We live in a flat so we can't really have a cat or a dog but that never stopped my wife and I looking around petshops at all the available animals and discussing when we get a house what we're going to buy first, as my mother in law on the other hand has lots of pets (dogs, cats, fish etc) we tend to use that as our main excuse for visiting pet shops.
So on Easter weekend 2010 we all had decided that we should visit southern aquatics in Poole (as the nearest Southern Aquatics had closed down and we had not yet visited the Poole branch). Imagine our surprise when we saw not only the usual furry critters but also lots of scaly ones too!! And that is when we first saw Smudge. We had never even considered reptiles as pets before, but here was this adorable little gecko that was just begging to be taken home.
Very conscientious of the fact that it was probably a very impulsive thing to be doing, we decided that really if we were going to do this we should look at all available options, so we left the petshop and visited some other reptilariums in the area. We realised that the prices at other shops were more expensive and the gecko's we were shown were either older or the geckos available were not the colorful leopard geckos but other species. By this time wifey was in a complete tizz that Smudge would be gone by the time we got back to the shop.
A fast journey back to Southern Aquatics and we're politely asking could we please buy that particular gecko who we would come to know and love as Smudge.
We paid £75 for a starter kit that included the habitat, coconuts (for shelters), woodshavings (which we didn't use as we were concerned such a young gecko might accidentally ingest the shavings), a box of crickets, spagnum moss, heat mat, water dish and nutrobal (a nutrient dust with which to coat her food). And also Smudge!
We also decided to buy a book about Leopard Geckos, as we had no previous experience, called "The Leopard Gecko Manual" (I shall add a link to where you can get it later)
One of the first times we handled her.
Exploring her habitat.
Popping out of her coconut, on the warm side of the tank.
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