How to tame young leopard gecko?

[JordiWestwood]

Hello there, I just had a few questions about how to tame my leopard gecko. He is about 4-5 months old and he's about 5.5-6 inches long. I got him almost 2 weeks ago, and I've kept handling to a minimum because I wanted to give him time to get used to things. Now I'm not quite sure how to handle him. If I do try to pick him up he is very squirmy and tries to wiggle out of my hand. He doesn't hiss or bite, but he obviously doesn't like being handled, no matter how carefully I pick him up. How can I get him to become comfortable when I pick him up?

 

[C C Gecko]

I have had good results with leaving my hand in the tank and having them walk onto it. In time they do calm down just keep trying.

 

[RampantReptiles]

Try not to grab from above, rather scoop them up from underneath. one hand flat for the gecko to walk on and the other gently herds the gecko onto your hand. Let the gecko walk from hand to hand.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Allowing them to approach your hand works best in my opinion. Once they approach your hand, sometimes they'll walk on it, sometimes they won't. If they don't walk on the hand I usually just leave them alone. If they do I slowly lift the hand up.

But honestly leopard geckos tend to get more docile as they get older. A lot of the times they will be more skittish by nature when they are young, but they grow out of it eventually. So time works just as well with no special handling techniques needed. I have quite a few young juvies that were very squirmy and aggressive, but without doing anything special to them, no special handling or anything, they grew out of it on their own.

 

[marauderhex]

The previous posters already said everything that I was going to, so just take their advice.

 

[JordiWestwood]

Wow thanks for the tips guys. I actually just tried putting my hand in there and he climbed up all by himself I'll keep working with him though!