[gecko]...Euthanasia for Distressed Geckos...

[Melody Hartley]

Hi Sherron,

I know a snake-keeper that kills rats with (I think) a carbon-dioxide 
chamber, because she doesn't like to kill them "maually".  I can find 
out more, or put you in touch with her if you like.

Hope this helps,
Melody

Sherron wrote:

> Aloha, Kind Friends
> 
> I prefer to let nature take its course usually, too. But sometimes you 
> can see they are in obvious pain ... and that hurts me too much, too. I 
> can't bear to see them in pain. Especially when it has become apparent 
> that it is hopeless.
> 
> This poor girl apparently fell from our high ceiling onto a tile floor. 
> When we found her, she only moved when we tried to gently move her out 
> of the way. We placed her in a container so she would be safe from 
> predators (other geckos, cats, mongoose, birds) and foot traffic, in the 
> hopes she would recover, and gave her fruit and water. It was obvious it 
> hurt her to move, but she seemed okay when still, so we hoped for the best.
> 
> By the afternoon of the next day, however, her eyes were badly sunken, 
> she had trouble breathing, and her skin was developing black blotchy 
> areas. She would stiffen and gasp repeatedly for air, which obviously 
> was causing her more pain. By this time, it had been about 18-20 hours 
> since her fall and she had started to deteriorate rapidly. If there had 
> been any hope ... :(
> 
> If we were still on the mainland, I could have taken her to our vet who 
> we did trust and who would have treated her properly. But here in the 
> islands, we don't have those resources. Our real problem is finding 
> someone who would even treat geckos. Heck, finding adequate medical 
> treatment for humans is a big problem on the outer islands, let alone 
> for exotic animals. I have Myasthenia Gravis (MG) and I can't find a 
> neurologist that knows anything about my disease on this island. My 
> husband sees a cardiologist who flies over once a month from the island 
> of Oahu. It took me 1-1/2 years to find a personal doctor who would 
> treat my "complicated" problems. Medical care for both people and 
> animals is sadly lacking.
> 
> And it looks like the small number of vets here primarily just treat 
> cats & dogs. Those I have called don't include reptiles at all.  But I 
> really am not surprised, as we had trouble finding a vet who really knew 
> how to take care of "exotics" like our pet rats in southern California, 
> too. Finding good vets who know more than cats & dogs has always been a 
> problem -- it's just that here in Kona there are far fewer to start with.
> 
> I am also no longer convinced that a shot from just any vet is 
> automatically better. I took one of my rats to another vet when our own 
> vet was out of town and she screamed in pain from his injection -- she 
> suffered a lot from it and it took her a long time to die as she 
> suffered. Not all vets have empathy nor even seem to believe that 
> animals really can suffer pain. So unless you know the vet, you are just 
> taking your chances. Sometimes you have no choice, But that experience 
> has made me leery of automatically trusting every vet.
> 
> Worse, after doing some checking online, I find that it is illegal in 
> Hawaii to catch & keep any day geckos in Hawaii (except with a permit 
> for scientific research) in order to discourage any trade in them 
> whatsoever. It is okay to keep the native species, but not any animal 
> banned for import/export that are deemed dangerous to the native 
> populations (native insects, in this case). So even if there were good 
> gecko vets, they would be risking their license if they to treat a day 
> gecko since they cannot be legally kept.
> 
> So right now we are pretty much on our own. We either have to stand by 
> and watch them die, no matter how long it takes, or we need something 
> else we can come up with to make their going easier.  Maybe my husband 
> can "smash" them, as someone else suggested. I don't know that I could 
> unless they were already partially crushed already ... or like this poor 
> little baby we found on our lanai, being eaten alive by ants, we think 
> partially eaten by a day gecko who bit off more than it could chew and 
> coughed her back up.
> 
> 
> We're sure she was in terrible pain -- I can't believe that freezing her 
> was worse than the pain she was suffering.
> 
> I didn't know what to do for them, but my husband felt freezing would be 
> quicker and kinder than letting them slowly die in pain. If we were 
> wrong, I regret it immensely. I do know it is not at all kind for 
> mammals; I just do not know for reptiles. Thankfully, we have 
> encountered such dreadful conditions only twice. But knowing day geckos, 
> it is possible this horrible situation will come up again -- and I am 
> desperate for a better choice. Can you help? :(
> 
> Mahalo, Sherron
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Gecko aka Sherron, Kailua Kona, Hawaii  (on the Big Island of Hawaii)
> Homepage: http://hale-pohaku.com/sherron - mailto:gecko@hale-pohaku.com
> See our rats: http://hale-pohaku.com/dennis/ratgallery.html
>