Evil, Evil Crickets!!!

As you recall, Pokie injured her tail last month. Well, it was healing fine until I had to leave for a week out of town to attend the NAMM show.

I had put in some extra crickets into her vivarium before my trip (my wife hates crickets) and upon my return I was horrified to see her tail "eaten". Well this morning she dropped her tail right after I sprayed her tank. The picture from above was just taken moments ago.

She seems in good spirit and is eating baby food from my finger, but I hate to see her like this.

I must agree with my wife, I hate crickets, they are evil.

A week later, Pokie is doing great

A week after thinking I would lose her, Pokie is doing great. Here she is "grinning" after eating a cricket (okay, she is not grinning, I just caught her with her mouth open, but it looks like a grin).

Pokie's Injury

Pokie got stuck in a piece of bamboo and injured her skin by the base of her tail. As you can see in the picture below it looks pretty bad.
Being my first Day Gekco, and never dealing with an injury like this I decided to ask some question on a gecko forum....I should have known better.

For years I have ran a goldfish site and ended up closing down the forum area due to the abrasivenesses and rudeness of a few members.

Shortly have getting Pokie I had joined a forum for Day Gecko's. The site had a handful of nice people while the vast majority where just plain rude and mean spirited.

With her getting this injury I decided to try one of the larger gecko sites on the internet. Some of the names I recognized from the other site, but I figured more members, maybe some good advice.

Most said not do anything, so I contacted a Veterinarian and was told to clean the wound with Betadine and to apply Neosporin, which I did.

The replies back from some of the memebers where horrifying...from "Geckos in nature don't get wound ointment" to "multiple people have had experience with this situation, I advice you listen to them before you kill your gecko....last thing you should do at the moment is take her to a vet. Most vets don't have experience with day geckos, even exotic vets...she will be stressed to death."

Against their advice I placed Pokie in a Tupperware container, put her under my winter jacket, and brought her to a veterinarian. The veterinarian gave her a shot of Baytril, cleaned her wound and removed dead skin, then applied a liquid bandage.

She is now back to climbing on bamboo, eating and her wound is healing....so what have I learned...I would rather take the advice of a reptile veterinarian with over 15 years experience than a bunch of kids on internet who "think" that they know everything about Gecko care.

So a word of caution.....many people on forums tend to repeat the same mantra of bad advice that they have heard over and over again. Just because someone makes a lot of post on a forum you can not believe that they are a "guru" or an "expert"....they are just someone with a lot of free time on their hands.

Here is a picture of Pokie from a few ago, and she is doing great.....as you can see, I did not "kill my gecko" by seeking proper medical care, I may saved her.

Pictures of Pokie with Camera in her Vivarium

It has been a almost a month since my last post (life is busy).

I grabbed these pictures tonight of Pokie....it was the first time I placed the camera inside her vivarium with macro setting on camera.

Pokie hanging by her toes

I found this to be amazing, another example of God's perfect design of his creation.

I caught Pokie drinking water from the flower petals. She was hanging off the bamboo by just two toes on each back leg.

She is smiling for you all

Pokie with enlarged endolymphatic sacs

You can see Pokies enlarged endolymphatic sacs in the pictures, which are a sign of calcium storage

Pokie on the hunt

Pokie on the hunt

Rearranged landscaping

I added some lucky bamboo and rearranged some of the bamboo pieces which Pokie likes to lounge on.

A few new pictures of Pokie

I grabbed these last night. I made the full size images 1440 x 900 for those with wide screen monitors wanting to save for their desktop wallpaper.

Confirmed...Pokie is a female

She is smiling at us all...happy to finally be sexed...no longer just a guess, she is a girl.

She laid eggs this weekend!! Now of course without a male, there will be no babies, and the shells where soft....but no doubt about it, Pokie is a girl.
Getting a nice fat calcium enriched superworm to build back her energy
She enjoyed that!!

Snack time for Pokie

Pokie catching a medium sized cricket for a late night snack

The Beauty of a Day Gecko

I gave up fish keeping due to my Parkinson Disease, as the water changes where just becoming too much work.

Although I have cats and dogs, I always like to keep a "special" pet just for me as my hobby. I had first wanted to keep dart frogs but my wife was against that, so she suggested "why not one of those cute Geico Gecko's".

So I did my research, found out that the "Geico Gecko" was in fact a Phelsuma (Day Gecko).

I can honestly say that this is my favorite exotic pet that I have ever owned. In my opinion, Phelsuma are the most beautiful lizards God has created.

Breakfast at Pokie's

I got a few pictures of Pokie this morning eating her breakfast.....a big fat juicy superworm......TASTY

Guess what I am posting today?

....you got it, more pictures of
Pokie

I redid the landscaping in the vivarium

I was finally able to locate some bamboo. I went to Hobby Lobby over the weekend and picked up one piece for $2.99. They also had three 72" long pieces, each with an average diameter of 3" on sale for $8.99, just too much bamboo for now, but had to get for future use.

More pictures of Pokie

I never get bored taking pictures of Pokie....she is always up to something interesting

Basking in the lamp

Pokie posing on the monkey wood

I am like a new father taking pictures

I was able to get a few good pictures of her this morning after the lights came on and putting in some baby food.

and here is one of her eating a cricket, which looks to be too big for her