This weekend we went to the Exotic Animal show at Dorton Arena in Raleigh. My friend Bob had invited us, and with gas still well over $3/gallon we welcomed the chance to drive around in his Prius for Labor Day weekend.

Bob raises two types of exotic animals: crested geckoes and dart frogs. He bought two dart frogs at the spring version of this show, but one of them died pretty soon after he brought it home (it never ate) and the vendor gave him a credit. The main reason for going this time was to replace the dead frog.

The arena was full of vendors peddling various types of reptiles and amphibians (there was a small bird pavilion outside of the main portion of the arena), and almost all of the animals that I saw were captive bred. It was pretty amazing to see tables full of small snakes in deli cups.

Andrea thought that I might be tempted to buy something. Heh … nope. While I enjoyed the four corn snakes we had oh so many years ago, I didn’t want to get back into the habit. Finding the properly sized mice, etc., for them to eat was hard, even when we were in the city with lots of pet stores, and it would probably be much harder now that we’re out in the country. For a time we raised our own mice, but that is a smelly task that I didn’t want to do again.

However, she was interested in finding a Rhacodactylus ciliatus, or crested gecko like Bob has. They tend to be expensive, but she found one she liked for $35. I tried to talk her out of it, and I succeeded.

But then I remembered that her birthday is on the 17th, so I caved.

First of all, geckoes don’t require external heat, like snakes and other lizards. Second, they are omnivorous, eating crickets and small insects or fruit, so food shouldn’t be a problem. Finally, even with a cage the whole setup wasn’t too expensive.

So, add one gecko to the two cats, three dogs and four horses out on the farm (not including the Guinea fowl and the fish).