Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am very interested on how people get started in Keeping and/or Breeding geckos. I ask that everyone Respond to this post because i think some of the stories will be facinating. Also, by telling something about yourself it will help others get more involved. Just kind of an ice-breaking exercise. I think it will be fun!

i started with one gecko from Petco about a year ago. I bought him because my dog had recently died and my mom refused to get another one. She didnt want to get another animal because of the hair all over the house, not to mention with my sister and i going to college there would be no time for a new puppy to be trained and house broken. In spite of her i decided to get and animal with no hair and something that would require little training. I ended up with Pete my First leopard gecko. Since then i have caught the "gecko fever" and have been expanding my collection since. 2.2.2 Leos and 1.1 Cresteds

I had a family which joined my church who were big-time herpers. When I took a call to a campus church - my lobby had an aquarium with salt water fish - that was just in horrible shape and nobody looked at. I called my herp friend - and asked him if he had any animals which would be cool. He suggested a leopard gecko - and gave me my first one .

I put her in the tank and had a naming contest for the college students - which they named "Geico". In a few months, my friend gave me a cool male, which we named "Studley", because they caught him doing the job right after one of our services. LOL.

That was about 5 years ago - now I have several groups of leos - plus rhacs, corn snakes, pines and boas.

What a hobby!!!
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos
Email

No Fru-Fru morphs in the herp room

its all her faunlt
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-robin struck
Geckoheads And Geeks

He wanted a snake. We got him a corn snake. It died and then he wanted a ball python. He did not like feeding it so guess who took over. Being a tech I soon got interested in breeding and had up to 13 balls at one point. Since then there have been sinaloan milks, grey bands, chams, beardies, sand geckos and a couple of other things. The leos came into play as a trade for some baby snakes I had. The rest is history.

Leos are my favorite and the only thing I keep now. My sig tells what I am currently working with and on.

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Steven
Royal Gold Reptiles
Offspring available now from LV Patternless Albino stock for '03 and '04.
Working towards Bell Patternless Albinos for '05.

my brother in law used to work with these a few years ago,
beautiful snakes! I remember the first time I saw them he was passing it to me and I thought it was a coral lol.
He let me believe it for a few minutes but then I wondered why he would let a coral snake wrap around his hand like nothing

I didn't know you had so many herps Steve,
you had a tough run of luck with Rankins not long ago if I remember... how did that work out??
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4.5 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Marbled Gecko
1.1 Red Eared Sliders
0.2 Siamese Mice

I have to admit that before I got into Leos I found them funny looking. Just couldn't get over the tails. Those strangely shaped tails. I started my Lizard collection with a Savannah Monitor, and my Snake collection with a Boa. Kind of moved "backwards" from there. Dabbled in Horned Lizards, Collared Lizards, Crested Geckos, and Bearded Dragons. On the snake side I tried Kings, Rats, Milks, then Corns. My collection grew and grew, but still I overlooked those silly geckos with those silly tails. After all, they were "beginner" reptiles, surely I was above that with all of my experience and my oversized Reptile Zoo. Then my local pet store bred a lot of Leos and had a whole bunch of babies for sale. Gosh darn, they were kind of cute... I decided to make some room and just get one little baby. That lasted one week before I went back for another one, then another, then another. Within 2 weeks I had 4 little baby Leos. So cute. I just loved the way they wiggled their tails before pouncing on their crickets, and those cute little smiles! Then I discovered the joy of color/pattern changes, oh what fun! I was faced with the possibility of moving and had to part with almost my whole collection of reptiles. Which ones did I choose to keep? Well, I guess I wouldn't be here if it were any of the others, huh? I sold my entire reptile collection with the sole exception of my Leos. The original 4 from the pet store have passed on and are missed very much, my current Leo group consisted mainly of Leos from R&B Geckos. For a short time the only reptiles I owned were the Leos. Once it was determined that I was not moving, at least not for now, I broke down and bought one pet snake, a seven foot Carpet Python. I have no desire to expand my collection back to the large size, or to expand to any other type of lizard or gecko. I have found my 'niche' with the Leos. With my small collection I am able to provide much more money, space, and time to my Leos and my one Snake than I ever was able to do for the large collection. They each have their own separate enclosures. Some of the ones under a year old only have 20 gallon tanks for now, but the older ones have either a 40 breeder or 55 long, and all of the ones in the 20 gallons will eventually get larger tanks too. I don't find Leos to be funny looking anymore, and when I show off pics to my friends and they comment on their funny looking tails, I look at the pics and just can't see it. Funny looking tails? They look just right to me!

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www.LynsLair.com
3.6 Leopard Geckos
(Simba, Firenze, Scooter, Mystique, Nala, Melina, Buttercup, Sunshine, Jellybean)
1.0 Carpet Python
(Bear)
5.1 Ferrets
(Wolf, Shadow, Roland, Verdell, Boo, Sullivan)
0.1 Cat
(Mia)

I purchased nigel a beautiful normal, and my first pet repile, from Four Winds petshop in Ft collins CO and was hooked. I got into just about anything reptile. When I ran low on money I had to move back home to NY. I gave away all my other reptiles, except nigel who by the way turned out to be a female. Anyway back for a year and I went to my first reptile show in white plains. Bought a nice albino male and a patternless female and bred them this year. Now I have hatched out 13 babies and still have 9 to find new homes for.

I don't have any leos yet but I'm already storing up the necessary supplies for one. I'll be going to a reptile show and picking out one (or maybe two) leos. I caught the gecko bug a few months after getting my first and so far only herp, a Mali Uromastyx. I love my Mali so much, he's a lot of fun. After that, I heard a lot of people talking about leos and how great they were and thought I'd check it out. They sounded like fun pets and I thought they'd make a nice addition to my home. Since leos are nocturnal and uromastyx are diurnal, I'll always have some herp activity around the apartment. They are my babies
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1 Mali Uromastyx named Ra

I had a large toad collection as a child & grew up with an Eastern box turtle our family found on the road & adopted. I moved to firebelly newts in high school & have stayed with that breed for over 15 years now.
I saw my first leo at Petco this past spring & fell in love! I now have all the critters listed in my signature & keep thinking "what should I get next". I keep wondering "what's with the addiction? Why not just keep what I have now & not get more?" Anyone who can explain this to me would be a lifesaver!
I just love them. Most of my friends & coworkers can at least sort of understand my love of leos, as they are adorable even to non-herpers, but precious few understand the skink!
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0.3.0 leos, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo (Indy)
0.1.1 frogs Buffy the Cricket Slayer, Butrose Butrose Froggy
0.0.5 firebelly newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Juice Newton & Olivia Newton John
1.1.0 cats Gus & Mena