Lost Gecko Story

Hey everyone. For those of you that knew I was gone...I'm back now. I had something really strange happen this evening as I walked in to clean and feed my geckos.

It started off with a scary moment. As I walked into the room in my bare feet, I halfway stepped on something small, cool and bumpy. At first it looked like a toy lizard on the carpet, but then I realized it was a very real juvenile leopard gecko. The problem was, all of my geckos were safe in their cages, which I quickly confirmed even before I picked this one up. She was not harmed by my foot, and seemed healthy overall, but a little skinny.

I called my wife upstairs to see if she knew where it had come from and this is what we figured out. We had a not-so-good breeding year last year and when I left in September we only had two hatchlings. Right after I left, my wife found an empty cage and looked around, but couldn't find a gecko to go with it, so thought there wasn't supposed to be one in there. Well, apparently there was and it had escaped and survived about 6 months in the room without being seen by her, the cat, or our dog.

Here she is a little skinny and secure in a new cage.

Rob, wow what a story. Six months?! I'm glad you found her though. It's amazing how long they can survive outside of our controlled husbandry. I had one escapee last fall that actually gained weight in the 3-4 weeks that she was loose. I was pretty shocked, but then again, I hadn't been hearing as many loose crickets chirping either.

Welcome Home, Rob!!!

I'm so glad you made it home safe and sound... I look forward to talking with you soon!

Great story! I'm sure the little skinny one will catch-up in no time once it can warm up and start eating regularly.

Rob, welcome home. Welcome home to your little lost gecko as well. LOL :scatter:

Welcome Back! Great story, she looks pretty good for being on her own for 6 months.

What a great story. Glad to see she's ok, I'm sure she'll bounce right back now that she's been found. Welcome back.