Taming a Leopard... Gecko

[Tempest7]

Fortunately it has been some time since I've felt the need to post looking for help. I now care for 3 Leos. My original male Bell Albino, a Sunrise Blizzard female from John Scarbrough and a Bell Blazing Blizzard from Steve Sykes. All 3 are healthy eating, shedding etc...
My Bell albino is absolutely dog tame, I attribute much of this to having tweezer fed him for about a year and regular interaction.
My Sunrise Blizzard is very calm and kept in my living room in a very elaborate terrarium. I don't actually handle her much but, she pays me no mind when I'm in there cleaning etc... She is quite calm and I leave her alone, she eats out of a worm dish and I plan on keeping it that way.
My latest and last Leo while being absolutely stunning is a very different animal. I have her in a very roomy, well designed 24"X18"X12" Exo-Terra. I did my best work in designing this tank for her comfort from everything I have learned over the last several months. Not only is she skittish but, she has actually bitten me!!! She is very aggressive with her food actually lunging at the superworms, mealworms etc... This has been a very different experience for me and I would like to try to calm her down. If someone could share some of their own experiences it would be appreciated.
I could see how an aggressive animal could receive substandard care and I do not want this to be the case. Thank you.

 

[laurahlove]

How long have you had her? How long did you wait until trying to handle her?

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[Tempest7]

I've had her for 2 months and do not handle her. This happens when I try to feed her or clean up.

 

[laurahlove]

Okay. That's crazy that's she's biting you, I've had geckos run from me and attack their food but never bite. Hmm.

How does she react when she's out of her hides, just roaming around and you approach the glass? Does she run?

Also, are you feeding her and cleaning her cage later in the day? I try to make sure I never disturb my geckos during the day.

You've never picked her up?

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[rothsauce]

My oldest girl is pretty aggressive, when she was a few months old she had lunged at me quite a few times and only came close to biting once.
At that point I took to tong feeding her and talking to her more, either while cleaning the cage or just standing and watching as she cruises about the cage. After a few weeks she calmed down a lot and became more curious, wanting to see what was going on when there were people about and watching the cats when they passed near her stand.
She is still an aggressive feeder, and will give my fingers some very intent looks if she's hungry, but she has not lunged or tried to bite since then. Every once in a while she acts skittish, but mostly she's a very bold girl who has to know what is going on.

 

[JennyBeen]

While I can't say if I'd be brave enough depending on the gecko, you could try just leaving your hand in the opposite side of the cage and not moving it, even if she does attack and bite. By not flinching, she can learn, hopefully, that you're not so scary and gradually learn to accept you if you do it every day for several minutes and not back down from her intimidation.

Again, that's only if you're brave enough!

If she really likes food, I'd probably put it in a box to try to get her in there as a "trap" and then close the box behind her to clean everything, if you prefer a hands off method! Sorry she sounds so fierce! Hang in there!

 

[Ink'd Out Geckos]

I've had the problem with one of my females. She would lunge at me, paper towels when I would clean her tub, the hide when I was putting it into the tub. Pretty much any and everything was a target. What I had to do was get her out of her tub in order to handle her. What I did was move her tub to the table I clean on and allow her to start climbing out. I would put my hand under her and let her crawl out into it. Sounds like she is so comfy in her nice roomy terrarium that she is protecting it.

 

[Tempest7]

Appreciate all the answers people. I'm concerned if I start "working" with her that she'll drop the tail. THAT would kill me!!! I'm trying to take it SLOW but, she's almost always out of sight.

 

[rothsauce]

Out of sight isn't too bad a thing. She'll no doubt be observing, or listening in to what's going on. I wouldn't worry about it much.

My newest baby is finally starting to be more curious than fearful. It has taken a month of doing the normal cleaning, feeding, routine business without handling her. She'll still waggle her tail at me if she seems threatened, but that's about it. She has taken the longest of all my leo's to adjust.