Do geckos die often in nature

Sandyballs

New Member
Messages
176
Location
San Diego
Where do geckos die more often?
In their natural habitat or in terrariums?
Even tough geckos get all this vitamins, foods, heat, humidity and protection from owners many still die early, i'm pretty sure you won't find vitamin D3/calcium Dust in the wild.
So where is a gecko more prone to death?
 

puckett26

breeder in training
Messages
97
Location
Frederick, MD
Personally I would say its about even. Yea they are bottom of the food chain in nature but alot of them are taken care of very badly in captivity. I mean look in local pet stores, I know that more than half of those leos die before ever being sold. Half of the ones that actually got sold dont make it because they are so far gone it would take one of these very knowledged people on this site to save them. You also have to think about stuff like craigslist, as great as it is how many listings do you see where people cant take care of animals anymore? They will say free to good home or has to be gone by such and such date. Not all of them get homes, some of those people just end up neglecting the leos till they die Im sure. Bringing this to a close, its pretty close if you ask me.

P.S. leos get d3 from the sun in the wild not powder :) just thought I'd throw that in.
 

jakemyster44

Member
Messages
588
Location
Perrysburg, Ohio
for one, leopard geckos are not at the bottom of the food chain. Where would you clasify the insectes that they PREY on? If propperly taken care of in captivity, geckos have a potential to live much longer than in the wild. Removing certain factors such as predators and "extra" stress among other things will contribute to a longer life. It would be unreasonable to say that all captive animals outlive wild ones, or that wild animals can't live quite a long life, but if taken care of properly a captive gecko would usually outlive a wild one.
 

Ehatcher

New Member
Messages
898
Location
Maryville, TN
I said that Leopard Geckos are in the lower bracket of the food chain to birds and mammals. If you wanna get technical with it, even the insects they eat are not at the bottom of the food chain.. they have to prey on something right? Whether it be plants or other insects. There are a lot more animals that would prey on the gecko, than the gecko preys on. Therefore, in my opinion, they are in the bottom of the food chain.
 
Last edited:

daveim

cats, dogs, lizards, etc.
Messages
206
yeah, plus I read that one of the reasons that leos are having a hard time in their native habitat is that the pakistani people in the Great Thar desert think that they're poisonous and demons and kil them. Some people need to be educated. Instead of realizing this, many people blame the pet trade on the diminishing amounts of leopard geckos in the wild, which is utterly incorrect.
 

robin

New Member
Messages
12,276
Location
Texas
years ago they were probably over collected but in more recent times trade has been closed from the U.S and the countries that leopard geckos are native to. plus some leopard gecko species are either endangered or extinct (not from people thinking they are demons, or venomous or over collecting, just nature).

LOL @ leopard gecko demons
 

BalloonzForU

New Member
Messages
7,585
Location
Grand Blanc, MI
Many animals do much better in captivity with proper husbandry, other's just can't handle the stress of captivity, I believe Leos fall under the former.
 

Visit our friends

Top