how did you get into leos

[got spots?]

I was just wondering how everyone got into leos.
I personally go into them by mistake lol.
I saw an article on AOL about leopard geckos. I thought they meant like spotted iguanas lol.. Well I told my parents I want two lol! So they got me one after a week or two. By then I found out what I was getting and was very happy still. That is also the reason why I joined these forums.

SOOO how did you get into leos?

 

[Tommy13b]

I belive my Anole from school that i was given died after a year, and my mom told me i could get another, i ended up seeing them at the petstore and thought they were pretty cool and easy to care for. I went home and found out about all the diffrent morphs, so i got one...a month later i got another.... Then i found out how easy it was to breed, so i bought a high quality gecko from a breeder and waited for her to grow up, She has and now shes gravid atm. Last month i went up to the cleveland reptile show and got another from a breeder for chrismas from my dad, and last sunday i got one from a cleveland show as a birthday present from my dad.

 

[Jheuloh]

Needs an "other" option.

I got one because it was either I'd be adopting a leopard gecko or bearded dragon. As I had prior experience with a dragon, I chose the simpler care animal (leopard gecko.)

 

[Latlaw]

yeah, needs other option. I got into it for my 6 year old twins. I thought it would be a good experience for them to care for a reptile and after doing some online research, I decided on the leopard gecko because of easy care and their absolute cuteness!

Fast forward to 5 geckos later and now they are mom's hobby. lol! My kids like them but they definitely became mom's thing.

 

[gitrdone0420]

Im in the other, kind of.
When I first met Rusty, he had three leopard geckos that he purchased from chain stores. He wasnt that into it, but he was apart of this forum and pretty knowledgable on them.
I had always had a love of reptiles. As a little kid, I caught countless snakes. I had a huge iguana, turtles, so on and so forth.
I kind of grew out of it as I got older because my mom hated reptiles.
Once I saw the leos at Rusty's, I didnt quite care for them (! I know, shocking!)

We went to our first Reptile show in Jacksonville last June. I got a water dragon. I still didnt quite care for the leos. It was Rusty's "Thing". I joined the forum after I got Gary, my WD. I built an awesome viv for him and was really into. Still am.
we then went to the Tampa show and I met Mike Rekowski. =D I picked out two that I liked. I was amazed by all the colors. I think got everything they needed =]

And here we are...30-something leos later >.<

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

I to would be in other. I use to catch my snakes and lizards and i progressed into what it is now

 

[spykerherps]

I got into other herps at a younger age keeping turtles, frogs and toads. among other things , but I got my first leopard gecko as a 16th birthday present from my dad. After careing for him for 6 months or so and finding out its sex I decided to pick up a couple of girls for him for the future. bin hooked ever seance.

 

[Tony C]

I have been into herps for as long as I can remember. I got into leopard geckos specifically because my girlfriend fell in love with one at the pet store, and of course taking care of it became my responsibility because I already had so many other reptiles. :main_rolleyes: :main_laugh: After reading up on all the new morphs I caught the gecko bug and started building my own collection.

 

[Echo29]

I guess by accident. My son moved out and left his here. After doing tons of research on how to take care of his, I decided I wanted to get into the hobby. Now I have two more and am looking to add to that.

 

[gitrdone0420]

I have been into herps for as long as I can remember. I got into leopard geckos specifically because my girlfriend fell in love with one at the pet store, and of course taking care of it became my responsibility because I already had so many other reptiles. :main_rolleyes: :main_laugh: After reading up on all the new morphs I caught the gecko bug and started building my own collection.

Haha! Sounds like something I would do to Rusty =]

 

[softballstud_1099]

I went to go pick up some Black bloods from a friend and when I got there he threw in two baby leos with them. I no longer have the bloods but still have one of the two leos plus more now.

 

[Khrysty]

I was looking for a present for my then-boyfriend of four years. He was really into reptiles and amphibians and was wanting another pet so I figured I would find him the perfect Christmas gift. After countless days of research, I found an animal that fit my criteria (brightly colored, low maintenance, easily handled) the leopard gecko. I delved thigh deep into research on the animal, got a cage ready, and ordered a really bright lavender tang from CelebrityGeckos.com. Sometime in September.

