scared baby gecko

[danie_ditz]

Hi there,
My boyfriend and I just got a cute little leopard gecko. The first day we had him he would climb to the top of his terrarium, then try to climb on the glass and fall. It happened like 5 times that we saw, and ever since then we haven't seen him try to climb anything at all. Plus I keep reading that you're supposed to put your hands in his cage for a while so he gets used to you and you can hold him, but whenever we put our hands in he seems to get really uptight, his neck moves like crazy and if we keep our hands in long enough he tries to bite us! I'm sure his bite wouldn't hurt too much, but I've even read it can hurt his jaw!! Any advice?? Why won't he climb, why does he want to kill our hands!!

 

[darkangel212]

Leopard Geckos arnt really climbers...So its prolly good that hes not trying to climb up the walls...lol

 

[andypg3]

Sounds like a young one, I'd leave it alone for a week or so and let it acclimate to its new home.

After its eating well and has settled down, try the whole hand training thing again. Patience now might yield a healthier more mild-tempered gecko in the future.

Good Luck

 

[LadyGecko]

I agree
Patience is exactly what you need to have with your baby right now and for the next couple of weeks

Make sure that there isn't anything too tall for him to climb back up on and fall off of again

Just feed him every day and give him clean water and observe him at night when he is up and around for the time being

When he gets larger he won't be as scared of everything or view everything larger than him as a potential predator

Good luck with your new baby
Sandy

 

[bitterbeauty]

It is best to try and pick them up after feeding them because they become lazy on a full stomach. Mine are young and they are pretty much tame now after about 3 weeks of persistently working with them. Just pick them up and let them walk around your hand and if you are afraid of them jumping handle them directly over the tank. They will become more mellow as they get older they are little demons when they are young! lol

 

[fallen_angel]

I agree, just take your time and slowly introduce yourself to the little one. Most babies scream and protest at first.

Some continue to snap at you for awhile, too. You just gotta be brave and not show him that you're scared of him biting.. I have a male that bites me all the time and he's an adult... one time he even bit me and squeezed a little, I actually felt his little teeth, and it didn't hurt at all. When he does this, I usually just pick him up and hold him for awhile to show him that I'm not a threat. He is VERY protective of his females.. What's funny is that he's a sweetheart too, very laid back and calm once he's in your hands.. it's just his natural isntincts to thwart off "predators" from possibly "hurting" his ladies (something I would never do of course).

 

[Bling_my_leo]

Do you have any pics of your new guy?

 

[danie_ditz]

thanks for all the advice!! we've been putting our hands in most days but we get pretty scared when he starts lunging at us, like i said im scared of his bite hurting us or him but if you say it doesnt hurt ill believe it! he just seems so scared! poor guy. my profile pic is the best one i can get of him, he always hides when i want to take a picture!! but hes a real cutie my first reptile <3

 

[Redstarfish]

My new gecko bit me.They don't have teeth so it feels like a touch.They only bite(well mine) when you wake them up.I pick mine up every day even though he runs away a lot,so he can get used to human touch.

 

[dim&shell]

Your gecko is really cute! Me and my bf recently got 2 baby geckos, and 1 is really timid and the other one (my one) is already coming really close when I put my hand in to change his water or anything. We have pretty much left them alone, apart from when feeding or cleaning the tank but we do talk to them a lot (sad it may sound) but they seem to be getting used to our voice, like if my one hears me talking he comes right out to the front of the tank. I would say just leave your geck alone but talk to him/her a get him used to you, don't try to push it because you'll just be taking 1 step forward, 3 steps back.

Hope that helps x

 

[paulnattress]

One of our geckos bit me once by mistake and it didn't hurt, just felt like a pinch. I'd just fed her a couple of wax worms (which she goes crazy for) and placed a third on my hand for her to see if she'd hand feed and the mistook my finger for the waxy.

