Oh yea Tom, I am totally a sucker for buying the sick/sad looking animals! Two years ago I bought a blizzard leopard gecko from a petstore, I'd only seen his face poking out and wanted him so badly. They opened the tank and he had lumps on him so it was settled I had to have him. I felt so bad for him! My fiance, who worked as the reptile guy at a different store, flipped out that they sold a sick animal to me and got most of my money back (not all cuz I wouldn't give the gecko back.) I spent like $150 in vet bills on that little guy but it was totally worth it. He lived about a year, longer than the vet thought he would. Man I miss that little guy! His name was Exxon Valdez, because he was his own personal disaster. The sad thing is that I'm sure most people wouldn't be willing to shell out for vet bills on a little critter like a gecko. Guess people don't see that they are worth it
OKAY I'm done, sorry to go off on a totally different story! I'm a wildlife rehabber and vet tech student so I get fanatical about sick animals!
Emily