Joe I think Jason said it best "anything that demonstrates someone has the level of interest to seek out information before making a purchase is the goal." The definition of responsibility! I still see a lot of them too. Every time I'm in the pet stores buying lunch for my girls (two sexy Eublepharis). There is always someone eyeballing the geckos with curiousity.
Ron P.S. I hope that this isn't the end of this organization (past lists from Yeduah Werner and Elizabeth), we are needed out there. -----Original Message----- From: J. Hodam <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, Jun 22, 2010 10:07 pm Subject: Re: [gecko]leopard gecko test for new (kid) keepers Hi Joe, Your test looks pretty good to me, and I think it's a great idea, by the way. People could argue for pet questions (no pun intended) they think a new keeper should know the answers to, but really anything that demonstrates someone has the level of interest to seek out information before making a purchase is the goal, I think. When I started out in keeping geckos, I had the advantages of an obsession that kept me reading constantly about them and a mother that wouldn't allow them, so I did a lot of reading and attended a lot of shows over several years before I moved out on my own and actually made my first purchase. Things went really well for me off the bat, I hatched my first eggs 8 months after buying my first pair of Standing's day geckos and that first pair was with me for 6 years (and 60+ offspring) before I gave up the hobby and found a new home for them (and I hope they're still going strong, although that was about 12 years ago), and I attribute that to the research I did beforehand. Kudos for encouraging responsible pet ownership, if I saw your attitude in every reptile keeper I met I'd probably still be breeding geckos today. Take it easy, Jason ________________________________________________________________________ I have not failed, I've found 10,000 ways that won't work. - Thomas Edison ________________________________________________________________________ --- On Sun, 6/20/10, Joseph Loucek <[email protected]> wrote: From: Joseph Loucek <[email protected]> Subject: [gecko]leopard gecko test for new (kid) keepers To: [email protected] Date: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 10:20 AM Hey Gang - Does anyone have a test to give to a potential new 11 year old keeper? A guy at work asked me about leopard geckos, and I told him I'd make up a 20 or so test for his son to pass (and the parents, too). So, thinking about it for about a week or two, I came up with these 20 questions. What do you think? Should I change, add or remove any? The test is designed for the kid who has never had a pet reptile before, and all the sudden wants one. What can we do to make sure they are ready? Just sitting here, I thought of another question, so I am up to 21. (questions are below) Thanks, Joe 1. Where are your 2 closest pet stores? 2. How often should you clean the cage? 3. How often should you change the water? 4. Where are leopard geckos from? 5. Why do you want a captive-bred leopard gecko (as opposed to a wild caught)? 6. What kind of mineral supplements should you give your leopard gecko? ( I might need help answering this one - has anything changed in the last 3-5 years?) 7. How big a cage will you need for your leopard gecko? 8. What kind of substrate (cage liner) should you use? 9. What temperature range is a leopard gecko most comfortable? 10. How will you maintain that temperature, especially in the winter? 11. How can you help you leopard gecko shed skin off its toes? 12. How many male leopard geckos can you keep in one cage? 13. When is a leopard gecko most active? 14. True or false: It is acceptable to mix different species of reptiles together in one enclosure. 15. How will you clean and disinfect the cage? How often? (what do you all think - clean weekly, disinfect quarterly?) 16. Does your leopard gecko need a hide box? If so, what will you use? If not, why not? 17. How often should you feed your leopard gecko? 18. What will your leopard gecko be fed? 19. What is the scientific name for the leopard gecko? 20. What is thermal gradient, and how will you achieve it in your leopard gecko's cage? 21. What is the life expectency of a leopard gecko? What will you do with it when you go off to college?
