the eyes. It is all sucked in. This is the last area to "go skinny" before they die.

Personnally I would not take the geckos if the guy gave me $15 each to do so.

Take the $15 and put some more with it and go find a gecko that you can be proud of from a breeder with some self respect as to what they sell.

Thanks,
Don

I respect your thoughts on the moral aspect and im fine with that. I was thinking if he felt bad he shouldn't pay that much anyway but i understand either perspective. as for the pockets part of that is due to being on the verg of deaths door but i have some very healthy leos that have these arm-pits and i have some that dont. seems to be a common difference among leos.

100% agreement with the other posters. I know you have other geckos, so just don't take the risk. Looks to me like the top one might theoretically be savable (still has some fat in the tail), but it's just not worth the risk to your other animals (or your emotions if it doesn't work out). Trust me on this, I've lost one that started out looking much healthier than that due to parasites, but the gecko in question first looked normal, then like the top one, then like the small one. By the time he looked like the second one, he was almost completely unresponsive. The end was when I picked him up to hand feed him and he didn't even react/notice. Then had to make the decision to take him to the vet for euthanasia. I'm normally one of the more emotionally controlled people you could meet, but I cried that morning, because I'd tried so hard to save the little guy (vet trip for antibiotics, hand feeding him every night, etc...) that I'd become even more attached to him than before, and before he got visibly sick, he'd had such an amazing personality that I was already very attached to the little guy. It was one of the most difficult and emotionally draining experiences I've ever been through, and one I wouldn't wish on most of my enemies. It still makes me sad to think about it, but a picture of him watches over my other lizards from a place of honor up on the wall.
-----
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

Thanks guys. Some of the posts seem to make me out as irresponsible, which i'm not, hence my post before purchase. I just wanted to get the geckos off the guy's hands. He's not a breeder himself, as he says, but he has some geckos up on Craigslist. His other geckos up are fat, but most have regrows. It was just a try.

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

For the record, this is our last correspondance.

'Yeah they are both eating... it is rare that leos get any diseases or anything... They are pretty resistant as lizards go. I would not put them immediately with other geckos... not because of health concerns, but more so because of the competition for food. I have them both sep. so I can monitor what they are eating. They are skinny, but that's why they are only 15$ each. If no one takes them, I have no problem fattening them back up myself.
Joey'

I wish Joey the best of luck in bringing these geckos back.
If you can offer advice, suggest that they be hydrated daily and offered waxworm to start their feeding program.

You've received some good suggestions on this purchase. It never makes sense to purchase unhealthy animals for whatever reason.
-----
http://wkern.msspro.com/supremegecko.html