Reptile lover rescues neglected gecko from family who bought it for their kids and forgot about the animal, giving it a plush new home and clean bill of health: ’He is very active and curious, not shy at all.’

Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor

Feb 7, 2026 3:00 PM EST

You might have thought that any pet that is brought home will become the light of the household. But as you will come to find in the case of this gecko, that is not always the case. Luckily a reptile lover was ready and willing to step in to save the day.

We need to take a moment to talk about how animals are treated in our hooman world. All too often their value and significance is diminished. Written off as being barbaric, stupid or simply not worth the effort. But the truth is that we hoomans would be nothing without the animals around us. Without the craft of spiders we would not have carbon fibre materials, without the sleek shape of birds our planes would drop from the sky and without the ingenuity of monkeys we would be stuck on a much lower level of the evolutionary ladder. So it boils our brain when we hear of an animal who is bred in captivity for the enjoyment of hoomans and the hoomans whom it was bred for simply forget about it.

Luckily it seems that for every neglectful and negligent hooman there is at least one caring and experienced hooman who knows how to right the wrongs that the other person has inflicted upon the poor defenseless animal that was supposed to be under their care.

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Wow, what a relatively lucky way for things to have turned out. We cannot imagine how on earth someone buys a gecko with an enclosure and everything and then simply goes and forgets about it. It is like giving birth, bringing the baby home, putting it in the bed you bought for it, closing the door and forgetting it ever came. Ok, fine, we exaggerated a bit there, but still, you’ve taken on a serious responsibility, how can you just forget about it? We would not be surprised if that family is the kind to flush a goldfish down the toilet…
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Well, this is certainly some encouraging news to hear. At least the natural peeling is, the burns are rather terrifying and a sign of serious neglect and lack of understanding over the responsibility that these people were meant to be upholding. And the truly sad thing is that because it is a reptile and not a dog or cat no one is blamed or held accountable for their actions. The domesticated animals of this world deserve so much better than the short straw they have drawn with us hoomans.
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