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breanna-banana13

is a pirate
Messages
336
Location
Niagara Falls, NY
i am in NO way justifying what those people are doing, but i don't think you have to worry about this hobby causing an "extinct in the the wild" situation for leos. as you said, there are plenty of leo breeders and reintroduction is always an option. look at the success it has had for the black footed ferret, once thought to be extinct in the wild and brought back to a thriving population from a total of 11 ferrets. the cheyenne mountain zoo in colorado is/was at the forefront of this project (i took a conservation class in college lol)
 

Bonney425

not a junior
Messages
40
Location
kountze, texas
reintro. is an option but how many people breed wild caught morphs? even the normals we have now vary quite a bit from wild caughts. 90% of the morphs being bred can not survive in the wild.
 

crotaphytidae

New Member
Messages
370
Location
Utah
I just looked up where the city of Karachi was and it falls quite close to the range of E. fuscus. Could the fat tail gecko they are talking about be this species? I know that the picture they have isn't E. fuscus but they could have just used any similar looking animal and called it good. Just a thought.
 

malt_geckos

Don't Say It's Impossible
Messages
3,971
Location
Gainesville, Fl
Re-introduction isn't really an option in my opinion. Our geckos would die in the wild. Have you guys ever seen WC leopard geckos? They are about twice as large and about 100 times meaner that a normal leo. They can take the skin off your finger easily. Our geckos are too tame and I'm not sure they would be ok in the wild.
 
H

hondawingsfly

Guest
ive never seen a wild caught leo, i tried to find any photos on google with no luck
 

leonut

New Member
Messages
789
Location
Oklahoma
Re-introduction isn't really an option in my opinion. Our geckos would die in the wild. Have you guys ever seen WC leopard geckos? They are about twice as large and about 100 times meaner that a normal leo. They can take the skin off your finger easily. Our geckos are too tame and I'm not sure they would be ok in the wild.

well in my opinion if hachlings were released (or even eggs laid and then deposited in the wild) the geckos would "revert to their natural ways" so to speak. the only reason CB geckos are tame is because of constant handling and humans being around all the time. another option is to breed WC leopard geckos and release their offspring.
 

HepCatMoe

Escaped A.I.
Messages
758
Location
Tempe Az
reintroduction might or might not work.

if it was the only choice, then of course it should be tried.

however, it should never get to that point, especially not for the sake of somebody having a pet.

further, from what ive read, captive leo's these days are mutts, a mish-mash of a bunch of diferant subspecies. they might not be able to live in the same environment as a specific subspecie.

also, when leo's are wiped out from an entire area, it means weve lost a *lot* of genetic information, a lot of times we are wiping out entire subspecies.

even if we did reintroduce some cbb leo's and they did manage to survive, it is almost the equivalent of introducing a forign species.

now, it might be that people would need to do that, but first and formost conservation should be the priority.
 

daveim

cats, dogs, lizards, etc.
Messages
206
Well, another cause for them disapearing is that the locals think they're poisonous and kill them... stupif peepl.:stupid:
 
L

lizardlove

Guest
Well, another cause for them disapearing is that the locals think they're poisonous and kill them... stupif peepl.:stupid:

Are you serious? :eek:

Sigh. That's sad. It's too bad that there isn't a lot of wildlife education out there, or a lot of species could be saved. Same situation as African gorillas and the bushmeat trade, maybe if people were better educated, they could learn to love and want to save these animals... And leos certainly are beautiful. *sniff*
 
S

Sturt

Guest
well in my opinion if hachlings were released (or even eggs laid and then deposited in the wild) the geckos would "revert to their natural ways" so to speak. the only reason CB geckos are tame is because of constant handling and humans being around all the time. another option is to breed WC leopard geckos and release their offspring.

Second that. Think how little they want to do with us when they just hatch out. People are always posting here asking if their young leo will "calm down" as it gets older. In the wild, they'd stay as nasty and anti-human as when they hatch.
 

