I’m sad to report that our beautiful Aurora passed away peacefully on April 30th, 2025. She would have celebrated her 17th hatch day here with us this upcoming September.
I noticed this past winter that Aurora wasn’t eating as eagerly as she used to, but just chalked it up to the cooler weather at first. For a while, she was still eating, just not quite as enthusiastically. When her eating habits started getting worse instead of better, and we woke up one morning to see one of her wrists swollen, I knew it was time for a vet checkup to figure out what was going on.
Aurora was diagnosed with gout caused by impaired kidneys. As far as the vet and I could tell, her kidney insufficiency was just due to old age.
We were thankfully able to keep Aurora happy and comfortable for quite a while on a cocktail of medications and supplements. Aurora’s always been such a sweetheart, she luckily didn’t seem to mind all the extra attention too much. I’m thankful for the extra time we were able to have with her, but around the beginning-middle of April it was becoming clear that the medications were, sadly, not working as well anymore.
By the time the end of April rolled around, we knew it was time to say goodbye to our sweet friend. Her kidneys were failing. Aurora passed away peacefully in the morning of April 30th, a warm spring day that I wish should could have stayed to enjoy with us. We buried her in a beautiful spot in the woods on our property, and planted a lilac tree over her grave. I don’t know why, but I always imagined that Aurora’s favorite color was purple. Maybe because she always seemed so feminine for a lizard?
Aurora was such an amazing little gecko. Her entire life, up until she started getting sick, she was my ‘go-to’ critter whenever anyone wanted to handle one of my exotic pets. She was always the sweetest out of all my animals, very calm and tolerant even of children. I know in her 16+ years Aurora was able to change more than one person’s mind about reptiles.
Aurora will live on through the people whose hearts and minds she changed, as well as through her daughter, Miyuki, who will turn 14 next month and is doing amazingly well. I know to some people animals like geckos are “just” geckos, but Aurora was never “just” anything. She was a beloved member of our pack and is very much missed. It feels so weird to care for an animal daily for almost 17 years and then suddenly, one day, to not have too anymore.
It’s my sincerest hope that Aurora enjoyed her life here with us. She was an amazing little soul who made the world a better place, and she is missed.
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