Taken in April
Taken in May
I was horrified. Unfortunately some things came up and the money I could have used for them went elsewhere.
About a month ago we were able to sell a few things and I was able to set some money aside. It was supposed to go for the hermit crab upgrade, but I kept thinking about those two geckos. The ad hadn't been reposted since the start of May, but I PMed the woman mostly to check and make sure they had been taken by someone.
They hadn't.
I paid $60 for them and their 10 galllon (!) tank filled with wood chips (!) and no heat (!). I got ripped off, but I was so worried about them.
This is what they looked like when I got them home. He's the thin one on the left (60 grams) and she's the emaciated (30 grams) one on the right.
I immediately separated them into their own private 20 gallons with a heat pad and no substrate. (I'm one of those pro-substrate people, but only when the gecko is healthy which these two weren't.) They're a little makeshift with plastic hides, but we bought slate tiles for them and I found really nice tiles at the Restore that we just need to cut to size.
They are now eating me out of house and home. I'm pretty sure they went through 7 dozen superworms in just the past week, along with mealworms and some crickets... The goal is getting them up to weight and they should taper off on wanting food on their own like the Fat Tailed did. I haven't reweighed them recently but you can tell by their tails they're getting up to where they're supposed to be.
This is Belle:
And this is Butler:
And these are their eggs (!):
Even though they're supposedly only a year old and she's half the weight a breeder should be, because the previous owner had been keeping them together she's been producing eggs all spring and summer. She could lay another 5 or 6 times even though they are now separated. This is her second batch of eggs with me - the first ones were dead on the way out because she was so malnourished. I'm not sure these are good, but a friend of mine lent me a seriously epic incubator to try. (Duh Duh Duh....Duh-Duuuhhhh. Boom-boom boom-boom...)
Right now I'm not really planning on keeping Butler long term. I'm not sure if I want to have three geckos! But he was in trouble and I'm enjoying watching him get fat and sassy again. Belle however is staying forever. She is so tiny! She was bred so young that I doubt she'll ever grow to be a normal size. They're both cute and funny though and I just adore them. IF any of the eggs end up being good... well... we'll have to wait and see. I have trouble getting rid of babies...)
And the redone critter room. Hubby made me a scorpion love hotel which fits double the tanks but is skinnier than the previous rack. I've got 16 (?) tanks with room for two more. My allergies got so bad that we relocated the roaches and I'm in the process of selling them. (Three colonies to go, w00t!) It's so much easier now with the roaches gone - no more running nose or wheezing just from walking in the room. No more debates on if I need to go to the ER after doing the rounds. We gutted the entire room, I cleaned it top to bottom, washed all the tanks, and replaced or washed all the racks. It takes me about 15 minutes to spot clean daily and then about an hour once a week to really get into the tanks and straighten up.
Not bad for a 5 foot by 8 foot room, hunh?
And I still have room for one more 20 gallon.
I'd never seen them before I visited a friend of mine with hedgehogs (who I'm getting my new hedgie girl from once my friend & I have moved out). She gets them for one of her boys and they're just huge. I'll stick with mealworms, I think!