Leopard Gecko Stories

I thought it would be a kick to post some of our most amusing moments involving our leopard geckos, and believe me... there are some real doozies I've heard throughout the years. I'll start off with one that happened to one of my customers:

I got a phone call from someone who had purchased one of my geckos a few months earlier, and she was frantic. She had gone in to feed her leo, and he was not in his enclosure, but the screen lid was on securely. She tore the entire room apart looking for him, but he was nowhere to be found. It was all I could do to calm her down and offer some encouragement that he would be found eventually.

She emailed me almost daily, worried and heartbroken. As time went by she emailed me less and less, and eventually she stopped. Over a month went by, and I contacted her to see if she had found her gecko, but he still had not turned up anywhere. She had unplugged the UTH, and had little hope of finding him again. She said she'd like to buy another one, but it would be some time before she was ready.

About 4 months had gone by, and I got a call from her... she was freaked out! She said she was in her study where she had kept the gecko's tank, and she noticed movement from the corner of her eye. When she approached the tank, she couldn't believe her eyes! Her gecko was back in the enclosure with the screen lid still secured!!! She was overjoyed, and although the leo was a little thin, he seemed fine. No one in her family could explain this miracle, and she was convinced that she had lost her mind.

The mystery was solved the following week when her housekeeper arrived and told her she had found the gecko under the refrigerator when she pulled it out to dust under it, and after some effort to capture him (she was afraid of reptiles) she returned him to his enclosure, but failed to tell anybody.

Oh goodness! LOL!!

about mating behaviors and put a male in with 2 females. The tail went wiggling and he IMMEDIATELY jumped on the 1st female that came within reach of him. Of course, teenage boys have lots to say about the "birds & bees". I had to warn them if they didn't watch the comments I would put a sheet over the tank and they wouldn't be able to watch anymore. They were a little grossed out when he licked his hemipenes after he was done. They also got to see the eggs (after they were laid) and one class got to see a baby hatching from an egg. They were more excited about seeing the egg hatch and were amazed that the gecko fit into the egg. Teaching has its moments.

Marcia,

That's a great story! Every time I loose a gecko....... (not very often), I always check under my fridge........... and that's where he/she is


Matt

Ro, that's a great story! I have gone to schools before like that, but never had them breed. It seems the boys are quite fascinated with the fact that a male "has two of them".

But, I can beat that... I had a pair of geckos breed ON ME!!! I mean, I had the male on one shoulder, the female on the other, and they met halfway when I felt that tail rattling. My husband witnessed the whole thing while I was hollering, "Get the camera!" By the time he got the camera, they were done.

I had a koala ejaculate on my shirt once. I was baby talking it and petting it. It was all cuddling up to me and when I gave it back to the handler I was like "oh, it peed on me"...the keeper said "umm, that isn't urine!" I hate mammals. Some animals just aren't that picky...they will take care of business anywhere.

heres my story from a while back....

Well heres the deal...the sibling of the jungle i posted below escaped somehow about 4 days ago at only about 4 or 5 days old. She dropped down about 3.5 feet to the ground from her bin. So im sitting here in my room on the computer 13 stairs up (mind you i also have a hunting dog) and i see a small hatchling run by me! So after chasing the lightning fast bugger around and then into the closet and pulling everything out i finally caught her! Amazingly she still has her tail and looking beautiful. Shes now safe and sound in her Fort Knox sterilite ....heres a pic of her from last night

wow nice gecko

Hey Marcia,

We decided to try the sterilite drawers (4 to a unit) for some of our smaller juviniles. The bottom drawer had a little tremper albino about 15 grams or so in it. The first morning after we purchased it I came down stairs to leave for work about 6 am, and the drawer was open. The little bugger must have kept bumping into it and sure enough was no where to be found. I looked everywhere and moved everything, but to no avail. I was sure she had slipped into the floor vent in our living room, and I feared the worst. I woke my wife up to tell her what happened, but she was kind of groggy and went back to sleep. When she came down stairs about 2 or so hours later she picked up a bag of her scrapbooking stuff, and there she was. My wife still laughs about the look that the escapee had on her face. "Oh Sh*t" is how she described it. She is now 50 grams and none the worse for wear, although she was locked down tight in a sterilite with a lid after that.

I lost a small bearded dragon for three days once until it ran across my foot in the kitchen.......but that is another story.

Well, you jinxed me! LOL! Just after I read your escapee story, thinking, "I'd share a story but I've never lost one," I lost one!!!

I use an old dresser in the living room, one of those short but wide ones...I keep dvd and vhs and nintendo goodies in the drawers, with the tv, vcr, dvd player and stereo up there, plus two tanks and misc. plastic boxes; all my leos right where I can see it.

I had just done an evening sweep to check on all my leos and feed them again (if they seem to want it) and sat down to check the messages on Fauna. I saw this thread and had a good laugh. Then, I thought, "It would be nice to hold one of my leos right about now." The one I wanted to hold was Elvira, a jungle-stripe that was one of Crystal Light's geckos. Well, I walked over to the shoebox and found it empty...I hadn't snapped it shut on one side when I did my evening once over.

So, that night, I started looking around, checking the floor around the room, starting with the corner nearest her box. I didn't find her. It was late and the kids were all sleeping so I went to bed thinking that if she didn't turn up the next day, I'd put out bait (heating pad, food, etc.).

The next day, I tore apart my living room, moving furniture around and everything...still no gecko. 7:00 came around and it was time for my evening check. I started feeding leos and saw something behind the tv...there was Elivira peeking at me. I said, "Oh hi, Elivira...come on sweet girl," and picked her right up, thankful that she's one of my most docile leos that loves to be held! If she had ran, I didn't know what I would have done! LOL!!

She was out for almost exactly 24 hours and I tore apart my living room for nothing! She had never made it off the dresser...if only I had thought to move my little tv instead of half of my living room!!!! LOL!! The best part was that she knew what time I do my evening check and was just waiting for me. Too cute!!