My friend won’t let me bring my gecko to her house. Aibu?

[IndraOnTheMountain]

I’m going to visit my friend for the weekend soon with my kids.

We have to look after the school gecko for half term, so I asked if we could bring him with us. He’s very small and his tank is only shoe box sized so this seemed quite reasonable to me.

She responded in an extremely abrupt way to say that I couldn’t bring him and would need to find another arrangement. She was particularly irate about the idea I would need to bring live crickets to feed him with. I reassured her that feeding geckos crickets is totally ethical, and that they are in an escape proof container but she was resolute. Tbh I think she was drunk.

I feel really hurt that she wouldn’t allow what seems like quite a small request! If she wanted to bring her gecko to my house I would be totally okay with that. It’s very inconvenient for me too, I think that she just doesn’t value my time or friendship. I’m already having to make arrangements for my dog and chickens when we go to visit so the gecko is just a step too far.

Aibu?

a gecko should be in a much larger container than a shoebox - thats really poor animal care. And they dont actually need feeding every day. They could easily be left for a weekend so long as you fed them the day you left.
But I would be questioning the school about passing the poor thing around like that in a seriously under sized container

Actually I once had a service user whose parents had smuggled a baby alligator in from abroad. I found out when his peers complained he smelled and wouldn't go in groups with him. He was told me no one in the house could keep clean as the alligator had grown and had reached the point of outgrowing the bath. They were worried about getting into bother if they sought help.

At least a gecko is a bit smaller and doesn't eat people.

who will be taking care of the sloth and the quokka?

@Eralos

If he more concerned the grasshoppers would Escape and I’d have grass hoppers in my house. (I’ve seen this happen before)

A friend of mine used to keep cockroaches, the really enormous ones. One day they escaped, and she thought they'd die because of the cold.

A few weeks later a very alive one fell off the top of a bookcase onto her head whilst she was cleaning.

If this thread isn't bollocks then it's cruel to keep a gecko in such a small space. I'm sick to death of schools having pets that obviously need to be farmed out to anyone who'll have them during the holidays. Can't wait for this fashion to end.

He's not even called Gordon? No way.

I wouldn't mind having a little gheko come to visit but some people can be really uptight and it's her house. Could you ask a neighbour to feed it?

It's only a gecko, not like it's a goat. I feel bad for an animal whose whole world is the size of a shoebox though. I wouldn't have thought that was even minimum ethical requirements.

She wants to thank her lucky stars it's not my cousin visiting...I've not idea what type of lizard she has but it barely fits in a full size bath tub!

@ilovesooty noooooo

The gecko wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. The live crickets on the other hand 😬 I don’t care how “escape proof” the tank is I’d never get a minutes sleep. Yabu and an absolute cheeky cow.

[quote SentDeliveredRead]@ilovesooty noooooo [/quote]
It's true, honestly. A colleague and I had to have the conversation about his body odour and he said no one could have a bath because the alligator was in it but it was getting too big and his mum was really worried about it.

I've had Geckos. A shoe box viv is way too small and crickets can and do escape. I'm not surprised your friend doesn't way him there. His heat pad and light will cost her too.

No-one is bringing a fucking reptile into my house either. Or live insects. YABU.

Also, a show-box size container for the poor thing can't be right. I hate reptiles but don't like to think of any creature being mistreated.

You can't just expect to bring your pet to someone else's house!

Personally, I would love a little gecko visitor and so would my cats! They aren't for everyone though!

Just here for the message

@Mynameismargot

Personally, I would love a little gecko visitor and so would my cats! They aren't for everyone though!

I reckon my cats would kill it given half a chance.

Maybe I just spend too much time watching kids tv but thi sounds like it could be turned into an episode of peppa pig

I'd have no problem with a friend bringing a small, contained pet - i.e. the gecko. Unfortunately I'd have a massive issue with the live crickets to feed him! Sorry OP, but it's not up to your friend to accommodate non-humans.

My FIL told me a very funny story about a man who got on a bus in Thailand holding a crocodile under his arm (about 60 years ago). He had tied a bit of string around its jaws. He said the bus emptied in seconds.
A relative recently sent me a video of an Asian Water Monitor (a bit smaller than a komodo dragon) rampaging around a Family Mart in Bangkok.
Thais wouldn't bat an eyelid about geckos in the house. They are all over the place.

OP you really can't bring a gecko and crickets to someone's house. I find it a bit weird that you would think it OK tbh.

@BruceAndNosh

Can't the person who is looking after your unicorn also gecko-sit?

Tee hee 😂

A propos of nothing, have the English school holidays started because MN is full of doozies today.

This must be fake. The OP surely cannot be that dense