Should geckos with deformities be culled?

[RaiQuee]

Christine) Don't feel that your "stupid" for breeding those geckos. We wouldn't be where we are today with leopard geckos if people didn't "make" mistakes. Altho its sad that you had to put geckos down, its very important information that we need to know! Pig tailed geckos would be cute, but not if it has other disadvantages.

I only put geckos down if they can't survive on their own. I had to put down a gecko due to a baaad shedding problem. The gecko would go into shed, and it would infect the eyes and the gecko wouldn't eat. I would help it shed everytime, but the handling and getting the skin off each toe brought stress to the animal and it wouldn't eat. So it started to lose weight, and I decided I had to put it down. Otherwise It would still be far too stressed to eat, or I'd be stuck in shed all the time, constricting blood flow to toes, tail and arms!

It was a hard decision, but I felt it was the right one

Eyelid notches, an over bite, a small arm, a kinked tail, those are all leos that could find great homes! If its something more severe, then you need to make a judgement call.

 

[SteveB]

Also, please don't let this turn into a bashing. Either for us, or the other girl, we didn't know any better when we bred Hades for the first time, and she doesn't know the other problems of curly/kinked tails; but she will now! We were stupid, I'll admit, we didn't do our homework like we should have. BUT we have now and are trying to help the rest of the community by telling our story. Thanks for reading, I know it's long!!

(Note: I'm just playing the devil's advocate, so please don't think I'm casting judgement on anyone here)

It becomes an interesting extension to the ethics debate, though. Should something that is currently considered a defect, but that does not effect the quality of life in captivity, be allowed to live and even to breed to other similarly defective animals.

After all, albino leos are 'defective' from the standpoint that they don't exist in nature and would probably be at a disadvantage in the wild.

For those of you that are ready to respond "of course they should not be bred," do you similarly disapprove of Pugs? Would you go so far as to tell a Pug owner that their dog should be put down, or at least never bred?

We're breeding these animals for our own enjoyment. There's no ethical reason to breed leopard geckos to begin with. Let's not forget that.


(Note: I'm just playing the devil's advocate, so please don't think I'm casting judgement on anyone here)

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

We're breeding these animals for our own enjoyment. There's no ethical reason to breed leopard geckos to begin with. Let's not forget that.

Steve, I happen to agree with this.

 

[Ian S.]

I voted, Yes, but only if they cannot survive on their own. Only because I clicked the wrong damn button. I really wanted to vote "No. Under no circumstances should a living creature be killed."
I had really messed up teeth when I was a kid and I thank my mother every day for not sticking me in the freezer or taking me out back! J/k Love ya Ma!!

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Ian, I changed your vote for you!

 

[blightedchemist]

how often do birth defects/deformities occur? i cant imagine its all too often that something is physically or mentally wrong with geckos. actually if you look at pictures of elmo, you can see that some of his feet are deformed, and well plainly messed up, been like that since he was hatched(before i got him) and it doesnt effect him at all.

 

[Halley]

I think if a gecko has a deformity that will make it life measurable, you shouldn't be cruel to it, and should have the decency to put it down, and not keep it alive so you don't feel bad. If the defect is genetically, you shouldn’t make it or its offspring suffer either, other than that, I think either you should care for it, or give it to a home that will.

 

[boutiquegecko]

Ken there are prob more defects than are known. Just look at the hatchling board-most seem to be due to incubator/temp flunctuations or not enough calcium for mom causing the defect.
I think if an animal, leo or otherwise, can not function on it's own/is in pain etc, it's just my opinion to be put humanely down. If it can function-three legs, one eye, whatever it should have a nice pet home. If it's a defect that is gene related, I think like dwarfism, it shouldn't be bred (jmo).

