I'm Expecting!!!

[RaiQuee]

Yeah, thats right. Me and Ed are expecting! I'm about 13 weeks now, not showing a single bit. The weight gain is showing, but thats about it. I had some troubles getting an insurance and then finding a doctor, but finally I go in to hear the babys heartbeat on the 16th of November!

We are both thrilled about having a baby, as we have been talking about it for awhile now. I do admit though, this one was a bit of an "oopsie daisy". haha. We had planned to hold off because I was going back to school, but low and behold, someone had different plans for us!

Sadly because of having a baby, our reptiles must go This weekend I go through and dig up documents, and go through geckos. I'm hoping Ed will let me keep a small group, of like 5 or 6. Realistically, I want to keep them all, but we don't have time. All his snakes are going, all our racks are going...everything.

Needless to say, this weekend has already started pretty depressing. We missed our first Tinley show this year. I remember we were both on the sofa watching some TV and Ed looks over to me and goes "Well, Tinley is going on right now..." It just about broke my heart. This was something we were both so passionate about. I haven't been on geckoforums for awhile, I haven't seen Jeremy for awhile (I used to see him at LEAST once a month..) I can't help to have some departed feelings from the gecko community.

I can't help but feeling so low about this. He says we will be getting back into the hobby once the babies a few years old. He is scared of the baby coming in contact with bacteria. However, we finally had just got our reptile room fully done down in the basement. All insulated, and its got a door on it.

Hopefully I can convince him to keep us going strong. We both need the reptile community. We are both coldbloods at heart.

 

[techgirl]

Congrats on the baby!! I'm sorry that you and Ed are going to be making some changes, but you will be needing to make some changes when the baby comes. My pediatrician told me to wait until my daughter was 2 yrs before we should have reptiles in the house. We waited until she was 1 and then the rule was one person handles them and the other supervises the kid. We still practice that rule to this day with all the reptiles we have today. With time you will be able to grow your collection again. Congrats again and good luck with everything.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Congratulations, Desire'!!!

 

[gaparicio]

Congrats on the baby Desire'. Raising a baby and taking care of a bunch of reptiles can be very stressfull. My wife and I decided to get rid of my 6ft boa and my adult savannah monitor around the time my 4 year old was born. It was a tough decision but I felt I had to do it. I'm back to having the lizards I want so it's ok now. I guess I'll be looking for your animals in the classifieds. I hope you keep some though.

 

[traffic]

Gongratulations. Its an adventure that I look forward to everyday. Good luck and stay healthy.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

Congrats, you will be so happily busy with the baby you won't miss the reptiles too much!

 

[eyelids]

Congrats!

 

[Grinning Geckos]

Congrats Desire'!! I can tell you even though it's a bit of an oops, it's gonna be great! Cadence as a little oops also, and she's the best thing that ever happened to us.

You don't have to get rid of your reptiles, and you shouldn't feel like you should either. While it is a good idea to scale back, don't feel like you have to lose everything. The last few months of your pregnancy, and the first few months of having a baby in the house will be very busy and it WILL make it hard to care for a lot of animals.

That being said, so long as you wash after handling (as I'm sure you already do) there is NO REASON to have a reptile-free home. During my pregnancy, I never stopped handling or caring for my reptiles. Nothing - and I mean NOTHING - happened as a result of all that reptile contact.

There are reasons you might want to scale back, or go reptile-free ... but it should be because you WANT to. You know the workload 5 or 6 geckos will have. If you feel you can handle it, then keep them!!

 

[moosassah]

I hope you keep some of your collection. Even if it's only 1. We all give up a lot for our kids & they give back to us way more than you would believe...but all this you're about to learn. Have fun being prego!

 

[GeckoMandi]

Congrats!! Welcome to the prego club enjoy the early times of your pregnancy because I am 37 weeks and NOT comfortable at all lol

But it's a blessing!

 

[RaiQuee]

haha thanks guys. I guess thats why i'm a bit bummed. It seems as if Ed is being super parent and is freaking out over the silliest things. I can't really blame him tho. I mean, the reptiles will be downstairs in the house, and the baby won't be going down there for any reason. All we have to do is wash our hands, which we do anyways and everything should be fine. Even once the baby is a toddler, there will be a baby gate put up (as there is two flights of stairs that seperate the top stairs from the basement) anyways so its not like the baby will wander in and start putting things in his/her mouth.

It has been hectic as of late, me changing jobs and going back to school and him coming up on his steamfitter apprenticeship. However i want to have some side income for when i go on maternity leave and if i can just keep some of my geckos and do a show or two it would help us out a lot. I never expected to make "income" off my geckos, at least not yet, however when he goes to shows and wants to sell my investment animals for 20-30 bucks a piece just to move them I'd rather keep them and sell their babies for that...ya know?

