New guy, preparing for first leopard gecko

Daedric1

New Member
Messages
196
Location
Minnesota
Most likely it's not going to bite you unless it thinks your fingers are food, or associates your fingers with food (because of hand feeding worms, etc). Sometimes if they are in a bad mood they will give a small nip (that you can hardly feel) on your hand when you touch them. If it does, leave it alone and try later. Don't confuse this with a little lick, which they do to pretty much everything to "smell" it.

When you first pick him up, try not to "grab" at the gecko. Touch a couple fingers or your hand to the front of it's mouth so it can smell you with a lick (the reason i say a couple fingers is because it's less likely to think a bigger object is food). Then, try to scoop him up. In my experience this works a lot better than just reaching in and having a giant hand surprise them. At least he will know to expect you.

When uncomfortable or stressed, they will often make "clicking" noises or sometimes the hiss/whine that you have heard before.

When afraid or aggravated, they might "wave" their tails back and forth, in a much slower and wider motion than seen when hunting or eating.

Also, when they've "had enough" of being held, mine will not sit still and you can pretty easily tell they want to get away, either to hide or warm back up again. They move pretty slowly normally, but can be surprisingly fast when they want to be. If it's darting around, it's definitely uncomfortable.

I would avoid "petting" him until it's more used to being handled. Sometimes it freaks them out when they're being touched by what they can't see.

If the gecko is pretty comfortable it will appear to be calm in general, but might try moving around. Let it crawl from hand to hand or to your shirt, but don't let it be in a position where it might hurt itself if it falls more than a few feet from the ground.

Since it's new to handling and so are you, just be careful and don't do anything you might deem dangerous or risky for the gecko. As both of you get more used to handling, you'll learn it's behavior and so forth.

Good luck.
 
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prettyinpink

New Member
Messages
1,838
Location
Austin, Texas
Welcome back :) It's nice to hear she's eating well.

As for handling just put your hand in and scoop her up gently. Most likely since she's so small she's not gonna like it.

As for biting just watch her, you'll know :) And I'm sure you know not to hold her down if she wants to go :p Just pick her up but with a firm hand so she knows you're not going to drop her. My leos like it when i hold them with my hand gently on them, but not let them run freely, they freak out.

My new hatchling a bell...is a fiesty little thing but she lets me hold her. Just a little bit each day :) Don't get squeemish when they run *lol*. Lots of new leo owners tend to get scared to hold them esp. if you're scared of her. It'll be ok :)

As for biting I highly doubt she'll bite you unless you're holding her down or you wiggle her finger at her. My bell likes to chase my finger thinking it's food >.< But this is only when I'm feeding her :)


As she gets older she'll get more calm. I wouldn't pet her. They don't seem to like the 'petting' like you would do to a cat or a dog. More like little rubs on the heads are ok once you both are calm with each other.

Whew...sorry for the long post. Hope it helped :)
 

Noob

New Member
Messages
47
It does! Thanks again. The issue now is I have to wait a little longer, but I'm pretty excited though. I came in tonight and it is starting to shed for the first time. Really happy to see it growing healthy. It's just cloudy or opaque looking now, should start shedding tomorrow hopefully. It's getting more friendly, I've been letting it smell my hand and it is getting a little more calm. It's just not really ready to be held yet, it's not the most calm gecko I've seen. None the less, it's got a good temperment so far.
 

prettyinpink

New Member
Messages
1,838
Location
Austin, Texas
*lol* since she's so small she's not going to be calm :p they are hyper little beasts.

Good Luck! Thanks for the updates, it's nice to know you're helping someone :)
 

Noob

New Member
Messages
47
Yeah, definitely pretty skittish. It's funny bc I guess it associates shadows with food bc it will see the shadow of my hand as I drop the worm in front of it, so anytime it sees a shadow, it tries to bite it. It's getting more used to my hand so I feel that it will calm down quite a bit.

I feed it about 15 worms a night, I use the smallest ones, and I have to hand feed right now. I also leave about 5 in it's dish everyday until it finishes them and then I replenish the dish. It's still not really fattening up and it's still obviously too small for waxworms, any suggestions on how to make it a little more plump?
 

prettyinpink

New Member
Messages
1,838
Location
Austin, Texas
They gain weight in their tails, so they will look skiny when they are actually fine.

Sounds like she's eating fine, I wouldnt' worry about trying to feed her anymore? I'm not too sure what you're asking.
 

Noob

New Member
Messages
47
Now that I look at it, it's tail has been getting more plump. It came up and smelled my hand today, then it proceeded to climb on, it moreso was thinking there was food around bc when I moved, it took off.
 

Noob

New Member
Messages
47
New Pics

So I caught this guy tonight eating out of his dish. Not only was he eating he was also licking up some calcium. So here is proof of a leo licking calcium!

And can someone tell me how to add photos so they're not so small?
 

Alex G

New Member
Messages
208
Location
Phoenix, AZ
They don't seem small to me. Try clicking them. If you're really looking for big, click them and then click the square in the bottom-right.
 

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