sad

[JCornelisse5]

not stupid people just uneducated. it's a different style of living. reintro is a terrible idea unless the animals are raised in a wild manner

 

[GeckoDude94]

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

They are just normals

 

[M&I Gecko]

I'm pretty sure reinto would work ok anywhere. Have you ever lost your leo for a day or two? They revert back to wild very quickly.

 

[jermh1]

life has a way of working things out if you let it, it took millions of years of evolution for the Leo to nestle in to its current ecological niche, dont think you can breed that instinct away in a few generations, obviously most of the color morphs would do poorly due to predation. Just think how hatchlings come out of the egg hissing and biting, that is not a learned behavior. The key is preserving the local gene pool and not introducing any alien genes into that population, throwing a bunch of normals from our collections out there would be of little ecological importance, other than a bunch of wild pet leopard geckos.

 

[ddkgeckos]

I don't see how the color makes a difference a orange and black gecko hardly camouflages well. i think its more to do with instinct leos are supposed to be nocturnal we give them hides to hide in during the day 2 of mine regularly sleep outside there hides they obviously feel safe enough to do this but in the wild a bird or fox would eat them. i think reintroduction would work but would take quite a long time. Instinct is something thats naturally built within you and im sure if the world stopped making food we would somehow learn how to hunt and gather berry's and meat and stuff to eat but it would take time and a lot of people would probably die learning it. same with the gecko's

 

[Keitone]

"Wild" type geckos aren't orange. I have a normal and she should be able to blend in fine. She is also the feistiest gecko I have had. Raise them in a way that they don't have much human interaction and they stay "wild". I have bought geckos from several different people and you can always tell the ones that don't get as much attention. I always ask how they are taken care of. I don't mind if they don't get handled it just means they will be nervous around me for a while, but they will tame down as they age.

Just look at all the afghans that are starting to pop up for sale. It's funny that the hobby is to a point that the "normals" are unique and desirable.

 

[geckosftw]

I have an 8 year old WC female (rescued by a zoo from a smuggler, adopted by me when I volunteered there four years ago) is ovulating right now, my friend has a 6 year old WC bloodline (F2) male. They'll be bred in a couple weeks. To those who think there's no WC's anymore, there are. They're just much older now. Lots of breeders are working with specific subspecies too, and keeping their lines pure. If reintroduction is necessary then it needs to be done properly, putting the correct subspecies in the correct location. Keeping the "Hobby"'s mixed genetics out of the wild is the most important. Reintroducing only the top health, cleanest genetic animals is the only way to reintroduce any animal back into the wild. My WC is nasty, bites, hisses, burrows, and hates to be seen. Eats anoles, roaches, crickets, cicadas, etc. Anything she can get her jaws on. She's the most wild reptile I've ever owned, and for that reason I do not handle her. I prefer her to be wild. Then on the other hand I have many different morphs I breed, but they're genetic slurry.

 

[Shera]

I don't know how much I trust this sources "facts", when they can't even get the name of the gecko right. I scoured the internet and every source I could find seemed to say that the leopard gecko's conservation status was stable, or of least concern. Certainly some species are being taken from the wild (especially ones that are difficult to breed in captivity), but I highly doubt anyone would fetch much for wild caught leopard geckos once factoring in exportation, when they reproduce so readily in captivity.

 

[Tony C]

The actual text of the WWF Report referenced reads:

Reptiles have become increasingly popular as pets all over the world and every year thousands of animals enter the exotic pet trade, many of them exported from this part of the world. One of the surveyors very recently noticed a drastic decline in the population of some lizards and snakes compared to earlier reports. He attributes this decline to the large number of nomadic snake charmer tribes, locally known as “Jogis” involved in illegal smuggling of geckos, turtles, tortoises and snakes, known to be pets in various countries of the world. These Jogis receive a handsome amount from the agents positioned in various areas of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. During the recent ecological assessment the surveyor met one of the families (comprising of about 100 members) who are involved in the collection of reptiles. At the time of the visit the group were in possession of an astounding 321 specimens of Fat-tailed gecko, 151 specimens of Flat-tailed gecko, Teratolepis fasciata and 96 specimens of Chain sand boa. The illegal live reptile’s trade, in fact, is a dilemma and a question mark for the Government agencies and NGOs involved in conservation of biodiversity. No one knows from what period these and hundreds of other Jogis started this illegal trade of live reptiles and how much damage has been caused to reptile’s biodiversity by such activities. The practice continues unabated and unchecked and there seems to be no constraint for them to wipe out every reptile species.

It's a rather poor report in my opinion, nothing but speculation based on rumored activity by collectors. They can't even keep species straight in the report, a picture of a Leopard gecko is labeled as a Flat-tailed (aka Viper) gecko. I don't know how they can claim to have observed any population trends when they don't even know what they're looking at.

 

[Keith N]

People aren't stupid for collecting as I can name about 20 companies on Fauna Classified that currently have WC specimens for sale, we are stupid for continuing to buy WC animals that keep the illegal trading going.

 

[bman123]

This is a touchy subject. If someone wanted something to be done they'd do it. Set up camp in the natural are breed the crap out of normals and release the offspring.

 

[Tony C]

People aren't stupid for collecting as I can name about 20 companies on Fauna Classified that currently have WC specimens for sale, we are stupid for continuing to buy WC animals that keep the illegal trading going.

How do you propose we establish captive bred populations without taking animals from the wild? Do you have a way to simply magick them into existence? Wild caught animals have their place in the hobby, there is nothing inherently illegal or immoral about them.

 

[Keith N]

How do you propose we establish captive bred populations without taking animals from the wild? Do you have a way to simply magick them into existence? Wild caught animals have their place in the hobby, there is nothing inherently illegal or immoral about them.

People want to camplain about the depletion of animals in the wild but yet they are the same ones buying WC specimens. Not saying which one is right or wrong just you cant say people that collect WC to sell are wrong but not lay blame on people who purchase them as well which I was pointing out. I have been in the hobby for 20 years so I do not need a lesson on how breeding populations are established but thanks though. I have family in Uzbekistan and believe me the state of economy over there people do what they need to survive and collecting animals and fish are some what easier than say maybe drugs because there is nothing illegal about it. Sometimes they tend to overcollect which is where the problem lies. My cousin there has a very nice collection of the subspecies leopard geckos he has collected in his travels to Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. He tells me he paid as little as 1.00 USD for some of the same ones I have seen got for 100. His breeders are 100% WC and that is because he is so close to the actual geographical range of collection and the ones I saw for sale while I was there I would have died to have in my breeders.

 

[herf]