The downside of keeping Uroplatus

[Northstar Herp]

For all the awesomeness that is the Uroplatus genus, there are some downsides too I guess. So to be fair I have to post about them too. Four days of misting, watching, soaking, vet trips for fecals, phone calls, emails, serious thought and worrying ended Friday afternoon about 4:30 as I came home to this:

The last fecal came back with some kind of infection, but that's all I know. I'm taking it pretty hard, and though it's not likely that my husbandry is at fault I still live with the fact that a rare and fragile gecko that was born in a foreign country then came here three years ago and lived all that time only to die under my care.

The ironic thing is that if I had the choice, she would be the last herp I would want to see pass. OMG, this is aweful.

 

[Keith N]

I doubt I will ever find a more beautiful than the day i found her. That's an email that was hard to read Kevin. I'm sorry she is gone I know you had big plans for her

 

[Northstar Herp]

Keith, the way she came to me makes it even harder on me. This is exactly what we were trying to avoid, wasn't it?

 

[latshki]

damn man, that is terrible, I was really hoping she would make it man but I guess she was just too weak. Will you be getting a necropsy done on her

Keep your head up man this would have happened if she was in your care or somebody elses

 

[Northstar Herp]

Thanks for the empathy, Layton. I was planning on getting a necropsy done until it came back that she had an infection. I asked Ted about it and he said it probably wouldn't yield any results.

 

[latshki]

that sucks that you will not, get much closure on it
but I guess thats just how it is when keeping such a delicate species

 

[T-ReXx]

Sucks bigtime man. Unfortunately Uroplatus are like that, especially imports, since you don't know their full history. It could happen to anyone keeping them, especially fimbs which have a rep for this sort of thing. She was a beautiful example of the species. Don't beat yourself up too much, everyone loses one eventually, despite our best efforts. All we can do is continue to try to learn about them in hopes of preventing future tragedies.

 

[KelliH]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Sikorae]

Sorry for your loss, at least you did everything you could for her, she may have been an old lady too