Newby indeed...behaviour questions

[liamandnorma]

Hi all,

This might seem a little trivial to many of you experienced ones

I have had a female Leopard Gecko named Norma Jennings for about 3 weeks now, she's about 4 months old or so. I just wanted to ask a few behavioural questions really, because it's pretty nerve racking wondering what is best for her!

She is pretty active and is pretty happy being handled and allowed to explore jumpers/bed for about 10 minutes each day. I read somewhere that is about right time wise, any opinions? Should I let her out for longer, or shorter periods?

Whilst being handled and once or twice whilst wandering about she has once or twice focused on something really intently and done that slow waving of her tail. Is this because she's getting weirded out by me or is it that she's mistaking other stuff for threats etc? From what I can gather anyway she doesn't seem to view me as a threat. She allows me to gently pick her up and twice now she's just walked straight onto my hand.

She often looks like she wants to get out, tries to climb tank etc. Also just now she was just staring at me out the tank, then started scrambling up again, so I thought she might want to come out and held out my hand and she got a bit freaked out by it, then slowly went to hide. Is it her age that causes her to be a bit inconsistent? Or is it just that its my first Leo and they always kind of behave like that? I guess they're never truly 'tame'? I guess I might be giving her more intelligence than she has, she might just be behaving how they behave.

Also I'm a bit worried about this brumation lark. How will I know if she's doing it now that winter is coming? I live in the UK so at some point it'll get pretty damn cold. What is the best thing to do food wise if she does show signs of brumation? She already spends most of her time on the hot side of the tank, she just seems to prefer it quite a lot. The ground temp there is about 32-35 degrees C (92-95 F) most of the time.


Thanks for any and all opinions! You've gotta start somewhere!

Thanks,

Liam and Norma

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

three weeks isnt very long, she is still getting use to her new home, she seems to be acting normal, one of the things about being handled is that geckos are different some are ok with being held and some just dont want to be handled period, id try not to handle her everyday, it may cause her to stress a bit, but holding her every other day to get her use to you would work better, atleast for me it did. The tail waving also is a sign of fear and dominance i think, i seen that 2 leos that dont get along do that tail waiving when they are near eachother, so the best way to pick her up is to put your hand infornt of the leo like a wall and touch her tail till she climbs you and let her be in control. She is also a young gecko so that why she is more skittish. As for brumation, if you dont want her to brumate, try cranking up your thermostat to get the house warmer, and feeding wise try feeding her the same as you normally would even though she may not eat as much, one of my leos is still young and is still eating normal unlike my older leos but they will decrease in appetite.