Leo doesn't like "handling"

[CourtneyAnn]

So my little Leo does not really like when I attempt to "handle" her (I haven't really gotten to the "handling" part, it's more like she's either frightened of or hates my hand near her). Does anyone have some tips on getting them used to being handled. I've been slowly just putting my hand into her enclosure hoping she would just become accustomed to my hand being there, but so far, no progress, she squeaks at me then runs and hides. Should I just let her be? I mean I'd love to handle her if she'd let me, but if it's not in the cards, that's fine, too. I did give her 2 weeks instead of 1 to settle in, was that maybe too long for her to go without handling? I got her back around January 20th and after the two weeks settling in I started trying to interact with her by placing my hand into her enclosure (near her but not on her) so for the last (little over a) month she's not had any progress. should I give it more time? She eats like a pig and has regular bowel movements in her toilet-spot, and the husbandry has been consistent, so no major decor changes or temp fluctuations. At any rate, being that she's my first Leo I'm hoping someone will have some advice.

 

[LoganElvin]

Time is all it takes. First things first is what you were doing just get your hand near her. When we stops squeaking and running she might lick your hand or stay completely still. Once this happens (Especially the licking) you can start slowly moving your hand around. After she gets use to that I would slowly try laying your hand on the ground and see if she crawls on. If so, slowly lift her but DONT take her outside of the cage because she might jump (Better to have her jump 5 inches down then 5 feet) keep doing that and eventually make a "treadmill" if you will with your hands *Ie let her crawl from hand to hand. You can even cup your hand like a cave for her to become accustom too. Eventually once that has been trained and perfected. The final step to fully handling her is being able to freely pick her up with no hesitation and pet her. I have three females (All about 4-5 month old) and two out of the three are already puppy trained. The third is on the petting stage. Good luck! Too mine about a month and a half.

 

[CourtneyAnn]

I am relieved to hear that it's normal, I'll keep at it and hopefully soon she will stop running! I'll give her as much time as she needs.

 

[Herbiebug]

Have you tried hand feeding her? Or offering her insects with tongs? Hand feeding as part of taming is a technique I learned with guinea pigs and I am trying it out with my new gecko now. It seems to be working well. Hand is no longer scary if hand = food.

 

[EasiGregory]

Hand feeding meaning placing the mealworm in the palm of your hand or holding the mealworm with tongs and feeding that way? Or both

Greg

 

[Herbiebug]

Whatever works for you and your specific animal. Mealworms crawl off my palm almost immediately so I do tongs. Or chopsticks, in my case. I imagine as long as your fingers are within a couple inches of the end of the tongs so that gecko can see and smell your fingers and associate them with food, that is fine.

The way i learned to do it with guinea pigs, the first step was to place the food item on the floor of the enclosure, then rest hand next to the food and just keep it still. Then after guinea pig is comfortable with that, hold on to the food and have guinea pig take it from your fingers. Once that is established and comfortable, you can usually stick your hand in to the enclosure sans any food and guinea pigs shouldn't immediately skidaddle in to their pigloos when you do so. If they do, you go back to hand feeding for a while longer. This is combined with other techniques, such as softly talking when you're next to the cage and purposely avoiding approaching them from above or behind, and making all of your movements with exaggerated slowness.

My short experience with gecko so far has been a little bit easier than the guinea pigs were. I guess maybe because geckos are still predators and not 100% herbivorous prey animals as guinea pigs are. Little bit more inherent confidence to them.

 

[LoganElvin]

One problem with hand feeding is you don't know if your Gecko is hungry so you have to keep doing it until it happens which is time consuming :main_huh: And with so much work I'd rather hold her then hand feed.

 

[Mantislover]

I use honey to get my mantids used to being on my hand. They learn that my hand is a good and yummy place to be and some learn to stand still. Some kinds are hyperactive anyway but the hierodulas are the smartest and learn faster.