Okay- so I have a 7 year old rescue male created gecko. I would love to breed him with a lovely female. Elmer is a partial pinstripe with tons of olive and cream colors. The problem? He is blind. I rescued him a few months ago and I don’t know if he was born that way, or if it was because of his very poor environment, lack of heat and humidity, and lack of proper nourishment. I don’t want to breed him if it wouldn’t be safe for him, mom, or the babies. Other than being blind and having an underbite, he is completely fine. He even shows that he wants to mate after smelling my current female. Should I breed him, or play it safe?Processing: 20211216_163226.jpg…
Not a gecko person, but I’m personally in the camp of not breeding rescues. They’re rescues for a reason, and you don’t know about their genetic background and which issues are due to poor husbandry or poor breeding. Invest in high quality animals for breeding, and the rest make great pets
Thank you for your response! I appreciate your opinion. I would say this without question if I did not know where he came from, however I am friends with his previous owner(s). Do you think his blindness could affect the babies?
While I am not a gecko person, I personally wouldn’t breed an animal with one major defect, let alone two.
While the blindness could be from his keeping conditions, if you do not know that for a fact, he shouldn’t be bred in case it is genetic. On top of that, things like an underbite are genetic and could just be the tip of the iceberg. It’s always possible there are issues you can’t see. It’s not just about what is safe, but also what is ethical, and in this case, you’d be breeding an animal with defects of unknown origin, quite possibly producing more poor quality babies who may end up with much more severe defects.
Without knowing whether it’s genetic or due to poor husbandry, it’s going to be difficult to determine. But animals with health problems/defects should not be bred as one of the goals should always be to produce sound healthy offspring
Thank you so much! I’m not going to breed him, and I love that so many people in this community care for the animals’ well-being. He is still a wonderful pet and I look forward to maybe getting a pair in the future.
Thank you so much for your help! I won’t breed him
It’s one of my favourite things about the community here as well, very kind, caring, and helpful, especially if you ask! I hope you have many more awesome years with Elmer, he sounds like a special little guy. If you do end up getting a pair at some point, you’ve got more than enough experienced folks here if you ever have more questions or need opinions.
I am a Crestie Person,
And no. Don’t breed. He’s blind for one so it’s not fair for him to stress over breeding with a female and try grab her when she’s bolting from him. And underbite is unknown as to why but usually can’t pass. He’s a rescue and as said, if you’ve ‘rescued’ him it’s to give him a better life, Not use a gecko with issues for breeding. Defo pet only. If you want to breed then look for another male
Any pics of both though?
Pics of Elmer and my female? I need to get a whole new pair because my female (Figgy) was my first gecko and I don’t want to risk breeding her. I can provide pics of both though!
Pics of any and all of them!
Some people here, and I’ll mention no names cough cough Ghoulish cough cough spend their day rocking in a corner until they see cute gecko faces
I’m also a gecko person and I agree that you shouldn’t breed him & keep him as pet only for all the above reasons.
It’s great that you took him in
Would l love to see pictures of both your geckos
We want the geckos! We want the geckos! I second what the others here have to say and I also love to see cute animals of all varieties. They make me happy. You’re awesome to have adopted Elmer. I’m sure he’s a happy spoiled baby
My husband and I are also proud owners of a rescue and two retired breeders/rescues. A crestie and two leopard geckos. They may not physically be perfect but they are still perfect to us! No plans on breeding those ….We also have a veritable zoo of other geckos (fat tails, leopards, and cresties) as well as two ball pythons and a steadily expanding collection of very spoiled goofy hognose snakes. Still up in the air about those currently but they’re growing and happy.
Can’t wait to see the pics!!!
This animal is a rescue, is blind, and has an underbite. You already know the answer to your question. It doesn’t matter if you know where it came from, it is not sound breeding stock. It’s ok to have pets. Not everything has to or should be bred.
If you want to breed, start with genetically and structureally sound, healthy animals.
Here are some mixed pictures of both lovelies, Elmer and Figgy. Thank yall so much for the support!!
I love rescuing geckos and I will always love those geckos the best. Geckos like Elmer, who aren’t physically perfect, have the best personality and attitude. He may be crazy at times, but he has grown so much since I’ve had the privilege of homing him. That’s why I love rescuing! Seeing their growth and change for the better is the best reward. The reward may not be baby geckos, but it’s still very inspiring to see them like that.
Super cute! The one in the second pic looks like one of mine. Well. First gecko my hubby picked out that got him into reptile keeping. His name is Ember but we reverted to constantly calling him “Sticky-Boy”. Love the colors on the dark one a lot. Heck. They’re all beautiful and adorable. I love geckos
Would you belive that the one in the second pic is the same as the really dark one? She really fires up nicely, but is so stubborn and refuses to stay that way haha
That’s crazy how they do that. I got one whose just kinda a tan/buckskin color but when she fires she’s like BRIGHT orange/red. Sometimes it’s hard to believe they aren’t different geckos
(Gecko Tax) Yoshi fired/unfired.
I’ve got a red & cream Crestie, when fired up she’s bright red but she rarely fires up and she looks brown colour most of the time!
Sometimes I think I should buy a Gecko based on their unfired colours rather than the fired colours lol