PLEASE HELP GECKO FREAKING OUT!

[Ryanurso1]

So my leopard gecko was sitting in its warm hide when I got home. I noticed when i went to touch its tail because it was hanging out of the window of the hide, she did not move a muscle. Finally, she came out to eat and after eating 2 crickets, she started to shake her tail nothing like when she would prey on food. This is a slow waving motion straight up in the air similar to a dog wagging its tail and she consistently does it until I either pick her up, or she stops after several minutes. She was also frantically jumping as if she were trying to climb the walls and was running like crazy both things she has NEVER done before. I took her hides and structures out 1 by 1 and the behavior did NOT change. She is currently sitting in a weird position like an S shape and her heart is beating fast. She is what we guess is about 8 months old and we have had her for about 6 months. Any suggestions would be great. Her temperatures and humidity are fine and she has hides on both the cool and warm sides.

Warm sides range from 88-93 and cool side is 72-76.

PLEASE HELP!

 

[endrien]

This means she is stressed, leave her alone. They wave their tail when they are threatened.

 

[Ryanurso1]

what would we have done to make her feel threatened though? My girlfriend is freaking out over here and i have NO answers for her . She must not be threatened by us because when we picked her up she resorted to her normal behavior. If its not us or anything in the tank, what could she be threatened by? I'm not denying your statement, I'm just trying to understand. She seems to be laying in weird positions but I saw a video on youtube that shows the tail motions she is doing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSZDS8ThBM0

She hasn't been freaking out like she was initially and even climbed her one rather tall hide.. Once she reached the top however, she resumed her tail waving.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

That behavior is a defensive threat posturing. Do you have a cat? If so, what does it do when you aren't home?

 

[Ryanurso1]

We have no pets except for her. Why wouldn't she be threatened or defensive when we pick her up but is when she is placed back into the tank?

Could she be carrying unfertilized eggs perhaps?! I mean we cant see anything that would signify this but we are not the most knowledgeable in these sort of situations as this is our first gecko. Any reassuring posts are more than welcome.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I doubt carrying eggs is the problem. How long has she bee exhibiting this behavior? Other than all that has already been mentioned, I haven't a clue why she would do this except that she might be anticipating some kind of threat, whether real or imagined.

 

[Ryanurso1]

we were gone from the apartment from yesterday evening until this evening but ever since we've been home and fed her about an hour or 2 ago, she has been acting this way. I appreciate your responses and hopefully you can figure this out for us so we can sleep tonight! How can we go about 1) finding what the threat may be or 2) eliminating the threat. There is nothing new even in the room that we may have put near the tank to give her the impression that there is a predator. The new hide that we put in there definitely isnt the threat as she has climbed on top of it and is laying on it. We are baffled.

 

[Ryanurso1]

she wants to stick her head inside her hides both the warm and cool side hides, and just slowly wave her tail and not go in. We have inspected the inside of the hides and there is nothing that would spook her inside of them. Paper towel substrate and a water dish, calcium dish and 2 hides. The hides are large so there are only 2 that can fit in her current tank. She has now finally gone inside one of the hides but continues to wave her tail. Such strange behavior...

 

[M_surinamensis]

Can it see its own reflection?

 

[Ryanurso1]

thats a good thought. we arent really sure to be honest. its tough to tell. if so, its never bothered her before. Since my last post, shes been hiding in her cave hopefully resting. its tough to see her in there. I hope shes okay... its nothing serious from what you guys can tell right?

 

[5HiddenLizards]

Seeing their reflection will cause them to do that. Jayke used to do it when he was younger, but has since stopped. He used to try & attack the glass & wave his tail super crazy.

Sometimes they'll do it if you startle them without realizing it.

~via Tapatalk~

 

[fuzzballofdoom9]

my gecko has done that same exact behavior before, only when he was housed with another gecko tho, once they were split up, it stopped. I'd say she can see her reflection somewhere, just noticed it and is freaking out about it. shes young, so she may not understand the whole..."mirror" concept yet.

Also you said you were gone for a full day? is this a common thing? she might just forgot about you in your absence and have been startled when you returned. Whenever i spent a long ways away from from home, my leos with be a little standoffish at first, but settle down after a bit.

I wouldnt worry about the behavior as long as she eating normally and not being aggressive towards you. It's nothing life threatening. just give her some time to get over her fears of....whatever...lol.

 

[Ryanurso1]

Yeah it is a pretty common thing to be gone on the weekend for a full day. This has been the case for a majority of our time having her. Never has she been standoffish or aggressive toward us during this whole time. In fact, when we pick her up she tends to resort to her normal behavior. Today we fed her a large helping of meal worms and she ate them very quickly like normal.

We had this: http://www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?groupid=18555&id=SCC1397

which was placed in the tank only a week or 2 ago and although she seems to enjoy it (both inside and on top) we took it out in an effort to find what scares her. After this, she came out to explore since we replaced the cave with one of her older ones and reorganized her dishes but stared once again at the back of the tank and went into her hide.

I'm wondering, if I cover the back wall with printer paper on the inside of the tank where she seems to notice her reflection, would this solve the problem? Right now we have a forest-like background purchased from petsmart on the back glass. Thanks in advance.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

if I cover the back wall with printer paper on the inside of the tank where she seems to notice her reflection, would this solve the problem?

It couldn't hurt! Perhaps Seamus hit the nail on the head?

 

[grboxa]

chances are its the reflection. My male was doing this so I put something to cover the back window and he stopped, like marcia said couldnt hurt!.

 

[Ryanurso1]

have you noticed that its only the back window? we have ironically, printer paper covering the left and ride sides (on the outside) just to prevent so much light coming into her tank from various lamps in the room. We thought it was a little odd that after so many months of being in the tank she would just NOW start noticing a reflection. I guess thats normal huh?

 

[Ryanurso1]

We just covered the inside back window with printer paper and got rid of any reflection there could've been on that window portion atleast. Hopefully this solves the problem. It seems to be a pretty common one from what you guys have said. We will update soon so others will know for the future.

What is the expected time until we should expect her to resume normal behavior?

Thanks a lot everyone.

 

[Ryanurso1]

so far no change in behavior really... Very skittish and staying low to the ground as if she's going to get eaten. I'm a big time worrier so can anyone tell me how long until their gecko got over the reflection? I'm constantly thinking about this situation and it's driving me nuts.

 

[5HiddenLizards]

Any change in behavior?

Our tegu used to totally freak out when we'd walk thru the door. He was like that for a couple weeks after we got him...but I know ya'll have been handeling & she is fine....who knows....maybe its a phase......?

~via Tapatalk~

 

[Ryanurso1]

Actually today was the first day of normal behavior. Shes more active, curious and comfortable and we couldn't be happier. We never truly found the answer to the problem but hopefully it won't keep continuing. We thought perhaps my girlfriends menstrual cycle because the day it started, the leo started acting weird and the day it stopped the leo returned to normal behavior. Probably coincidental but we're going to keep an eye on the situation.