Ask The Guy Who Owned an Exotic Pet Store.

[SnakeBabe]

I feel the same about exotics. As owner of Reptile Rescue (Las Vegas) in my email today I was asked to take on two geckos, a rainbow boa and a common boa. Tomorrow will be more and the day after will be a repeat. I dont even want to think of all the Burms and sickly Bearded Dragons (MBD) I get offered. I am just a small shelter but if my numbers are like that I assume bigger cities across the country must get more so I still believe that no one should ever breed anything until the current stock is in qualified homes. The needs of the animals, even exotics come first for me.

[Whammo72]

Fair enough! That’s a valid point that I certainly wont argue with.

[purplehorseshoe]

@filling_pages

I’ve got a question. I live in an old apartment in North Florida. Right now, I’m getting a number of palmetto bugs in my kitchen. I’m trying to starve them out, etc, but you know how those things are. So various people have advised me to get a gecko or two and let them loose in the house to eat the bugs. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that, by a long shot, but it is the first time that I care enough to find out the straight dope.

So: is that kosher? Can they survive that way? Would they poop everywhere? Is it considered a horrible, cruel thing to do to a gecko? Will they bite my feet in the night?

I think a former tenant did the same at some point and they escaped, because every summer we get massive geckos around the eaves and up and down the outside walls, barking GECK-O! GECK-O! I’m hoping they put in an appearance again this year and take care of the problem, but I’m still curious about just releasing some in the house. What say you? (And thank you.)

So … all these years later, didja do the gecko thing? Regarding the issues raised be SnakesBabe, specifically temp/humidity: this poster is in North Florida (or was, at the time) so I can’t see a lack of ambient warmth and humidity being a factor.