Finally ate!! Handling questions. :)

So after a very long week, Ren finally ate three crickets. I couldn't be more relieved. I knew it was normal for them to refuse food while settling, but still I feel so much better now that I can officially say he is on track. So of course, now that he has eaten I am thinking about the timeline before handling. Ren is an adult gecko, so he is already quite calm. He sat on my arm for the two hour drive home from the expo because the container he was in was ridiculously cramped. I took the lid off to see if he wanted out and he came right up onto my hand. I did at one point try to offer the container in case he wanted to go back and he avoided it like the plague, so I just let him hang with me and seemed fine about it. He wasn't just sitting frozen or anything, just slowly exploring my hands and arms. This being said, I still don't want to stress him and wind up putting him back off food or delaying the adjustment process. So what would the experts here recommend? How many feedings should I wait for before I can try letting him out. Also when I do finally let him come out and visit, what are signs of stress for a gecko? Is there any behavior that you just will not see if they are afraid? I am used to snakes, and with snakes the tongue flicking is a dead giveaway that they are at ease and curious rather than fleeing. Pretty much with my ball python, as long as he is calmly exploring and I am seeing long tongue flicks I know he is fine. The warning sign for him is when tongue flicking stops and he gets really active, as this would indicate he is searching for somewhere to hide. Will a gecko do anything similar? What signs do you watch for that indicate that it is time to let them go back to their enclosure? When we did handle him the day he came home he never ran, barked, hissed, or bit. He just slowly walked around licking every new thing he came to and seemed calm but I just want to be sure I am not misinterpreting any behavior. Thanks everyone!

I'm no expert by any means, just an owner. But for our guy, it was about the same length of time; we left him alone for a week, he ate like a pig within that week. Then we started just setting our hands in there with him, for minutes at a time so he learned they would not chase him and he could approach them on his own. Eventually, I put my hand in there and lifted him out when he was mostly on it, and then started feeding him outside his tank. This way, he was conditioned to learn that climbing up would mean food (which he loves as a 1 year old gecko). Now it's hard to put our hands in there to clean or rearrange things because he's trying to climb up your sleeve!

But if you can (not so well with crickets, obviously) try to associate yourself with food and positive things...hopefully he likes exploring and that can be motivation in itself. And I personally think it's worth to go slow and see if you can get them to do it all voluntarily . I've almost never had to grab our Mardu, and he seems to be a more trusting pet because of it.

Good luck!

That is a great idea associating food with handling. He doesn't seem to have any interest in mealworms unfortunately, but maybe once he settles in a bit more and develops more of a feeding response he will be less picky. I have read about de-legging crickets to make feeding easier and I am guessing this would work for feeding crickets outside of the tank, but I just can't bring myself to try that. I kept pet grasshoppers as a child and have always gone out of my way to avoid hurting any animal (even spiders and roaches). I can handle putting them in range of him and letting him do the work, but to actively hurt them is just something I could never bring myself to do. Might be a silly qualm, but I would feel incredibly guilty. I guess I will just have to hope that he accepts the mealworms eventually or go about it the slower way.

I am still wondering how people read their geckos behavior though. Like I said, he seems really calm most of the time but I feel that unless I know what the red flag behaviors would be I can't really assume he is fine. Any thoughts?

Geckos do similar things (tongue-tasting when exploring, writhing or running away when stressed). Also, they can do the "go limp" act if they get stressed and can't get away. Mostly, I try to keep open hands and let mine walk from hand to hand, or I have them crawling around in a space and keep my hands near them. If I need to hold them, I try to cup them rather than squeeze my fingers around their bodies.

Red flags with geckos are mostly frantic writhing or running followed by a freeze or limp act. Some may bite, but my geckos so far have not been aggressive. If they're walking around, tasting or licking you, etc., they are more in explorer mode.

Oh, almost forgot, sometimes they squeak or croak at you when they are really upset. Mine don't tend to do this much, but I've heard some are more vocal.

Sounds like he is a pretty chill little guy then! He was licking everything when he was out and seemed genuinely interested in exploring and excited to check everything out. Haven't heard a peep out of him but it sounds like any sound from these guys is a bad sign. Much like chinchillas, the barking and noises may sound cute but they only make them when they are extremely upset.

One thing I did notice, he had to be taken out of the tank briefly the day after he came home for some cage maintenance (I was having trouble with his thermostat) and I was holding him while I watched the temps adjust. He seemed to notice something and locked onto it and started waving his tail slowly and very emphatically. Until this point he had just been walking/licking around. I did some reading and found that this can be a defensive thing when they are feeling threatened. Apparently they are trying to draw attention to their tail so they can escape if attacked? Is gecko tail wagging always a bad thing? I know they do it when hunting, but I mean when they are just out visiting? From what I read it seems like this one is a major red flag, but are there other reasons they may do this?

He definitely doesn't like to be confined, I noticed this on the drive home. At first I was nervous about the possibility of him getting lost in the car, so I was trying to keep him somewhat constricted but he actually seemed calmer when he was just standing on my arm without my hand beside or over him. From that point I just figured he will be laid back if he feels that he is free to go where he wants, and it is the grabbing/confining that makes him squirmy and more likely to run. When he is out I plan to just let him do his own thing for the most part.

The tail waving slowly above their backs is always defensive. They will do it when threatened or just on high alert.

There's also a tail vibration, which is referred to as "rattling". The tail will be more horizontal and just vibrate very quickly against the ground. This is sometimes done when hunting, but it is mainly what males do to announce themselves to females.

yeah this was more the elevated slow waving. I have no idea what he saw but I just moved him away from where we had been sitting and he went back to walking and licking. I wonder if maybe he caught sight of one of the cats. My main concern at the time was just that it was strange behavior for him and I didn't want him running or getting skittish. In the future if I see this again do you think I should just try moving to a different area away from whatever got his attention or should he just go straight back if he does it?

Unless there's an actual threat, I'd let him do it and learn that he isn't in any danger. Until they learn more about their surroundings, random things can set them off.