 

[Tanner505Geckos]

i recently hatch out a male tangerine that had some birth defects like a really bad kinked tail and a messed up pelvis but i would never put him down he eats fine and sheds fine the only bad thing is that he gets he tail caught on stuff but i would never hurt him im gonna keep him as a kind of pet or give him to one of my family member that would take good care of him

 

[RepBex]

i voted yes but only if it cannot live on its own

a gecko that can eat shed poop etc with a over bite or a kinked tail is worth keeping alive yes you may not breed from the animal but they make fantastic pets

 

[cwazy]

i voted no... and then yes only if they cant live on there own...

its such a hard thing to decide... i know i look at humans for comparison... but really there shouldnt be one... not to mention i think sometimes keepin a human "alive" is just wrong... i feel that if no matter what there condition just gets worse... and you have done all you can do, then its time to "pull the plug" so to speak... but i deffenitly dont think they should be culled just because of a defect.... our newest member Hope is doing AWESOME!!! missin pretty much 1 front leg and the other front leg is there but the foot is useless... but shes beautiful... we have her on tile and have shallow dishes for her, she kind of slithers around like a snake... but she seems very happy and alert... shes a great eater, and shes just awesome! yeah she has a few special needs... IE the tile and low dishes... but with little help from us, she does well on her own with her deformities!!! so only if theres no other ansers then they should be culled... but just think... you never know what tomorrow will bring... God has a plan for everything... and thats just my beleife!

 

[triplegex]

how would you kill a baby gecko humanely?

 

[fallen_angel]

Someone can correct me on this if need be (because I have never done this myself) but I believe that you put the gecko in the fridge. This puts the gecko to sleep/hibernation, and then you put the gecko in the freezer to be humanely euthanized.

 

[Sandra]

Fortunately I've never had to euthanize a gecko so I don't have experience on the matter either, but I wonder about if the freezer method is really painless.

In my opinion, the less painful home-made method is the CO2 chamber. It is widely used to kill rodents for the snakes to eat. You just need a hermetic container, bicarbonate and vinegar. They fall asleep before dying, without the need to expose them to cold. I guess that if it works for mammals, it will work for reptiles as well...

You can always take it to a vet and he will know how to give it a painless death. I know a vet from here that uses anesthetic overdose for euthanizing.

 

[nevinm]

i didnt read this thread but i will eventually. im with almost everyone else. its easier for me to put them down though, because i do have a kill chamber for the rats. where we use CO2, and iop thats pretty humane. and of course this is only after ive done everything i could to get them to survive.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Someone can correct me on this if need be (because I have never done this myself) but I believe that you put the gecko in the fridge. This puts the gecko to sleep/hibernation, and then you put the gecko in the freezer to be humanely euthanized.

Yes, other than a CO2 chamber, allowing the geckos to go into a 'cold coma' first and then freezing is a humane way to put them down.

 

[thestack510]

I would prefer to give away any of my not-so-perfect geckos to loving homes that would provide a good life for them as long as the gecko was not allowed to reproduce.

I don't suppose this means I can have Eskimo Kiss' brother? lol. I would have taken him too, but he didn't fit in the budget that week. They are so cool. They have very sweet dispositions.

 

[thestack510]

I'm glad too...

All living creatures produce deformed or defective offsping. Heck. I was born with 6 toes on my right foot! (I'm glad I didn't get culled, LOL!)

We need our MOGL. As you know, I would have been up for culling too.

 

[thestack510]

I don't suppose this means I can have Eskimo Kiss' brother? lol. I would have taken him too, but he didn't fit in the budget that week. They are so cool. They have very sweet dispositions.

Oh, he sold! Someone got lucky.

 

[rubym]

I would have to vote yes....ONLY if the deformity would not allow the gecko to have any quality of life. We hatched a tiny little one with a deformed foot and I could not imagine having to kill little Orbie. These little guys are such fighters from minute one that they deserve every chance that we can give them. I realize in the wild they would die but they are not in the wild and we have some responcibilities to them. We chose to breed and we should take responcibility for what occurs due to that breeding...just my opinion ONLY!