Strange behaviour? Is this normal?

[milhazes]

Hello! I got my first leopard gecko 8 days ago. She's adorable, adult (almost 1 year i think) and the first day strangely she was very social and aparently tamed. Day one was cuddling, feeding her and present her to her new home. Day 2 till now was something strange. She doesn't come out of her hiding, even to eat. I can get her to eat by bringing some mealworms near her hiding spot, but I believe this will only encourage her further to not leaving her hiding spot. I don't really know what I'm doing wrong. I have a Infra-red camera that I bought for my ant colonies and I been using it to film during night to check in the morning if she left the hiding spot to waltz or feed herself. What I see on my vids is that she just stays still and doesn't come out!!! Any comments or sugestions would be nice. I really want her to be self capable of being feed and happy in her new home. TY in advance

 

[acpart]

Welcome to GF. Yes, this is normal. The first day there's usually a lot of checking out the new spot and seeing what's what and then there can be a long time of hiding before the gecko really feels comfortable in the new space. Give her some more time. After a few weeks, I don't feel there's anything wrong with you taking her out of her hide and handling her for a few minutes (others may differ).


Aliza

 

[milhazes]

Thank you for your quick reply! You were 100% right! She now goes out during night... Even a bit too much. She escaped the viv yesterday and found her in the mourning next to my bed, lol. I mean on the floor of course. I send a video I made of her exploring with infrared light and camera.

https://youtu.be/GUlV6PSUHdw

 

[acpart]

It's funny what they do when we're not watching. My day gecko is all over the cage based on where her poop is, but if she sees me even across the room, she hides, so I never see her around.

Aliza

 

[JessJohnson87]

I never see mine outside of the "man cave" that I made for him a few weeks back. He only comes out in the evenings to stare at his mealworm dish until I feed him and then goes to hide, but once I stop watching, he comes out to explore. My crested gecko will not come out unless all the lights are off in the living room and if he is out while they are on, he will freeze when I go over to check on him. They are peculiar critters.