When we got our leos, they would seem very active at first, exploring everywhere in the vivarium, would munch a few crics then they would stop eating for a week as they get used to their new home. Then, they became active again.

Our leos all tend to try and climb up the walls of the vivarium (even though they can't climb the vertical walls lol) and they'll climb on anything in there - they just love it. I don't have anything too high that would pose a great risk to them if they fell off though. When they come out of the vivarium to see me, they'll climb all up my arms and will head for my shoulder and will even try to run down my back (which I try to stop them from doing but can be hard!). Once out, they seem very keen to get onto the floor and run around but I stop them from doing that really as they can get lost plus they may pick something up off the floor.

I always try and approach the vivariums slowly and try not to suddenly loom into sight and yea, Italk to them too as I'm approaching them. Take it easy, be patient and let them get used to you. Maybe try to just be near them until they come out to see you before putting your hand in.

 

[ryno]

your gecko tried to climb on the glass

my gecko did the same thing.........wierd

 

[Bodon]

It took mine a LONG time to get used to me. For the first few weeks when i would walk in the room it would run into its hide. Then it would kind of just walk into its hide then it was just like, "im not bothering." But it was still timid. In time it just got so used to me it had problem with me or my hands. So i would just give it time and be patient.

 

[StinaKSU]

They don't have teeth so it feels like a touch

They DO have teeth...and adults actually can draw blood if they really want to...they very very rarely bite that hard however. In the ~4-5 years that I've had geckos I've never had one draw blood and have only had one actually grab me maybe once or twice...and maybe 5 attempts at bites...and that includes babies.

The babies grow out of the screaming, angry phase pretty quickly if you don't let them "scare you away." Most of the lunging usually isn't actually attempts to bite...just bluffs to scare you away.

 

[rubym]

My husbands giant male that we have LOVES to bite me. He grabs on and won't let go....kind of like a little pit bull. He has never actually drawn blood and it is more irratating then painful. We have a had several hatchlings that were screamers. They all seem to outgrow it soon enough. We have one little guy, Petey, that is a week and 5 days old and he came out of his egg with an attitute. He will run at your hand and do his best to bite....screaming all the way,lol. I am hoping that he gets over it pretty soon.

 

[Sandra]

They DO have teeth...and adults actually can draw blood if they really want to...they very very rarely bite that hard however.

Just for the record... One of my adult geckos bit me very hard and actually ripped a little bit of flesh out of my finger. She grabbed my little finger in a bad position. She was also very upset (it was in a vet clinic where we had been taking blood samples) so she bit really hard and doing cocodrile rolls.

I don't mean to scare anyone. This only happened because of the weird way she grabbed my finger. But just don't disrespect them as if they couldn't do any harm. Babies and juveniles won't draw blood, but they could harm their own teeth while biting. Adults usually don't bite to the extent of drawing blood, but will do if they're annoyed.

 

[bubblez825]

When I was in 2nd grade(like forever ago) my teacher had 2 leos. One of them was real sweet and would let everyone hold her, the other was VERY tempermental. She would lunge and try to bite, so kids would irritate her by trying to pick her up or stick their finger in front of her face. I was the only one who was brave enough to hold her. She was calm once she was in my hand, but some kid took her from me and put her by the hermit crab tank across the room. A kid ran up to me and told me to get the gecko, as she had climbed behind it and was trying to bite kids who tried to grab her. I came over and slowly grabbed her and she bit me hard, right in between the thumb and my pointer finger on that flap of skin. she drew blood, but it didnt hurt. it was kind of cool in a way because I could see the shape of her mouth on my hand. For some reason, it only broke the skin on top of my hand, not on the bottom. I got her back in the tank successfully, but I think she only bit me because of the kids taunting her and she was afraid of being grabbed like kids were grabbing her. Both geckos were adults, and sadly, they both died that summer, for reasons unknown to me.

 

[gothra]

That's a sad. The 2 leos probably died from improper husbandry + huge amount of stress. Poor leos.