Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was in PetSmart the other day (for catfood), and I always stop to check out their herps. They had a gecko in there that they were advertising as a Giant Leopard Gecko. He wasn't any bigger than my largest (75 grams), he was a normal phase, and they had him priced at $199.99. My first reaction was to start laughing hysterically, but then I started to feel bad for the guy. He is either gonna be stuck there for a real long time, or he will be bought by an idiot because anyone who is silly enough to pay two hundred dollars for that gecko doesn't know too much about geckos. So I guess this is my question: is there some Giant strain out there besides Tremper's that I don't know about? Is it possible for these genes to have made their way to my PetSmart, or am I right in thinking that this is just a big gecko and the people selling him are slightly ignorant? Any thoughts?

Well, if he is just a normal phase on the large side, you might want to let the store know that they've been ripped off by whoever sold them the gecko. If they paid for a Tremper Giant and got an ordinary gecko, they need to go back to the person who sold it to them and possibly seek some legal recourse.

It's their loss, and that unknown person's gain, at this point. They might sell the gecko for that price, to someone unwitting and unknowning, but then they'd just be passing on the rip-off...and that customer might seek recourse against THEM for false-advertising. If this is an ordinary, adult normal phase gecko, they really do need to know about it. Find out if they know how old it is, first--if it's actually still quite young, and has some growing to do, then perhaps it really is a giant. If they don't know how old it is, and it appears to be a full-grown adult in all other respects, they probably got ripped off. Ask to talk to the manager who is involved in purchasing the animals, though, not to anyone else, or you might get a very cold welcome (you still might, you'd be a bearer of very bad news).

You'll have to be very diplomatic--offer to show him a photo of your own gecko next to a dollar bill, and some records that list the length and weight they usually achieve. Mention the possibility that someone else might be upset at buying a normal gecko for such a tremendous price, thinking it was a giant, since normal geckos usually sell for about 50 bucks in pet stores.

I used to work at a petsmart for about 3 years. Their "Giant" leopard geckos are just full grown regular adult leopard geckos, thats all. But for $199? we always sold them for $89. weird...
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~Melissa~

You sure it didnt say "jumbo" instead of "giant?" because we always had to be sold as jumbos now that i think about it, not giants. this was all before tremper came out with his giants, so they might want to change the name of what they call their adults.
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~Melissa~

Why do they use words like "jumbo" and "giant"? Those words lead customers to believe that there is something particularly special about the animals. If the geckos are just adult leopard geckos, then that is what they should call them.

Thats exactly what i said. and i, and the other employees, always told that to customers looking to buy one. that they're just adults, and not bigger than normal. they really need to change the name they have to sell them as (and the only way to do that is through Corporate). especially since a "giant" morph has started to be bred. its very misleading to the customers. makes no sense to me.
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~Melissa~