Import Death Female

Jackp308 · #1 05-06-2011, 10:55 AM

As some of you know I got my first WC U. sikorae beginning of March 2011. They have been awesome geckos for me. BTW still alive and doing great. Came to me looking good, fully hydrated and eating very short after arrival. Clean fecal as well. These are 2 males that I am speaking of. Fast forward last thursday I ordered 1.2 since I wanted the females for the future. They arrived last friday in Ohio pretty chilly 48f with no heat packs which I suppose is fine since I picked up ASAP.The night before was upper 50's low 60s. Anyways I open the box and they are in Cloth bags cold motionless no moss no moisture. Bags are set in little bit of newspaper.

I never got geckos is bags before usually in delis w moist moss or paper towels. Now the 1.2 I paid for is clearly 2.1. I cut the bags opened and nudged them out. 2 males were quick and starting drinking right away. The female very slow to get out but did drink. I really believe they drank for a few hrs straight non stop from that point. I noticed girl had a bad shed apparently with some stuck to face and legs.

Within few hrs I separated all of them into individual terrariums proper temps/humidity and fully planted with plenty of cork flats and rounds ,orchids, and ficus trees. To shorten up a bit I knew the female looked rough and skinny as well. Could see her ribs and legs looked like they could snap so tiny she was. I never got her to eat or even acknowledge a feeder. She would be awake some times in the day and never fully slept like flat and impressed as most of my leaf tails. She died last night. So it was 6 days from arrival. I figured that was high chance with her. I did what I could. She could not climb the glass well and I heard her fall down the background and make a yelp. She was life less by then. I touched her no movement at all and I just knew so ill spare the grim details.
Ill take that as a loss. From my understanding this is the name of the game. The 2 males are doing fine so far, hunting actively eating sleeping hydrated and looked 90% better than she ever did. I am pretty upset with seller that my 1.2 is a 2 males now though. I did email him prior to death saying how he sold me 2.1 and I will purchase more females if he could maybe correct his mistake. His response was he sold me 2 females. So another lesson learned dont buy from importers if they have been doing it since 04 and cant even sex an obvious adult gecko.

And 1 Good Picture of a Nice CB F2 Male

jadrig · #2 05-06-2011, 01:37 PM

The dead gecko in the pic is a male.

jadrig · #3 05-06-2011, 01:39 PM

post pics of the other 2 geckos from the shipment...so that we can see the side/dorsal view of the animals. If the importer did screw up, they should definitely cut you some sort of deal the next time.

Jackp308 · #4 05-06-2011, 02:35 PM

Ill post some better pics later of the other 2. Im pretty sure those are for sure males. I can see huge lumps under both of their tail base very big when sleeping on glass.

I just notified him that the female i thought i got was dead and i was still upset about not getting 2 females in general. Im sitting on a bunch of males now.

NigelMoses · #5 05-06-2011, 06:22 PM

All in all, you have to be extremely careful who you purchase any animal from. It is not the name of the game for needless animals to die. If this animal was shipped properly and stressed less I'm sure it would have done much better for you. I would cut your losses and never contact nor talk to this vendor again. Also the BOI wouldn't be a bad idea to warn others in the future, if the geckos did arrive in such conditions. The problem is that most if not all importers want to move the product as fast as they get it in. No more than your common drug dealer. They care very little for the animals and only want to see cash in their pocket. It is your job as a hobbyist to determine who you can trust, listening to the advice on these boards is also a good idea.

Jackp308 · #6 05-06-2011, 07:27 PM

You are definitely right. I felt pretty guilty last night for the death when I knew I really did nothing directly but gave it the best chance possible. Supporting this vendor was enough to feel the guilt.I knew as soon as i opened the box. I usually even contact my seller to notify good arrival as soon as I pick up from hold location. I didnt even bother this time as I was pretty shocked at the package and the geckos. He was notified of the mix up of sex which he just blew off though. As I said Im new to the uroplatus and I have gotten some really good WCs lately but from 1 seller on different occasions. which are awesome. I always heard the horror stories of WCs and ect. but I never witnessed it until now. That gecko should have never been shipped out at all regardless. It was to weak to climb,eat,and barely enough energy to drink and defecate.

I notified him that I was going to make a BOI thread but to be honest I wasnt sure If it was worthy.Since he did send me 3 geckos just not what I wanted and in poor condition. I was not sure if that was common shipping practices for uroplatus though so I couldnt really comment. Ill tell you I was terrified to see 3 little bags in box of newspaper though. The package was so light compared to even 1 geckos equal size Ive been shipped.

Jackp308 · #7 05-06-2011, 08:48 PM

On a better note the other 2 seem to be doing well. They show interest in food and eat every time I feed. Very active and have solid good looking fecals each night. Some what skinny but few months Id say theyll be some very nice looking geckos. Ill get some pics up soon.

Jackp308 · #8 05-06-2011, 10:24 PM

2nd gecko which was the second smallest of the bunch. Seems to be doing well though.

here is the 3rd gecko

not best pics but from the looks Id say I was sold 3 males.

pakinjak · #9 05-06-2011, 11:21 PM

Looks like you got three males, not cool. I'd be adding that dude to my "never buy from again" list.

jadrig · #10 05-06-2011, 11:30 PM

It looked like a handsome specimen, genetically speaking, but I think that the animal was so thin that its hemipenal buldges were shrivled. At first glance, it has a female pattern, but it does seem to have longitudinal striations.

I m not all about smearing someones name/company on the BOI, but if they clearlly did something wrong like the shipping/containers...do what you feel is right.
The gender mix up...that is fairly common...one guy I deal with mixes something up every time we make a transaction...but he always makes good in the end.
See if you can make a deal with this person now and maybe you can get 2 for the price of 1 next time...or some kind of deal...if not, dont deal with them.

Just out of curiousity, what company did you deal with and where are they from?