I'm worried about one of my girls...

[Melissa Nagel]

Leah

Marcia,
Thank you for sharing your sad and courageous story.
Breeding any animal is not for the faint of heart for sure.
You did your best to save her, and knew when to let her go.
Hugs and warm regards for your loss.

Melissa N.

 

[ccb geckos]

Marcia, my deepest sorrow goes out to you. Thank you for letting us all take this emotional ride and learning experience that came with your tragedy.

 

[lamarr]

Marcia I am so sorry to hear about the baby! After reading the post last week it was hard to muster up the nerve to read the updates. Leah was given every chance in the world and you HAVE to be at peace with the knowledge that you went above and beyond what most could have done. Making it easy in the end was the most compassionate thing you could do. I don't envy the position you were in making the call. Best wishes!

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Thank you again, everyone. I miss Leah's pretty face and sweet disposition. Perhaps I shouln't have waited so long to end her suffering, but I just wanted to give her every chance for the antibiotics to do their job.

It truly doesn't get any easier to end the life of something to treasured... surely after all these years working with these beloved creatures I would have gotten a little more calloused by now. But I am not, and never will be.

There is a very dark side of breeding leopard geckos, and I am having a tough time this year especially. I have lost or had to put down 23 geckos this season, and that does not account for the babies that didn't make it out of the egg. Most of them were little ones who's deformities were too severe to punish them by keeping them alive, or did not thrive. I still blame the pesticide in the mealworms for that.

I honestly don't think I can take another year of tragedy like this season.

 

[lillith]

Oh heck, I come back to the thread too late...my condolences to you, and rest in peace to Leah. I hope gecko heaven has an all-you-can-eat waxie buffet.

It is hard work to bring life into existence, and harder to take life when the other option is agony. But it is very very worthy work to be doing. Maybe I'm going too deep or philosophical here, but by respecting the life-death-life cycle of things, you are doing nothing less than making the universe more whole and beautiful than it was before.

aw geez, I have the sniffles.

(((hugs to you)))

 

[rubym]

Marcia- it is that caring nature of yours that makes you so special. You are a remarkable person. I admire how much you care for your little ones and even for ones that you have never nor probably will ever lay eyes on. You have helped many of us with our little ones. I hope that next season brings you more joy and less pain. Hopefully the mealworm issue has passed and the effects will be short lived.