We got our very first lovely leopard gecko, Momo, from Geckos Etc. at the Pomona Reptile Super…read moreShow. She was SUPER discounted at $25 and was clearly a super common morph and a bit smaller than the others, but her sex was clearly demarcated and she was in a deli container with a bunch of other geckos that they had too.
Geckos Etc. is one of the biggest vendors at these show with a huge exhibitor's booth with multiple tables. As their name implies, they have a huge number of different geckos of all morphs and sizes from leopard geckos, African fat tailed geckos, banded geckos, knob tailed geckos, and much more, as well as hog nosed snakes, blue tongue skinks, and many other snakes and lizards. They're a family owned business so you see the couple with their kids at shows. I think the daughter was talking to us about breeding and color morphs which was pretty interesting for an elementary schooler to inform us about. Purchasing, getting our questions answered, etc. at the show was super friendly and easy.
Momo was our first reptile ever and she lived with us for several years but the first 2 years were super rough. She barely ate, and we tried all forms of feeding her, all forms of live feeders, dried feeders, canned feeders, Repashy, imported pastes, etc. After awhile she did eat, but we were worried for the longest time that she wouldn't thrive. We spoke to other reptile owners, local stores, my brother reached out to Geckos etc. (they got back to him), spoke to a couple vets, etc., made sure our husbandry was up to par, and eventually she got better and started eating, her tail got fat etc.
Then she had her first prolapse last year and had to get emergency surgery. She lived and survived as a little fighter. Vet was surprised she lived that long and survived the surgery. We just lost her recently to her second prolapse and she was doing just fine the night before and was eating and thriving. Could have been a myriad of things, but vet pointed out that it could have been genetics and breeding considering how cheap we got her, yet big box pet shop slop leopard geckos people raise in the dark for 10 years survive (albeit horribly) sometimes.
Do your research, be an informed pet keeper, their little lives matter so much.