Nevertheless, we are so excitied to have a little one in our lives! We already have names picked out. A girl will be Delilah Emma Sommers, and a boy will be Dameon Edward Sommers. We plan to be engaged before the baby is born, and married soon after. We were going to get married before the baby was born, but personally I didn't want people to think we got married just because of the baby. We have been planning this for awhile, Ed just needed a bit of a push

So tell me, how do I pick 5-6 geckos to keep outta 50?

 

[Grinning Geckos]

Haha....no advice there. Just know that you can keep some!

 

[marula]

i'm soo glad for you! is a really good news! i'm soo exiting for you ..my sister has got a babies and she has got in the house ferrets, cats, dogs and some geckos..no problem at all..only more work for her boyfriend ;-)
good luck and keep us update !

 

[Alusdra]

It's good you're keeping some geckos. You don't want to be bummed at such an awesome time in your life. I certainly wouldn't want any regrets about having a baby. You should be fine with careful cleanliness procedures. I would imagine that selling all your geckos and then getting more at a later date would be more hazardous, disease-wise, then keeping the ones you have now. Theoretically, with vetting and you having them for long times/ since they were born, they should be relatively disease-free, versus random source replacement geckos.

It bugs me when doctors tell people to get rid of their animals when they are having babies. They should instead educate on the possible zoonotic diseases from the different animals, caution against contact and then give good advice about how to properly sanitize in order to avoid transmission. Your vet might be able to get you that kind of info if you ask him/her- most vets get a lot more zoonosis training in school and as continuing ed than do human doctors.

As for the work involved- definitely a good idea to cut back! My advice for deciding which ones to keep is to go ahead and say- "I'm getting rid of them all!" then the ones that you go "Noooooooo! not ___" for- keep those ones. In your case, too- the "which ones can I sell for more if I wait a bit" might be a good way to think.

 

[RaiQuee]

Thanks guys, without your support and love, I would be utterly bummed.

I'm going to keep my het raptor pair from Kelly, and I'm going to keep the remaining stripes I've have left. (I lost the beauty in my profile pic, she must have choked on shed because when I found her I pulled probably 8inches of shed from her mouth. Its the only thing I could think of!)

So from what HASN'T been sold (which was a chunk of my stripes, sadly.)

1 bold stripe female for sure I will be keeping.
1.1 red stripe pair
1.1 het raptor pair
1 tremper albino (he has the best personality ever)
1 hybino female from Marcia (Shes too beautiful to let go..)

I want to keep more, as I have another 1.2 of red stripes, I have this big patty albino fem I want, I want to keep my tang albinos, I want to keep my line bred striped snow...I know, I want I want I want...but these are my babies that i've gotten over the years. They each were picked very specifically by me for traits that I love. They all mean something to me.


I was kinda mad because Ed sold one of my best red stripe females for like 20 bucks at the show. She was Danthefireman line which right there made her very valuable to me. She looked ON FIRE as a baby, dulled when she got older but she still had those genes to make beautiful babies. So whoever got that gecko really got an amazing female that they can do a lot with.

Me and Ed are going to dinner tonight and I am going to bring it up to him. I really don't think after he understands were I am coming from, that he will say no. He will probably say "Well, we will try cutting back and seeing. If we can't find the time like we used to, we have to let them go." and In that aspect, I will do so. I can't cut out time with my boyfriend to assist with leopard geckos. He needs my attention also.

We will see. I will post the verdict later

 

[Jeremy Letkey]

Desire' , congratulations to you and Ed. When he told me at the show last week, I could tell he was nervous and excited. I am certain that you two will find a middle ground that will work for the both of you (or should I say all 3 of you).

 

[RaiQuee]

Thanks so much Jeremy. You've been a great gecko friend to both me and Ed. We need to do breakfest again, and this time It's my valentine's gift! (btw, I can never thank you enough for making the worst v-day in the world, so much better!!!)

 

[BalloonzForU]

OMG!!! Congrats Desire' & Ed!! I'm sooo happy for you two. I was wondering if I'd see you guys at Tinley was kind of bummed.

As for getting ride of the reptiles I'm sure that both you and Ed will go through different emotions about it and Ed may even realize that you guys don't have to in order to keep your baby healthy. He's just worried and it's normal. He may feel different in a month or two, maybe you can even have your OBGYN talk to him about it (after you find out how he/she feels first about reptiles in the house with a baby).

Don't be such a stranger and try to stop by here more often, we all miss you!!!

 

[RaiQuee]

Felicia, you have no idea how important your post to me is. It's very nice to know I was "missed"

Well the verdict is in.....

I get to keep whatever I want! haha. Talk about sweet talkin' hey? I couldn't get him to keep the pastels tho, which bummed me out. Love those snakes! He says however, I can keep as many geckos as I can as long as I can handle it.

SO. that means my geckos are here to stay. I will only be selling a few more, to let go of geckos that aren't in any projects and will be saving the rest!

Expect me around a bit more, espessially come next year when eggs start up again!