Raising animals sure helps us appreciate how fragile all life is.
Another example- yesterday, I played paramedic to 4 tiny* pinkie mice. I raise mice (& have for as long as I've kept snakes- decades, lol) & I just happened to look in on them to see how a new mouse-mom was doing- she's been looking like a tennis ball so expected she might have trouble.Sure enough, she was overwhelmed & kept setting some pinkies aside without cleaning them up. (pinkies are about .75-1.0" long- hers were on the small side)
Contrary to popular belief, it's not always because they "know there's something wrong with them". So I kept taking those out to do the clean-up for her- wiping away the membranes, making sure their tiny face was uncovered & snipping off the placenta, then stimulating them to breathe by doing tiny & rapid chest compressions with my thumb or finger. They slowly went from blue in color to pale pink, gasping for breath, & wiggling their legs.
When I was sure they could keep up in the pile of pinkies she was already sitting on, I put them back. Of the four I worked on for her, 2 of them took longer, going back to blue & not breathing until I did more compressions- I thought those 2 might not make it. No idea how long they'd been set aside, but in my experience, about 30 minutes can go by where I can still save them- pinkies don't need a lot of air quite yet, if their placenta is still attached.
Anyway, each of them finally turned pale pink & were breathing on their own & were given back to "mom", where she was finally figuring out what her job was, lol. And today, there are no dead pinkies in there- just a big healthy squirming pile of cherry-pink pinkies with white tummies to show for it.
This is way off your topic but I thought you might enjoy it- I think you'll be keeping animals for a long time & you never know which ones you'll end up with. (I sure didn't!)
You're doing great with your geckos...
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