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USELESS-KNOWLEDGE.COM (USA) 09 January 05 An Unusual Love Story (Maureen Heidtmann, Among other things, I am a wildlife rehabilitator, specializing in reptiles and bats)
From across the glaring, hot room he regarded me with unblinking eyes, at once interested and aloof. It was like a scene from a bizarre version of Casa Blanca. I gazed back at him. He was handsome, but I was not yet in love. That would come later.
I am a woman, he was a Tokay gecko. Our matchmaker was my son, who would not leave the pet shop without the exotic lizard. So, I pointed to the speckled beastie and said, "I'll take him"
The creature's tubular body writhed, its mouth opened threateningly, and it emitted surprisingly loud blasts of sound, like a small emergency vehicle, as it was removed from its tank and placed in a cardboard box for transport.
At home, I took a closer look at the reptile. Its head was mostly mouth, with two intense eyes seemingly stuck on with glue. Impressionist dots of many colors - lapis, turquoise, emerald, terra cotta and pearl - covered the body, and blended together to create an overall aquamarine hue. I named him "El Greco" for the artist who painted strange, beautiful, elongated figures.
"Greco" was not a work of art, but the pit bull of the herp world. While installing him in his new tank, Greco bit me, and held on, like scaly vice-grips. I had to unclamp his jaws from my finger. It was a scene that would be repeated many times. Cleaning Greco's tank was a wildlife adventure in miniature.
As time went on, I became more and more captivated by my hostile captive. I wanted him to be content, robust and rippling with pigments. A good chunk of my day was spent seeing to Greco's diet.
Greco stalked his prey at night, like Count Dracula. I, like the mesmerized Renfield, provided him with victims, and I often found myself on my hands and knees, poking into dark corners and under rocks and leaf piles searching for squirming vittles. When satisfied with my catch, I would present the prizes to Greco: "Look, Master, a nice juicy spider!"
Greco ate and grew. I wondered how large the party colored monster would get. He was fat, sassy, nasty. His golden eyes glowed like halogen bulbs.
Then everything changed.
He was about two years old when he stopped eating. Greco went into a profound funk. He was listless and no longer seemed to care about anything. The fat reserves in his plump tail began to dwindle. I had to do something, so I decided to force feed him. I concocted nightmare mixtures. Getting the glop into his mouth was easy because, in spite of his ennui, Greco still wanted to bite me. "Open wide! Good boy!"
Slowly, his health returned. No longer a languid lizard rug, Greco was again climbing branches and "barking" loudly when disturbed. He was his old self again, with one exception: During his long illness and convalescence, he changed from pit bull to pussycat. He now liked to be held, and would not eat unless I fed him his wriggling dinner by hand.
I read somewhere that Tokay geckos live only about three years in captivity. If that's true, then Greco was supernatural, or extremely stubborn, because he held onto life more tenacioiusly than he adhered to walls.
But, eventually, he began to fade. After ten years, Greco started his decline into old age. His long, muscular form became loose, like a 1920's "Flapper's" beaded purse. Again, he stopped eating and, again, I spoon fed him. The special mixture sustained him for a while, but he could not rally against time.
Most of us think that reptiles, along with their cold blood, have equally cold hearts. We think that they have no emotions, and certainly can't feel affection. Well, maybe, but I'm not so sure of that, and here's why:
For most of his life, Greco felt at home in his large, tall tank, and never tried to escape. Except for one time. On that night, I noticed that he was very weak, and I cradled him in my hand, expecting that he would quietly die while being held. He didn't, and, after a while, I gently placed him back in his tank and went to bed. The first thing the next morning, I looked in his tank and saw that Greco was not there. The wire screen on top had been forced up and Greco, as weak as he was, had climbed out.
I found my little friend in my room, lying by my bed. He was dead.
I held his small, mosaic body: Lapis, turquoise, terra cotta, pearl. A work of art.
An Unusual Love Story

Np
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My posts and replies are my experiences only
1.2.15 Tokays
1.4.10 Leos(13 albino)
1.2.0 AFT's(amel male)
0.2.0 Stenodactylus Petrii(Dune Geckos)