Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is petco a good place to buy a leopard gecko

As the saying goes....you get what you pay for. Petstore leos have a pretty high rate of parasites. You're much better off speding a little more money for a gecko that has guarenteed health and 100% support from the person who actually hatched it.
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Official Leopard Gecko Freak

1:1 Leopard Geckos - Gilean and Aurora (I have 0:3 more on the way! WOO!)
2:0 Cats - Troi and Mitsu (shhhhh...don't tell them they're neutered!)
4:0 Betas - So pretty, yet so violent!
1:0 Husband - Eric (He's a lot of work, but it's worth it.)

actually if you get one from a breeder it'll be in better health and might even be cheaper! but if you really really like the one you saw at petco...make sure it has a fat tail (might not if it is a baby), bright clear eyes, mouth, and vent, active if possible (they're nocturnal). and make sure the one you pick isn't too young. the perk of buying from a breeder is that you know its history, what it ate, when it was hatched, etc.

never mind i found a petstore where they actually care about their lizards they even figured out what size of rickets it needed also they had albinos for only $7 more so i didn't get stuck with a normal morph

And that's something I know from getting fecals done on ALL of my leos. You'd be surprised what people have going through their collections.

The perk of buying from Petco though is that if it has health issues, Petco will pay for vet costs within two weeks of your purchase. The only down side is that they pick the vet.
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www.BugChick.com

chickabowwow

It depends. While the general concensus is that a breeder is a better option, I have watched the local petco VASTLY upgrade their small animal section ( herps, birds, and little fuzzy things ... their fish are still crapola) The cages are imaculate, the various reptiles, while still housed several to a tank, are sized, well fed, and active. If only they would ditch the sand substrate It would be as perfect as one could expect from a petstore. This is not true of all stores obviously as it depends greatly on the staff and vet they work with. And since I would recommend that a new leezard be tested for parasite load wherever you get it from its not a bad local option. The major downside is that you generally will not find anything other than normals.
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1 hedgehog
10-20 leos (varies from one hatching to the next)
1 Pug
4 Firebellied toads
2 gold dust geckos

read my second post i found a better place where they were active had calcium bowl and actually knew what they were talking about i even got a albino