I'll start off saying I know some just want a perfect animal. Well, today me and my wife were at a reptile fair about an hour before it closed up we thought we'd take a look around and see if they had any female Crested geckos. There was only one person who had a good deal of Rhacs and had a pair of young ones and a sub-adult pair for 320 euro -- not a bad price for the color form, but we didn't need a pair. We asked him if he had any single females. He said he had one that didn't have a tail. We looked at it and it was in the best of health price 50 euro the same as the young animals for a sub-adult just for not having a tail. Needless to say we bought her for less than a third of the price if she had a tail. Are cresteds without tails really so unwanted?

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I have seen alot of them at a discount prices like that. Nothing is really wrong with them, they just lost their tails. Some just want the animals to be perfect. If it was for someone new to reptiles, they would probably rather have one with a tail. Breeders, not so much.

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I guess it is seen as a defect because they can't grow it back. It kinda sucks for them because they will use their tails to climb, for balance, and whatnot. And some people just think they look cuter with a tail....

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I got my Crested Gecko from Petco for free because he was missing his tail. The store's policy was to place any geckos who dropped their tails up for adoption.

I think that the attraction to the animal is somewhat diminished when they are missing their tail. If 2 crested geckos, both priced the same and both identical in coloration were placed before you, except one was missing its tail, which would you have chosen? 99.7% of those in that type of situation would select the one with the tail. lol (Which is why they value those with the tail more than those without.)

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My baby Bearded Dragon is missing half her tail and 4 toes. the breeder gave me a choice of any Bearded Dragon he had for sale an I chose baby because she just had the sweetest personalty and just looked like she had a rough time and needed a forever home to relax at. -the breeder was trying to convince me to get a different one but I wanted her -- of course she was knocked down to half price.

Crested geckos in the wild are mostly found with missing tails...de Vosjoli, Fast and Repashy observed in the wild on their trips to New Caledonia that every adult size crested had a lost tail. Makes you wonder if it is not a survival strategy that they have evolved to not regen tails?? Other geckos in the genus still retain the ability

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Bingo Caudalis!

In fact, adult cresteds tend to drop their tail because they become cumbersome and 'in the way' once the crested has grown.

While a semi-prehensile tail is useful for a baby who is learning to move around trees and hold onto things, as adults the tail simply gets in the way and most will just drop it.

My own female finally dropped her tail after about 3 years or so. The male dropped his much earlier. We were there when she did it and for no reason whatsoever, she detached it and walked away from it in her cage. LOL!

So, while a tailless adult crested may be 'undesirable', it will take a lot more to keep an adult in-tail. LOL

I think you got a great deal afterall!!

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Regards,
Dominick
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"Do you watch too much television? Did you do so as a toddler? Evidence tonight that it could be the cause of learning disorders, like attention deficit and hyperact-Ooooh, a kitty!" - Keith Olbermann

My male dropped his not long ago. I moved his cage to my bed so I could move some and clean some stuff. I move him back and am sitting here at the pc and hear this thrashing sound. I look over and see this thing flopping around. I looked in and grabbed it. It was still trying to latch on to me lol. I don't know if he dropped it due to the commotion made in my room or what. But he did.

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I agree a crested with a tail is nicer to have, but really how long will it really keep it? I could count on one hand the number of people I know that have crested geckos over 3 years old that still have a tail. I'm a bit surprised how much of a drop in value a tailless crested is worth to some people. I understand a slight discount in price but so much? Even ACR sells their tailless crested geckos for about the same as perfect ones.

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I find the tailess cresteds to be much cuter =]

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Gerp, Gerp, Gerp.