The Most Awful Leopard Gecko Owners

Today we explore the worst and most controversial posts on the Leopard Gecko sub-reddit, from eaten by ants to airsoft pellets to plain old bad husbandry!

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[nky]

Most vets are not specialists in reptiles and that’s probably why they have the bad rep. I’m studying to become a vet and all we ever really learn about is dogs, cats, rabits and farm animals

[kanedashoutaro]

as a vet student. we learn ABSOLUTELY nothing about husbandry. do not trust vets when it comes to husbandry UNLESS they own the animal in question!! and remember everyone, just because youre 1 gallon less than what is recommended DOES NOT mean youre a horrible owner. 20 gallon minimum for leos, i own 4 leos and i keep all in 30 gallons and they seem to be happy! its all about thr individual animal though

[Xiporah]

Reddit is pretty much the substrate police. Whether it be leopard geckos, tarantulas, hamsters or whatever the hell else you're into, your choice of substrate/bedding is WRONG, and you should FEEL BAD about it.

[janisi]

I do wish vets got more education on reptiles. I believe that most do their best, but let's face it: most of their education is centered on mammals, and when it comes to reptiles they have to guess what is best in the moment.

[timo]

if my brother shot my gecko with a pellet gun let's say he is going to be having problems with walking

[bigwingboy]

Im suspicious of neglect too in the case of the ant-eaten gecko - they said they took a 2-day trip and it was stripped clean? I don't buy it. I live near some pretty vicious species of ants and have watched them swarm a much smaller creature (already dead, nothing I could do) and still take longer for it to be entirely stripped from start to finish...it's fishy and strange that the entire enclosure is also empty save for the carcass. Idk it dont add up.

[kyleecats]

I agree that it's probably more the owner then the animal, but my hognose seems to like to explore. So, whenever I notice him come out of hiding, I do take him out and watch him while he explores a small area with different textures. When he starts showing stress, I put him back (usually only about 15 minutes).

[darthtaiter]

Actually, the leopard gecko liking the guy's freshly showered feet makes total sense, the skin of his feet would be warm and humid and prolly quite attractive to his little scaly friend.

[Jenisis_Jo]

Those must've been some massive, hongry monster ants to entirely skeletonize a gecko in the span of two days

[nquisitiv]

I'm addicted to reddit, which never ends well.

I follow a ton of cat subreddits and there's an absolute plague of repost bots and sometimes cat abusers pop up every so often too. Recently i saw a post about someone who accidentally locked their cat in their car overnight, and they decided to take a picture of their cat screaming in the car and post it on a sub, thinking it was funny.

Makes me sad :(

[Swaggyem]

That poor gecko 😩😭 like… who would do that to a helpless little gecko… luckily, I haven’t had any ants eat my animals. I mean, the first person sounds like he knows what he’s doing, and his brother is just insensitive and clearly doesn’t know the first thing about reptiles…like WHO shoots a gecko with an air gun!?

[Corgisaurus-Rex]

Our house has an ant issue and they got into my crested gecko's enclosure at one point. No only were they attracted by the food, it looked like they were trying to set up shop in the soil as well. Luckily, I managed to get my gecko out and the issue dealt with before it could escalate. I wasn't sure if ants could harm it, but I didn't want to take the chance since it was really young, at the time.

[Amy_the_Lizard]

I feel the power aid thing might have occurred because some was accidentally spilled on the gecko. I remember leaving my bearded dragon on a table with a cup of (thankfully uncaffinated) root beer while I went to get chips from the pantry and coming back to find that he'd knocked it over and spilled it all over himself one time when I was kid. He was fine, but very sticky and in need of a bath

[venomouslizards]

I hope that first gecko healed and went on living a good life. And his brother has a special place in hell for what he did.

[lane]

Jessica's animal friends made a really good video on the anthropomorphization of reptiles, it's a bigger issue than I expected

[IrieRogue]

I can't even watch this, it makes me sick. The person who shot the poor gecko deserves only the same response to both of his eyeballs. What a sad excuse for a human.

[danicag.]

Unfortunately vets (yes, even exotic vets) are busy enough keeping up with the advances of their job (health of the animals) that they don’t have the time to also keep up with the best husbandry practices of every animal which is why they’ll often have outdated care guides promoting things like 10g enclosures, sand/calcium sand, coloured bulbs, heat mats only…

[MsMoonDragoon]

Generally, vets are good and usually have good advice. EXCEPT FOR, and I speak from experience here, when it comes to reptiles. for reptiles you really need to listen to someone who specializes in reptiles and "exotic" pets. normal vets are usually only trained and educated to help cats, dogs, and sometimes birds.

[johannapipoli]

I think people mix up being handleable and social. My leopard gecko “enjoys” being held because I’m nice and warm but he’s certainly not social. My dart frogs however which can’t be held, are insanely social with each other and with me and it’s super interesting to watch same with my mourning geckos, super social but not really handleable

[Dehalove]

This video is really great. I think it does a good job at pointing out how random reptile advice can be. It also shows how bad keepers will expose themselves because they have no idea they're doing a bad job