My Boyfriend is a Gecko Breeder

Upon walking into the Kammerer & Sexton apartment here in Cambridge, MA., one would get the full tour. Here’s my bedroom and bathroom, there’s his, here’s our small kitchen, the loft, our living room/dining room/my office (yes there is a nice terrarium in here with some poison dart frogs), oh, and here is the gecko room.

Yes, we have a gecko room that is in fact, bigger than our kitchen.

We house about 12 species in this room, all shapes and sizes, at a grand total of 50 (give or take a few), and a hedgehog, but that’s a different story.

Fifty geckos live in their own room in our apartment. And here we are upon breeding season; can you imagine the eggs? One may ask, “How did this come about?” Well my friend, I am about to tell you exactly what it is like living with a gecko breeder.

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How it Began

It all started a little over a year ago now when Matthew and I met in college, both planning to move away from our small college in the Mountains of Georgia soon. As most relationships start, we talked for long hours (never about geckos mind you), hung out a lot, and went to several events/dinners together. Then, as most courtships go, we decided to fully commit to this relationship. That’s when I found out about the geckos.

He actually had a few living in his bedroom of the dorm room, which I had never seen before. He explained to me that it was something that he started at fifteen, that he enjoyed doing. And although most of his collection had been sold off so he could come to college (what?!), that he hoped to have more again sometime soon.

I was a little freaked out, to say the least, and found them a little disgusting; they are like lizards right? I refused to touch them for the longest time, and never thought that I would actually have to live in the same place as they did..
That changed quickly. As our relationship progressed and we both figured out where we wanted to go, Boston seemed the place we would both be. Why not live together? It would definitely be more cost efficient, and we would have the company of each other.
So it was set, I was going off to Norway for summer school, and once I got back, Matthew and I would move to Boston together. With the geckos….oh, right.

Adjusting

I knew I had to face my fears and just touch at least one. I mean, we didn’t have to be best friends, and I didn’t have to start breeding myself, but I would have to tolerate these few he had. So I finally picked one up a day that Matthew was cleaning tanks. It was a Crested Gecko.

I fell in love immediately. They were not slimey or gross; this one was actually sort of cute. I even named it and its clutch mate, Ying and Yang. That’s where the slippery slope started.

I went away to Norway, and once I came home, it was time to move. The U-Haul was all packed up and we were ready to hit the road. Wait, he has TWO coolers filled with geckos? What happened to only four?

Then we get to the apartment, and there’s a room specifically for the geckos? How many are there?

The Present

Little did I know that those two coolers would only be the beginning. We have been in Cambridge now 6 months, and we are up to 50, and that is after selling several at the last reptile show, which I go to with him now. Now we are starting another breeding season and  hope to have a ton of babies, and he is planning to buy more? All of that on top of all the crickets and cockroaches (that’s right). That room is a mad house!

But hey, now I love most of them, I don’t mind insects, and I sort of enjoy going to the shows.
Point of the story: boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives, you may not understand why your significant other loves geckos or whatever, but it is always good to support them in what they want to do, and hopefully, one day you won’t end up with 50 geckos in a room to themselves!