Right from the Gecko

 By Carol Band

Buying presents for preteens is tough. For my son's 12th birthday, he said he wanted a dirt bike, a cell phone, an Xbox 360 or a gecko.

Hmmm … Let me think. The dirt bike was totally out of the question. An XBox 360 costs $400 and would be another screen for me to monitor. A cell phone has monthly charges and text messaging fees and I'm sure Lewis would lose it within a week. Then there's the gecko, which he says would be educational, and only costs $6.99. Frankly, it was a no-brainer.

We got Lewis the XBox. No seriously, we bought a gecko. But, now I am thinking that the XBox might have been a better choice. Turns out, there are hidden costs with a $7 pet.

We already owned a 10-gallon aquarium, which had formerly housed a hermit crab (see my October 2004 column, "The Living Dead"). So, I scrubbed it clean and we went to the pet superstore to pick out a gecko. Turns out, a baby leopard gecko needs more than just a clean tank.

According to the teenage reptile expert at the store, geckos are desert creatures and for their health and well-being, you must recreate the climate of sub-Saharan Africa in their habitat. That means that in addition to the gecko, the tank would also contain a heating pad to maintain an 85-degree temperature ($29.99), a ceramic basking lamp with realistic moon light simulator ($24.99) and a $16 light bulb that gets hot enough to make toast. The gecko also required a synthetic rock to climb ($12.99) and a piece of sterilized bark ($4.99) to rub against when it sheds its skin (had I known about the skin shedding, I might have gone with the cell phone). Lewis also insisted on two plastic plants ($5) for added feng shui.

"What about food?" I asked the lizard wizard.

"They eat crickets," he said.

"Live crickets?"

"Yep."

"Ewwww," I thought.

"Cool," said Lewis.