Wild Kingdom In My House
Warning: If you are squeamish or easily grossed out, back away slowly from this post. You have been warned.
In May of last year, we gave My Oldest a Leopard Gecko for his birthday (see last year’s post). I am here to tell ya that this is the greatest pet ever! She doesn’t smell, she isn’t noisy, she doesn’t make a mess, and you can leave her with a bunch of crickets in her cage and she’ll be fine while you go away on vacation! I was going to say “she doesn’t shed”, but we realized this morning that that just ain’t true! So here it comes….
We woke this morning to find Patty the Gecko shedding her skin - and we were all fascinated to watch her at work. The whole process hardly took her any time at all. We think she began by rubbing her head against the rocks in her cage….
Once the old skin was below her neck, she began to grap hold of it with her mouth and basically pull it off!
But the kind of gross part is, that as she pulled it off…she ate it!!
See, I told ya she doesn’t make messes!
Seriously though, it was pretty cool to watch! And she really is a great pet. She has been to school and was so calm while a bunch of Pre-K and 1st Grade students petted and held her. I don’t really like messin’ with the crickets though (which we buy weekly from a local pet store). However, it is fun to watch her hunt one down and munch on it. Advice we received when we were gecko shopping is to buy a one that is around 2 years old - that way, it isn’t that skiddish. We can hold Patty and not even worry that she might dart off.
So again, I highly recommend a Leopard Gecko. And Patty, your new skin is just gore-jus!
May 5th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Yes, Leopard geckos make great “starter” reptile pets. Easy to care for and fun to watch. It’s cool that you got to see her shed, but chances are this isn’t the first time she’s done it. People shed their skin constantly, but reptiles do it all at once as they grow. Since your gecko is primary nocturnal, she probably did it at night. But it’s always cool to see the fresh, bright colors of a newly-shed lizard.
By the way, if you’re looking for other good reptile pets, Australian Bearded Dragons are a great choice. They get a bit larger, but are equally (if not more docile), are diurnal (so your kids will see them awake more often) and are omnivorous so that once they reach adulthood they live on a diet of primarily vegetables, with occasional protein in the form of insects (or small rodents). They’re really great.
Thanks for sharing this!
May 5th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Oh how I wish I could pull-off a Patty and shed my skin. Hey, if I have to chomp away I will!! Good thing she ate it - shows her concern for the environment.
May 6th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
You’ve got a real science classroom in your house! How cool! My girls would have loved to see that. Maybe a gecko is in our future….or we’ll just have to come by and watch yours for awhile.
May 24th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
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