So I got bitten by a vicious crested gecko ...

[Marla]

:shock:
OK, so he wasn't remotely vicious, but it did make you open this to read, didn't it?

Here's what happened: last night I finished fixing up the new enclosure for the little cresties, so I moved them over. I love touching them because they're sooo soft. Anyway, I moved them into their new home and left them alone for a couple of hours before coming back to give them their crickets. When I did, I saw that poor little Scooby had a mouth so full of peat moss he couldn't close it.

Obviously that was unacceptable. I got the poor little guy out and told Waldo he'd have to wait because he was gearing up for a jump to my shirt as I closed the top. I guess Scooby'd taken a short dive into too deep peat moss, and his mouth was literally packed full of it.

I carried him over to the kitchen sink and used my fingernails very carefully to scrape a good bit of it out of the front of his mouth. Eventually I got enough out that I couldn't really get anymore that way, so I squirted water into his mouth to loosen up the rest of it. He shook his head vigorously like a wet puppy and flung moss all over my hand. A few more similar efforts got most of it out, but he still wasn't moving his tongue well, so we then headed upstairs to get help from roomie and some q-tips. A half dozen q-tips and a couple more puppy shakes later, and he was feeling good again and washing his snout with his tongue.

In the process of all this opening and cleaning his mouth, I was bitten several times, but it never appeared to be out of fear, anger, or hurt, just testing mouth functionality and reflexively biting an available object. I can now safely declare that I am not the least bit afraid of being bitten by these guys in the future. It seems that Scooby understood I was helping him and he cooperated very well and never tried to get away from me. In fact, when I went to put him back in his home, he looked at the plant I was trying to put him on, put on foot on it, then turned the other way and scooted up my arm. The little guy likes me.

Obviously I'll be fixing the enclosure so that this can't happen anymore. I'm going to put down newspaper at the bottom and provide a shallow bin along one side with peat moss for humidity and comfort (and hopefully pooping). Call it a lesson learned about appropriate substrate depth.

[JLC]

awwwwwwww....What a cute story! Sorry the little guy got a mouthful of icky stuff...but it sounds like he was very well taken care of!

I was trying to put Shaggy back in his home this morning after cleaning it out and he didn't want to go back either...tried to climb back up my arm. Silly lizards!

[Marla]

I'm glad that I caught it instead of letting him go all night with a mouthful like that. That could have turned out very badly. They are such cute, soft little buggers tho!

[JLC]

Well, I hope I get to meet yours in person, soon! I don't imagine I'll be handling a crestie any other way.

[Marla]

I'll be delighted for you to meet mine in person, whether on your way to Aladambama (as Georgians often call it), for the September show, for the Atlanta show, or whenever! Not to discourage you from wanting to meet mine, but the ones at Petco are probably available for holding if you ask. Just be aware that they do jump, but their eyes lock on their target well before their feet move so it's easy to anticipate them.

[iceman25]

awwwww...you are a good mommy!

[freakoverdose1]

atlanta show? when?

[Marla]

Raj, thanks

Freak, November 20-21 in Gwinnett Civil and Cultural Center (I think that's what it's called, anyway).