Pet stores that have newts

haha

There are some pics in the link below. They're pretty cute.

http://www.birdsinalaska.org/class/living_science_center/fbnewt.htm

I actually have a leopard gecko that looks unlike any other. I've had it for a long time and kind of just ended up with him (or her, but we just go with him). He was left in one of my college prof's labs where I cared for lots of other class pets (no testing on them. We just had tons of great windowed counter space and my prof liked snakes and lizards so we took in unwanted pets as department pets). When I graduated, the prof let me take the gecko b/c he wasn't really attached to it.

He was in terrible shape and my prof assumed he was going to die. Someone just left him in an aquarium with totally incorrect housing and bedding. He looked like a mutant who had no eyes and his tail had fallen off and not grown back properly, but in a cool way. From above, it's hard to tell which end is the the head. Anyway, I did some research and got info from the local repto pros.

After hand feeding it, since it couldn't see to hunt and would only eat live food, it shed. Then I noticed that the shedding was under the mutant head parts. So with a little effort, oil and feedings and proper humidity, we got probably at least 15 layers of sheddings off his head at once and he had gorgeous eyes and could now hunt like a pro. He's really soft and easy to handle b/c the built up sheddings also damaged his feet so his toes are all short and have no nails (expect one little toe).

We also had a few ball pythons in our little collection and they were the most mellow snakes we had. I really liked the bearded dragons (lots of personality for lizards) and the axolotls which are just weird.

Oh, the snakes were discarded pets in a far away land in the South.

I haven't happened upon any pet stores in NYC that seem to carry AND know much about reptiles and amphibians There were tons of these places in the South.

I quickly learned my options on removing the eye-caps. I was too nervous to pull them off tweezers as one vet suggested so I did a soaking bath that works wonders and taught it to the shelter staff where I volunteered for years in NC. Put the snake with eye-caps or other shed problem areas, in a pillow case and tie it shut. Then fill a tub or sink with warm water (not too hot) and slowly lower the case with snake into the water, letting the whole case get wet, but leaving a little air space at the top. The warm water tends to put grumpy or upset snakes at ease and the moisture and their rubbing on the fabric helps loosen and remove the stuck skin. Leave them like this for a few minutes then let 'em back into the tank. Worked every time.