Re: [gecko]...Euthanasia for Distressed Geckos...

[Sherron]

Aloha, Kind Friends I prefer to let nature take its course usually, too. But sometimes you can see they are in obvious pain ... and that hurts me too much, too. I can't bear to see them in pain. Especially when it has become apparent that it is hopeless. This poor girl apparently fell from our high ceiling onto a tile floor. When we found her, she only moved when we tried to gently move her out of the way. We placed her in a container so she would be safe from predators (other geckos, cats, mongoose, birds) and foot traffic, in the hopes she would recover, and gave her fruit and water. It was obvious it hurt her to move, but she seemed okay when still, so we hoped for the best. By the afternoon of the next day, however, her eyes were badly sunken, she had trouble breathing, and her skin was developing black blotchy areas. She would stiffen and gasp repeatedly for air, which obviously was causing her more pain. By this time, it had been about 18-20 hours since her fall and she had started to deteriorate rapidly. If there had been any hope ... :( If we were still on the mainland, I could have taken her to our vet who we did trust and who would have treated her properly. But here in the islands, we don't have those resources. Our real problem is finding someone who would even treat geckos. Heck, finding adequate medical treatment for humans is a big problem on the outer islands, let alone for exotic animals. I have Myasthenia Gravis (MG) and I can't find a neurologist that knows anything about my disease on this island. My husband sees a cardiologist who flies over once a month from the island of Oahu. It took me 1-1/2 years to find a personal doctor who would treat my "complicated" problems. Medical care for both people and animals is sadly lacking. And it looks like the small number of vets here primarily just treat cats & dogs. Those I have called don't include reptiles at all.  But I really am not surprised, as we had trouble finding a vet who really knew how to take care of "exotics" like our pet rats in southern California, too. Finding good vets who know more than cats & dogs has always been a problem -- it's just that here in Kona there are far fewer to start with. I am also no longer convinced that a shot from just any vet is automatically better. I took one of my rats to another vet when our own vet was out of town and she screamed in pain from his injection -- she suffered a lot from it and it took her a long time to die as she suffered. Not all vets have empathy nor even seem to believe that animals really can suffer pain. So unless you know the vet, you are just taking your chances. Sometimes you have no choice, But that experience has made me leery of automatically trusting every vet. Worse, after doing some checking online, I find that it is illegal in Hawaii to catch & keep any day geckos in Hawaii (except with a permit for scientific research) in order to discourage any trade in them whatsoever. It is okay to keep the native species, but not any animal banned for import/export that are deemed dangerous to the native populations (native insects, in this case). So even if there were good gecko vets, they would be risking their license if they to treat a day gecko since they cannot be legally kept. So right now we are pretty much on our own. We either have to stand by and watch them die, no matter how long it takes, or we need something else we can come up with to make their going easier.  Maybe my husband can "smash" them, as someone else suggested. I don't know that I could unless they were already partially crushed already ... or like this poor little baby we found on our lanai, being eaten alive by ants, we think partially eaten by a day gecko who bit off more than it could chew and coughed her back up. We're sure she was in terrible pain -- I can't believe that freezing her was worse than the pain she was suffering. I didn't know what to do for them, but my husband felt freezing would be quicker and kinder than letting them slowly die in pain. If we were wrong, I regret it immensely. I do know it is not at all kind for mammals; I just do not know for reptiles. Thankfully, we have encountered such dreadful conditions only twice. But knowing day geckos, it is possible this horrible situation will come up again -- and I am desperate for a better choice. Can you help? :( Mahalo, Sherron ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gecko aka Sherron, Kailua Kona, Hawaii (on the Big Island of Hawaii) Homepage: http://hale-pohaku.com/sherron - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] See our rats: http://hale-pohaku.com/dennis/ratgallery.html