Selling baby geckos on, use your head,

[tonkaz0]

I thought I would post this thread again for the obvious reasons please dont anyone spam it saying its in the wrong section because if you look at some of the people selling it clearly is not.

I do not want to name and shame people in any way but in the last few weeks I have noticed people advertising baby leos for sale as young as 3 weeks old, this is far to young to sell them for all types of reasons, if you dont know the reasons then i suggest that you purchase a good book and read it, it takes weeks for a leo to get to a safe weight and health to be sold on, I personally like to them for 8-12 weeks at least, also more inportantly it gives you more chance to make sure that the baby has no health problems at all, also the peson purchasing can see more of what the morph is going to be! they change so much over the weeks, so think firstly of the leo, and then the disappointment of the new owner if something happens. its only going to cost you the price of a few more crickets or mealies to keep them a number of weeks more.

[katelikesfun]

totally agree! well said

[mjp1pink]

I also agree with the comments made. This is our first year breeding geckos and some have developed and grown very quickly and have done really well.

Others have been a lot slower in developing and I have two geckos from a pair of eggs laid at the same time that have a 10g weight difference. I would hate to think that I have sold a gecko that is just going to be someones else nightmare.

I think it is the responsibility of the seller to make sure that their animals are well sorted and are truly ready for sale.

[SleepyD]

Originally Posted by katelikesfun

totally agree! well said

ditto ~ the thread here -> http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/lizar...ling-your.html
carries more then a few comments about the practice of selling 3-4 week old leo's ... if it was pups or kittens etc it wouldn't be acceptable but because it's reptiles some just don't care and it's left to others to help the new owners when things go wrong because the young ones are too young to cope with the stress etc.

[Mal]

I wholeheartedly agree with this and think it should be made a sticky with big bold letters. It wont be long before someone is selling them straight from the egg. Unfortunately those new to keeping reps dont know any better other than to think a Reptile Forums classifieds must be a safe place to buy from.

Well done Tonkaz for keeping this topic current and its great to see so many others in agreement with you.

[leopardgeckomad]

i do agrreee. and i am guilty coz i have been advertiseing geckos at 4 weeks.

but im not going to sell them till 7

[reptile_man_08]

I've been advertising hatchlings too, but on threads with my older one's, only to gauge interest also.
I agree though, they are way to fragile at 4 weeks, and should only be sold at 7-8 weeks minimum.

[tonkaz0]

quote by leopard geckomad,

i do agrreee. and i am guilty coz i have been advertiseing geckos at 4 weeks.

but im not going to sell them till 7
__________________

Well done son, now you can get off the naughty seat and sit with the rest of the class, and now if you can wait until their 8-12 weeks you will get a silver star.

[SleepyD]

Originally Posted by reptile_man_08

I've been advertising hatchlings too, but on threads with my older one's, only to gauge interest also.

there is a vast difference between advertising them to gauge interest or for reserving until older/bigger and flogging them off asap as some do and are ~ lets face it most hatchlings don't start eating until they're approximately one week old ... it can then take upto another 2-3 weeks for their appetite to increase and everything eaten goes to fuel a very rapid growth rate to the extent that fat reserves so necessary for times of stress/non-eating can be exceedingly slow to build.

Unfortunately those new to keeping reps dont know any better other than to think a Reptile Forums classifieds must be a safe place to buy from.

*nods*

[tonkaz0]

Mods, you do supprise me moving this thread because its obvious it would do better in the classifieds because the people that its aimed at mostly use just the classifieds!,
perhaps you can make it a sticky here then to save me keep posting it,
thank you.