See, the goal was to make sure I had all the correct information as far as husbandry went, and to make sure she was perfectly healthy and thriving in her new home by the time Christmas rolled around.

Well, two things happened:
First, I became very attached to her.
Second, I broke up with that boyfriend a week before Christmas.

As a result, my first gecko!

My sister fell in love with her in the mean time and sometime in November we decided to pick up another, just for her. We got Spike from a chain store near our home.

The goal was to grow them up, learn more about them, and then (hopefully) breed them together just once, to increase our little gecko family.

Well..
Spike turned out to be female, so in February, we bought Felix. So began our first breeding season. So many things went wrong and we got no hatchlings our first year. As a result, more leos...

There was Akira, a rescue from a friend. Then Jasper. Drogo. Drake. Kamea. Belle and Fae. Basil and Ezra. Guinny, Leyna, Camille, and the new little one.

Suffice to say the addiction is well underway lol

 

[Neill]

I am OTHER as well.

My mothers, best friend's, son, went off to college. He lost interest and was kind of scared to hold them, thought he would hurt them I heard. I personally always joked about wanting a gecko. Most likely from the weird name GECK-0. love saying it... SO ANYWAYS we go over to moms best friends house she shows them to us and they are forever known to me as THE BIG GIRLS. They are 6-8 years old. Care was kinda falling off at best (she was doing her best no fault on her). We brought them home I did the research (that's what addicts you the research). Found everything i needed to care for them. There still doing fine, but I caught the morph bug. Now i have ... (hold on walking over to count) 15 geckos 2 of which are cresties and 1 skunk gecko. Going to buy rack for babies this year!

 

[sunshinegeckofarm]

I said friend but I have always loved all animals n used to catch anoles when I was little n put them on my ears n stuff I had turles when I was little but I released them once they got too big then I didn't get another reptile until I met our neighbor when I moved when I was 12 so after caring for his countless reptiles I was interested n them so I asked him what would be best he said leopard geckos so I asked him to get me 2 and I was 15 or 16 got a male n female and bred them the next year n went to shows and now I have 52 geckos lol I got the gecko bug alright also I have like 20 plus cresties lol

 

[snowgyre]

I am other as well.

I got into leopard geckos because of a *der gaspen* BOOK. ;-) I know it's hard to believe in today's day and age. The picture that did it for me was of a beautiful male high yellow jungle in the book Geckos: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual by Bartlett and Bartlett (on page 76). I fell in love the leo's looks, and then did a whole bunch of research before I bought my first two in 1999.

 

[ariana]

i went into the town pet store to pick up crickets for my toads,
rat food, guinea pig food, mouse food, etc.
they had 4 of them in a 10 gallon...
$70 for a normal...
i went back the next day and picked the largest and healthiest.
and then made a vet apt for 2 days later.
then i went back yet again...
and got another one.
they were both healthy according to the vet.

 

[jess6905]

I got into them kinda by accident and kinda by a friend. She knew a kid who was going to dump his in a park only a few weeks after getting the poor thing so I agreed to take it in. At the time I knew enough to get started, and picked up on the rest quickly after getting him.

 

[ElapidSVT]

i wanted something to show my daughter the miracle of life. i'm more of a snake guy but they stink a little more than leos so i figured they'd do the job.

 

[jumper]

My nephew wanted one for his birthday so I bought him a little one from a mom and pop pet shop. After getting all the way to the point of wrapping the gift, I couldn't give him up. Since that was the last one ....he got a video game instead. Now I got a house full:main_thumbsup: And my nephew gets one from me every year.

 

[Alusdra]

I put 'friend' but it was really my uncle. He gave me one of his hatchlings for my 9th(?) birthday somewhere in the early 90's. We were best buds! The community now is much bigger and more lively. I would say it's a big part of the addiction as I managed to have 1-3 geckos for over a decade but since joining this forum I've topped at 10 and currently have 8. Haha.