I work at a Petco in Fort Myers, Florida. For almost a year now I've had my GORGEOUS, huge leopard gecko male, Gilgamesh, or Gil for short. He is, according to my leopard gecko book, what you'd call a high-yellow with a lavender tail. He's got plenty of the classic splotch markings on his face, but down his back is just two rows of domino-like spots that run parallel to each other on either side of his spine. I've always wanted to try and get into breeding at least one of my reptiles, and of the three species I keep, Gil would be the easiest (especially compared to my Pac-Man frogs!)
However there is something very unique about Gilgamesh. He is technically wild-caught. Whether he escaped as a baby or was carelessly abandoned in my Petco, we FOUND him, living in aquatics, sleeping on the heater pumps. He is, putting it lightly, unfriendly (though using tokay gecko taming techniques I can get him onto my palm without being mauled now, haha), and I really have no idea if he's ever seen another leopard gecko. The weirdest part is he was in perfect health when we found him - nice, fat tail, hefty thick body, he's not a giant but he's about 4-5 inches shy of being a foot long. He's a great specimen!
So, the idea of keeping him with a breeding female in a larger setup someday makes me wary. I may never breed him in specific despite how pretty he is, just because of the circumstances; I am afraid of the possibility that since he may have never seen another of his kind in his life, he might attack a cage mate, even if it was a female. I'd hate to have an unnecessary death on my hands.
I do not currently have the funds or the space to start a breeding colony of any kind of critter, but after seeing the gorgeous morphs that you get when breeding, I'm definitely intrigued about leopard gecko breeding. If the time is ever right in the future and I still have Gil (I have no clue how old he is either), would it be too much of a risk?
However there is something very unique about Gilgamesh. He is technically wild-caught. Whether he escaped as a baby or was carelessly abandoned in my Petco, we FOUND him, living in aquatics, sleeping on the heater pumps. He is, putting it lightly, unfriendly (though using tokay gecko taming techniques I can get him onto my palm without being mauled now, haha), and I really have no idea if he's ever seen another leopard gecko. The weirdest part is he was in perfect health when we found him - nice, fat tail, hefty thick body, he's not a giant but he's about 4-5 inches shy of being a foot long. He's a great specimen!
So, the idea of keeping him with a breeding female in a larger setup someday makes me wary. I may never breed him in specific despite how pretty he is, just because of the circumstances; I am afraid of the possibility that since he may have never seen another of his kind in his life, he might attack a cage mate, even if it was a female. I'd hate to have an unnecessary death on my hands.
I do not currently have the funds or the space to start a breeding colony of any kind of critter, but after seeing the gorgeous morphs that you get when breeding, I'm definitely intrigued about leopard gecko breeding. If the time is ever right in the future and I still have Gil (I have no clue how old he is either), would it be too much of a risk?
. My main thing is even though he bites me whenever he can, I'll miss him when he passes away; it would be cool to have a son of his and keep his line going. He's certainly a resilient little guy for surviving so long in an air conditioned pet store, surviving without vitamin supplements, and living through our floor waxers that come in every month, haha. 