animateash
Member
Forgive the odd topic, but I wanted to post an experience I had in hopes maybe someone here has had a similar experience or could offer some advice. I am concerned about the safety of my reptiles and am trying to form the best defense.
We bought a house and have been here in the new neighborhood for 5 months. The kid 2 doors down knew we had cats and would often ask to see them. The cats don't like strangers, so I kept telling her she'd probably never see the cats anytime she brought it up. Yesterday she showed up on our doorstep, again asking to see the cats. She's persistent. Kind of puzzled, but trying to be nice, I said "the cats won't come out, but i could show you a gecko if you want." The kid is 9 so I assumed she'd have decent manners and let her in. BIG MISTAKE.
I showed her both my leopards and my crested. She asked if she could hold one and I said yes, if you're careful. I explained the proper way to hold them. In under 2 minutes, this kid is running through my house, crested gecko in hand, holding it pretty much every way except the nice way (upside down, vertically, far away from the body, etc.) and refusing to be corrected. She was treating it like a doll, not a living thing. When i said "ok I think the gecko has had enough" and went to reach for it, the kid actually dodged me and sassed "No! I'm not done yet." Fearing for my gecko's safety, I calmly followed the kid around, trying to seize any opportunity to get the gecko back in her tank. The kid wanders into my office, looks at my fish tank, turns to me with an evil little Chucky doll smile and said "What would happen if I put the gecko in the water?" I was horrified! This kid was old enough to know that was a bad thing to do and was clearly trying to push my buttons. I told her that was not a good idea and so we weren't going to do it (I was thinking something much, much meaner) After 20 minutes of this nonsense and trying to calmly negotiate my gecko to safety, I finally got her back by lying and saying the gecko looked like she was going to bite (this gecko has never bitten anyone in 11yrs). It managed to scare the kid enough to give her back. I could not shoo the kid out of the house fast enough and of course her mother had been totally oblivious to all the bad behavior, out talking to someone in the front room. I was just so relieved that my pet was safe and just wanted them out, so i didn't say anything to the mother. Despite the bite scare, the kid told me she couldn't wait to come back and hold the geckos again.
So...here's my query, which is perhaps best posed to those who have children: How can I discourage this hurricane of a child from being interested in my geckos? Some friends have suggested she'll lose interest in time, but I can't do 4 yrs of this while I wait for her to get interested in boys instead! I would normally encourage enthusiasm for animals, this kid was a nightmare and I truly feared for the welfare of my gecko. My boyfriend and I agreed she is not allowed in this house ever again, but it is only a matter of time before she shows up on the doorstep asking to see something. Do we just feign that we're sick for the next few months and hopes she gets bored of coming over and asking to see the pets? Do I fabricate some deathly gecko plague to scare her from my doorstep? Do I talk straight with her and say 'you did not handle my animals nicely, so you can't visit them" at the risk of her telling mom and making this some neighbor feud? While I normally favor the direct route, I am hesitant to have a frank conversation with the mother because we already know she is not very level headed, and would probably not believe her kid would behave so badly. The mother has invited herself over several times and seems to think it is somehow her right, since she was good friends with the previous owner of our home.
I'm just totally creeped out by the disregard the kid had for my reptiles, especially that proposed dunk in the fish tank moment. If this happened to you, how would you handle it? Thanks for any and all advice, support, and child repellant product recommendations....
We bought a house and have been here in the new neighborhood for 5 months. The kid 2 doors down knew we had cats and would often ask to see them. The cats don't like strangers, so I kept telling her she'd probably never see the cats anytime she brought it up. Yesterday she showed up on our doorstep, again asking to see the cats. She's persistent. Kind of puzzled, but trying to be nice, I said "the cats won't come out, but i could show you a gecko if you want." The kid is 9 so I assumed she'd have decent manners and let her in. BIG MISTAKE.
I showed her both my leopards and my crested. She asked if she could hold one and I said yes, if you're careful. I explained the proper way to hold them. In under 2 minutes, this kid is running through my house, crested gecko in hand, holding it pretty much every way except the nice way (upside down, vertically, far away from the body, etc.) and refusing to be corrected. She was treating it like a doll, not a living thing. When i said "ok I think the gecko has had enough" and went to reach for it, the kid actually dodged me and sassed "No! I'm not done yet." Fearing for my gecko's safety, I calmly followed the kid around, trying to seize any opportunity to get the gecko back in her tank. The kid wanders into my office, looks at my fish tank, turns to me with an evil little Chucky doll smile and said "What would happen if I put the gecko in the water?" I was horrified! This kid was old enough to know that was a bad thing to do and was clearly trying to push my buttons. I told her that was not a good idea and so we weren't going to do it (I was thinking something much, much meaner) After 20 minutes of this nonsense and trying to calmly negotiate my gecko to safety, I finally got her back by lying and saying the gecko looked like she was going to bite (this gecko has never bitten anyone in 11yrs). It managed to scare the kid enough to give her back. I could not shoo the kid out of the house fast enough and of course her mother had been totally oblivious to all the bad behavior, out talking to someone in the front room. I was just so relieved that my pet was safe and just wanted them out, so i didn't say anything to the mother. Despite the bite scare, the kid told me she couldn't wait to come back and hold the geckos again.
So...here's my query, which is perhaps best posed to those who have children: How can I discourage this hurricane of a child from being interested in my geckos? Some friends have suggested she'll lose interest in time, but I can't do 4 yrs of this while I wait for her to get interested in boys instead! I would normally encourage enthusiasm for animals, this kid was a nightmare and I truly feared for the welfare of my gecko. My boyfriend and I agreed she is not allowed in this house ever again, but it is only a matter of time before she shows up on the doorstep asking to see something. Do we just feign that we're sick for the next few months and hopes she gets bored of coming over and asking to see the pets? Do I fabricate some deathly gecko plague to scare her from my doorstep? Do I talk straight with her and say 'you did not handle my animals nicely, so you can't visit them" at the risk of her telling mom and making this some neighbor feud? While I normally favor the direct route, I am hesitant to have a frank conversation with the mother because we already know she is not very level headed, and would probably not believe her kid would behave so badly. The mother has invited herself over several times and seems to think it is somehow her right, since she was good friends with the previous owner of our home.
I'm just totally creeped out by the disregard the kid had for my reptiles, especially that proposed dunk in the fish tank moment. If this happened to you, how would you handle it? Thanks for any and all advice, support, and child repellant product recommendations....
