Bob - Maybe Not.

 So, a week ago, I wrote to express my excitement about having another Leopard gecko. He's ordinary in color, with nothing particularly fancy, but he was adopted because he was injured and couldn't be sold. We brought him home and gave him a really nice tank to live in, complete with a few hides, branches, and rocks to climb on. For a lizard, he really should have been happy -- we don't know.

    We don't know because we can't find him. We never, and I mean never, leave enclosures open, so unless he's Houdini reincarnated (which I doubt), we have no idea what's going on in our lizard world.  Bob is gone.  He's not in the enclosure. We took a little cat scooper and sifted through the substrate to be sure, and he's not there. He's not under the water dish, he's not up under anything-unless, and this would be really weird-unless he's inside UP INSIDE this hide that has a little base that has a small hole.

    We can't stick tongs in it, it's that small of a hole, and he's actually bigger than that hole -- so if he's in there, it would be some kind of crazy.  We can't break it open, it's resin. We can't melt it, he'd be hurt. We have put crickets in the enclosure and have turned the resin hide on its side. Maybe he'll try to eat the cricket? We've turned off his light and covered up the tank to make him think it's night time -- Bob is just not there.

    We called the PetSmart we got him from to ask if there's anything else we can do. You can't vibrate him out with a vibration plate; it could hurt him. We haven't tried smoking him out yet - but I don't smoke and I don't vape, so where would I get smoke? I may have to find someone. The reptile experts agreed that what we're doing is all we can do, and you can bet that once we know he's not in that hide, we will dispose of it.  If he has passed, I'll be sad.

    I wanted the reptile expert at PetSmart to know that we didn't do it on purpose; in fact, the little hide was purchased there, and it stated it was safe for geckos — apparently, it may not be.  We are praying and hoping Bob is OK. He's a good boy. I think the only reason I'm blogging about it is to let people know it can happen, and it can't always be avoided. We do our best, but some things are out of our control -- we would never have put him in harm's way intentionally - I'm OK praying for him because I know God is great. He cares about lizards, too.

    If he doesn't come out from the hide, there is literally NO place else he could be. Other animals can't get to him; the enclosures have safety catches on the doors and tops. It's the strangest, weirdest, and most unique thing to ever happen to us as far as lizards are concerned, and we've had a lot of lizards. I read where they can go off to die if they feel that they are weak or sickly. I wonder if he was like that before we got him, and he just found a good place to say goodbye. 

    Well, I will pray for him - and I know it may sound silly to some, but I KNOW he will be in Heaven if he goes away for good. It would be foolish of someone to try to tell me otherwise.