leopard gecko
My only reptile is my little pound puppy, Mr. Mango! Leopard geckos can live for around twenty years and are really popular with middle schoolers, so animal shelters and rescues end up with lots of them when their owners move out or go to college. That's what happened to my guy, who was one of five similarly-aged geckos in the same county shelter. A perk of adopting is that I was able to get my buddy and an enclosure, heat lamp, themostat, hides, and bowls for his $20 adoption fee. He is seven.
He currently lives in what's called a "naturalistic" set-up - with a soil blend and a mix of real materials (drift wood, river rocks) and fake hides. I feed him 1-2x a week and he only comes out late at night, but he's really cute. He is very tame but I don't like to hold him too much unless I'm letting him explore. He struggles to shed his skin all the way on his toes, so sometimes I have to give him baths (unpopular). His tail dropped when his first family got him as a baby and it looked like an onion when I got him after 6+ years of regrowth and lots of overfeeding. He has lost a lot of weight and is much healthier now.
leopard gecko resources: