ratgirl
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Ah, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this. I'm new here. This is what happened:
Yesterday night, I saw my leopard gecko climbing on the back of his vivarium (since it's styrofoam), he's been doing it since I first got him. When I walked in, he seemed afraid and was breathing heavily, usually I take this as a sign to help him down- as he'll usually walk on my hand when I put it in the tank to help him down without any problems- but this time when I went to put my hand in he immediately panicked and fell, running into his hide. It's only occurred to me now that maybe when he was breathing heavily he wasn't afraid of falling this time, but afraid of me? He's never been like this before, and usually adores being handled as he'll voluntarily walk onto my hand and arms.
He's been spooked before, like if there's an unknown sound or if I enter the room too fast, but never like this. Usually he gets over it after a few minutes, and I gave him some time last night hoping he would get better but this morning I was awoken to him skittering around frantically, and I wasn't even up near the tank yet. Whenever I go to see him, he breathes very heavily and sometimes waves his tail. I've tried searching for information online and watched a few videos on how to calm him down, but none of the geckos in these videos seem anywhere close to as skittish and scared mine is right now. Some sources say that staying near the gecko is crucial, but when I do it it only seems to panic him more, as he'll run off abruptly and try to hide. Even in his hides, he pokes his head out to keep an eye on everything now.
I'm a new leopard gecko owner, and everything has been going smoothly so far. This has only been happening for a day so far, but I'm extremely worried about him as this is completely out of character for him. Does anyone have some suggestions on what I should do? I don't want to make anything worse so I've just left him alone for the time being.
Here's a picture of how he climbs and some other photos, if it helps. These were taken a few days before:
Here's him now:
Other info that may or may not help:
- I've owned him for 6 months now and purchased him from Petco (I learned a bit too late that they take poor care of their geckos, but I seemed to have gotten lucky with this one. I will not purchase from them again though now that I know.)
- He currently has never had any illnesses from what I know of and does not seem to have MBD
- He is not shedding right now
- His official name is Loki but I can't stop calling him Ferret
- He is house alone with no other reptiles nearby, and his tank is in my room
Yesterday night, I saw my leopard gecko climbing on the back of his vivarium (since it's styrofoam), he's been doing it since I first got him. When I walked in, he seemed afraid and was breathing heavily, usually I take this as a sign to help him down- as he'll usually walk on my hand when I put it in the tank to help him down without any problems- but this time when I went to put my hand in he immediately panicked and fell, running into his hide. It's only occurred to me now that maybe when he was breathing heavily he wasn't afraid of falling this time, but afraid of me? He's never been like this before, and usually adores being handled as he'll voluntarily walk onto my hand and arms.
He's been spooked before, like if there's an unknown sound or if I enter the room too fast, but never like this. Usually he gets over it after a few minutes, and I gave him some time last night hoping he would get better but this morning I was awoken to him skittering around frantically, and I wasn't even up near the tank yet. Whenever I go to see him, he breathes very heavily and sometimes waves his tail. I've tried searching for information online and watched a few videos on how to calm him down, but none of the geckos in these videos seem anywhere close to as skittish and scared mine is right now. Some sources say that staying near the gecko is crucial, but when I do it it only seems to panic him more, as he'll run off abruptly and try to hide. Even in his hides, he pokes his head out to keep an eye on everything now.
I'm a new leopard gecko owner, and everything has been going smoothly so far. This has only been happening for a day so far, but I'm extremely worried about him as this is completely out of character for him. Does anyone have some suggestions on what I should do? I don't want to make anything worse so I've just left him alone for the time being.
Here's a picture of how he climbs and some other photos, if it helps. These were taken a few days before:
Here's him now:
Other info that may or may not help:
- I've owned him for 6 months now and purchased him from Petco (I learned a bit too late that they take poor care of their geckos, but I seemed to have gotten lucky with this one. I will not purchase from them again though now that I know.)
- He currently has never had any illnesses from what I know of and does not seem to have MBD
- He is not shedding right now
- His official name is Loki but I can't stop calling him Ferret
- He is house alone with no other reptiles nearby, and his tank is in my room