Retribution Reptiles

Stripe King
Messages
2,380
Location
NE Ohio
The blood lines have been so diluted that everything is het for something or another. Imagine taking a normal into the wild and being a 66% het for blizzard. The offspring that would hatch out as blizzards wouldn't have a chance. Natural selection wouldn't allow for our geckos to thrive in the wild anymore.
 
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Blizzard Lizard

Guest
If they got anywhere near endangered professional breeders should get the privelege to breed them and then reintroduce them into the wild. I hope that never happens.
 

Gecko_Jay09

Addicted to reptiles!
Messages
145
Location
Rugby, Warwickshire, England
I doubt that any captive bred gecko would manage to survive in the wild at all. as people have said before, the leos we have now are just a genetic soup where loads of things are mixed in. they look and are amazing but have been bred so many times far from that of WC leos that their natural instincts for surviving in the wild are pretty much gone other than procreative behaviours: eat sleep mate and more sleep.
i suppose you could compare it to the modern day dog as they are supposedly evolved from wolves, however if we left our pet dog out in the open they would have no clue lol!
im probably out of my league on this discussion but i thought id have a go at posting on it :)

l8rs!
 
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Blizzard Lizard

Guest
How would someone think that you could release hatchlings in the wild and them not survive?
 

snowgyre

New Member
Messages
588
Location
Athens, GA
A captive bred leopard gecko would likely have a similar survival rate as a wild hatched gecko when introduced to the wild. As we have seen with released wild boars and horses, even 'domesticated' animals can thrive quite successfully in the wild. Reptiles in general have the added benefit in that their behavior is instinct driven, not a learned response as in most mammals and birds.

In terms of the various phenotypes and genotypes in captive leopard geckos, that variation didn't just come out of no where. In reality, leopard geckos are a naturally polymorphic group (meaning that they have a lot of color phases), and all the color phases we see in captivity were actually present in the wild population. Granted, we promote these genes through selective breeding, but in a system where the geckos bred freely with one another we would see a return to the 'wild type' coloration within one or two generations. The turn around time would be very quick.

Also, keep in mind that the survival rates of baby reptiles of any species tend to be extremely, extremely low. If any reintroductions were to be successful, then we'd have to release quite a few geckos into the wild. Since leos are so hardy and easy to breed, we'd probably be releasing 'wild type' adults into the wild, not babies. We'd lose some to predators, but I think it would be relatively easy to do.

Florida is kind of an embarrassing example of how successful 'domesticated' reptiles can be in the wild. Just look at all the wild green iguanas, black and white tegus, nile monitors, ball pythons, boa constrictors, burmese pythons, knight anoles, brown anoles, bark anoles, day geckos of various species, house geckos, etc etc. that are doing quite well down there. 'Domesticated' isn't a word you can use with reptiles. They're all essentially wild.
 

justindh1

New Member
Messages
1,584
Location
Pilot Grove, Missouri
The morphs that have the colors that don't blend into the natural inviornment would be more then likely eaten by predators. Thats why there isn't these morphs out in the wild. They may have been born but didn't survive because of standing out to much. The genes are there but the animals stick out to much to survive long enought to breed.

To think that any captive breed gecko or reptile wouldn't be able to survive in the wild is just rediculous. The thing that hurts captive breed animals or reptiles is the human contact. They rely on humans to give them food and this is what takes away their wild instincts. All animals can revert to thier wild insticts if we keep the human contact to a minimum or none at all. We have introduce, as humans, many creature that have survived in the wild after being captive breed. They had success because they did not allow the creature to rely on the humans.

Any living thing can be reproduce for the repopulation of its habitat but its a process that has to be done right. We have to have the least amount of contact and allow the animal to do everythings itself.

The WC leos are becoming more popular now days because of one the new genes to put in the genetic pool and because the WC leos are unique and visual appealing. It all starts with demand and if the market didn't demand these geckos then the criminals wouldn't be catchling them illegally.
 

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