Who did I get him from?
I purchased Mudkip from a breeder (GANDA Gecko Creations based in The Entrance, NSW); the photo on the right is the one I was sent, along with a few other options, and I fell in love! 🤗 If you click on the photo, it will redirect you to his breeder's Instagram page. Before speaking to Greg from GANDA Geckos, I did actually email a couple of other breeders however they were a bit too far from me and offered shipping a gecko to me instead. I was extremely uncomfortable with this as I had absolutely no experience with handling a reptile before and needed somebody to show me in person the correct way of handling to minimise stress. In saying this, my trip to get Mudkip was definitely not short. 😅
How long was the process?
I started speaking to Greg (Mudkip's breeder) towards the end of September which is the start of Spring for us in Australia. The days were still a little bit cold as Winter had just ended and I didn't want to bring Mudkip home until the months were a little warmer to reduce risking his health. Because of this, Greg was so patient with me; every couple of days, I had a new question to ask and he was right there with the answer to ease my mind. He reserved Mudkip for me and waited until I was ready to go and pick him up. 🥰
The trip to get Mudkip
We arranged to meet the 2nd of November (the end of Spring, heading into the warmer days of Summer) in Tuggerah, a little closer to me than The Entrance is - about a 1.5 hour drive on the GPS. Because I'm an idiot and failed to follow directions properly, the trip there actually took me about 2 hours. 🤦🏻♀️ We met and chatted for a little bit on the species and its care, and I got to see Mudkip in person for the first time. I can't even begin to explain what I was feeling when I saw him - I mean, I somewhat wanted to just burst into tears on the spot from how unbelievably cute he was. He was there, and he was mine. 😭 I was shown how to pick him up and hold him properly and I was definitely 100% nervous. Nervous would be an understatement. What if he launched off my hand and ran away? What if his tail drops? What if he bites me and my natural reaction is to fling him off my hands and into the unknown? 😨
That's exactly what happened. Just not the flinging into the unknown part.
He did bite me but it felt nothing like how I thought it would. A part of me was always afraid of the thought of not being able to handle him once we got home because I was terrified of how much it would hurt if he were to bite me. I'm actually so glad he did give me a tiny nip when I was still there with Greg because it made me realise that it wasn't painful at all.
Not even close to a pinch. Again, I was irrationally fearful of something that didn't end up being that big of a deal at all. 🤦🏻♂️ After talking for a little bit more, I was off on my merry way with my new son. 😄
The trip home
Two weeks prior to getting Mudkip, I called my closest exotics veterinary hospital (North Shore Specialist Hospital in Artarmon, NSW) to book in an appointment for a health check. 🏥 As a veterinary nurse, I know how important it is to ensure that they get a clean bill of health before going home; I also thought it would be a good idea to chat to an exotics vet to fact check everything I'd already read online about the species, considering I'm a first time reptile owner and was riddled with anxiety. 😅 Although I did my research and found a reputable breeder, I still wanted to take him straight to the vet before taking him home because you can never be too safe! So off we went, making our way from Tuggerah to North Shore Specialist Hospital which was about a 2 hour drive. I personally brought my own travel tank with me to put him in but if you don't, the breeder provides a little plastic travel container as well.
Quick little side story - I had booked the vet appointment for 9:30am which meant I had to meet Greg in Tuggerah at 7am to be able to get back in time to see the vet. This meant I had to leave my house and start driving at 5am that morning. Looking back now, I totally rushed planning that day because of my excitement and should've just booked for a later appointment time. Especially with what happened at the vets.. 🙃 *insert law and order dun dun sound effect*
At the vet hospital
We arrived at the vet hospital at 9:20am, earlier than our scheduled appointment time and sat down, patiently waiting for our turn. 10 minutes passed and an owner walked in with their pet, "do you have an appointment?" "no", but they were still taken in to see the vet before me. The same thing happened about 3 more times with 3 more different owners walking in. It was now 10:30am and I had been waiting with Mudkip in the reception area for a little over an hour. As a veterinary nurse, I understood that this could only mean one thing - emergencies. 😣 I prepared myself to be rescheduled to another day which was absolutely fine with me because I know how it feels to be bombarded with walk in clients that have patients sicker than the appointments that have already been scheduled for the day. Mudkip's appointment was only for a health check and I wasn't fussed with bringing him back another day; I was still in bliss with having just picked him up. 🥰 Instead of being rescheduled though, they offered for me to leave Mudkip in their care and they would do his health check and faecal exam in between their emergency surgeries and I could come back and pick him up once everything was done, fine by me!
The actual trip home
I didn't get a call from the hospital until 5:30pm in the evening, letting me know that Mudkip was ready to be discharged. By the time I got to the clinic, it was 6pm. 🌚 The team there were so apologetic with the delays and having to cancel my morning appointment, but I was apologising to them for having a crazy Saturday and now having to see me this late in the evening - a first time gecko owner with enough questions to drive you mad. 😅 I was reunited with my little baby and had a very informative discussion with the vet, who assisted me with all my remaining concerns on care and husbandry. Mudkip got a clean bill of health and was booked in for a follow up appointment in 6 months time to do another parasite faecal exam, just to be on the safe side. 🤗 From there, we made our way back home. 🏠
Home, sweet home
After a long 12 hour day for Mudkip, we arrived home at 7pm and my partner got to meet him for the first time. Teenie, my pomeranian, also got to see him for the first time (from a distance, and by distance I mean from 2 meters away) and she was immediately scared of him. To this day, she still won't come near when I take him out of his enclosure. No idea why she's so afraid. It's like Mudkip just gives her that look of "don't you dare" and she whimpers away. 😂 I took a couple of photos of him and put him inside his enclosure where he scurried away into one of the cave hides and didn't reappear again until the next night, understandably so considering the stressful day he's had from relocating. I created an Instagram account for him and posted up my first ever photo of him, leaping into the reptile community. This was the start of our adventure together. 🥰
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