More Strange Behaviour

[Jolenels]

Dora is not an easy gecko lol. She hates everyone and everything now. Trying to hold her always involves a bite, and that seemed to happen overnight. When she sheds I have to mist directly on her because she absolutely refuses a moist hide, opting to hang out in her water dish. In fact, she sleeps out in the open of her tank! She won't use any hide. I can't sex her because I can't pick her up, because frankly I'm nervous of getting bit now that she is bigger.

My latest issue is attacking the glass. She lunges at the sides of the tank whenever someone passes near her tank. Her tank is atop my daughters dresser so that means every time someone grabs clothes, or I put away laundry, or anything at all she snaps at the glass. Hard. You can hear the thunk of her face hitting it. I'm worried this is going to cause some issues.

We are currently trying to get her used to us by bravely laying our hands in the tank and staying very still so she can walk all over us. She's very active, sleeping little during the day, so she will crawl up on a hand and sit still but the second you move she bites.

I don't want to keep holding her if she's going to get all wonky from this hatred of anything that moves. I have no idea if brain damage will occur!

I know this post is sort of all over the place, sorry, I'm just getting frusterated at his damn gecko lol. I've had salamanders, snakes, tarantulas, ferrets, dogs, cats, fish, gerbils, hamsters, mice, frogs....none of them caused the stress this little critter has!

 

[Josh2]

Very strange. I wonder why she's so aggressive. Have you tried isolating her more or giving her enclosure a bit more privacy? At least this way she won't thump her head against the sides. Sorry you have to deal with this. It must be tough since you can't really determine what's going on...

 

[Caleb C]

You probably just got unlucky with an aggressive gecko. I would simply stop touching her at all, and just let her do what she normally does without human interference. One of my geckos sleep outside every day, but still on the heat pad. When she sheds, mist the hides and substrate, it won't help if you mist it on her, and it will just make her more annoyed.

 

[Amanda1]

She's still young, so she may be going through a phase. I had problems with one of my cresties during his "rebellious teenager" phase. He would also snap at the glass, was pretty bitey when I had my hands in his home to clean and feed, and would seem terrified when I held him (running, breathing hard, and pooping all over me.) So I stopped holding him until he calmed down, and moved his tank to a less active room. It took about a year for him to get over it, and now he's more friendly and mellow than ever. I think it must have been a surge of testosterone during "puberty", or whatever you call it for geckos. It's possible Dora will outgrow her issues too. Just think of it as practice for when your daughter hits her teens.

 

[Jolenels]

She looks forward to the misting most of the time lol. If I spray on the side of the tank she will run to that side and wait, if I spray elsewhere she will chase the spray around. She has a helluva time getting the old skin off of her head.

I can't move her to a less active room, because there isn't one. I run a child care centre in my home and there are kids EVERYWHERE lol. If anything she is in the room where the calmer kids play.

She let me pet her today. I didn't set out to pet her, but she moved when I went to lay my hand down and my fingers skimmed over her back. I thought she would freak out but she stood still, no tail wagging or head raising, so I did it again a few times and she closed her eyes.

Maybe it's just a stage...I didn't think something like that would happen with a gecko lol.

 

[Amanda1]

Maybe you can try covering her cage with a blanket for a couple hours every day, so she feels like she's hiding. If she's feeling overstimulated with all the sights and sounds that may calm her down. Explain to the kids that Dora is having her "nap time".

 

[Geckomaster743]

I agree with Amanda sorry I didn't see this sooner, The whole water bowl thing is already signaling a problem. How often do you dust calcium. Before my Leopard Gecko Athena, Venus randomly died a few months ago , and starting showing a lot of signs of weakness, and odd behavior, Venus sat in the water bowl which I read some where else is always a bad sign. Dust more calcium, and give her more privacy. Maybe shorter sessions of being held would work too. Some Leopard Geckos can be aggressive just from the way they are incubated but I doubt its the case with her. If you're using a light lamp get a dimmer, and lower the lights maybe the brightness is bothering her. Is there a possibility that a new scent would be bother her too? Have you added or cleaned the cage with any thing that has a strong Oder like Febreeze. I really don't know whats going on but watch out. Good luck :/

 

[Jolenels]

She always has calcium in her tank. She has sat in her water bowl from day 1 that she came to us. So for about nine months now. We don't really hold her at all . I use a light and it will have to be off to cover her tank with a blanket...is that an issue? She has a small UTH as well. And she is in a room that gets a lot of sunshine. I only clean her cage with hot water and that's it, her repti carpet is replaced every month or two, but she has never gotten worked up over that before. She DOES need a bigger tank, but at the moment we can't get her one....which sucks, but my other half lost his job. I'm actively on the hunt for a larger tank for cheap but then I still need to buy a topper and a UTH, ugh. Would space be the issue?

 

[Geckomaster743]

10 Gallons is enough for a gecko. I really don't know whats up then. Try the Blanket method, and we will see how it goes. Shes growing up so increased/ or temporary stress is usual. Give her some time, and I'm sure things will work out

 

[Jolenels]

I was told she needed a 20? She cant fit all of her in her hut so I got the next size up and between the hut, water dish and vitamin bowl she has about 2" of space to move around. If she ever used a wet hide there would be zero room for one.

 

[Geckomaster743]

Maybe putting photos up would help?

 

[Caleb C]

I was told she needed a 20? She cant fit all of her in her hut so I got the next size up and between the hut, water dish and vitamin bowl she has about 2" of space to move around. If she ever used a wet hide there would be zero room for one.

Ten gallons is said to be fine, but I personally prefer bigger hides and a bigger tank, so they have space to move around. They won't truly feel secure until they can fully go into a hide without you seeing them. A 20 gallon is more than enough space. I have four hides and a water bowl in there, and there's still plenty of walking space.

 

[Jolenels]

I apologize for the cruddy photo...my daughter is sleeping so I had to do it in the dark! Plus, Dora had her head instead of her usual tail poking out so I was worried about the flash! There used to be another hut that she enjoyed but she got too long for it and I had to take it out to give her room to move when it came time to stalk food. I also take out her vitamin bowl now, only leaving it in for a couple of hours a day, as that took up even more room. The bowl is what she lays in, she has since day 1, and she uses her hut for maybe four to five hours in a twenty four hour period.

 

[Geckomaster743]

She looks really cute, and you can see that shes grown. I'm sorry shes been acting so aggressive. You should put up a Video some time of her acting mean. I don't understand why though. She has a Hut, Space, Good Scenery/Backround, Places to Hide in. What more can a Gecko want? xD

 

[Tiera Allen]

I was told from a breeder that they like to roam around and find new places to hide everyday! Def get a bigger tank when you can and provide a hut and maybe some wood that you can use for her to climb on and hide under for shade and protection. I put up a backdrop for something to look at and at night we cover them up

 

[Tiera Allen]

A bigger tank (20Long) and things like this just as an idea (you can still use the carpet)

 

[maverickgrl79]

Do not give up hope! we have a wild child named Penny, when we got her as an adult almost a year ago she would hide and bite and if you tried to hold her she would stress out and stop eating for a few day! anyway we just decided that we would love her as a look at only pet. Just in the last month she has started coming up to us on her own and even climbing on our hands!