Unusual aggression from a male leo

[kayla.h]

My male leo I've had for a year and a half just bit me... He's never shown signs of aggression before. No recent changes to his habitat and he's being fed 3 dusted superworms every other day. He's been showing signs of distress or agitation all day. They're in a 40 gallon breeder, so I doubt the size of the cage is an issue, but he's been climbing at the tank walls. I have 2 suspects.

1) I'm having a hard time cooling down the temps in the house and the ambient room temp is 87°F. I turned off all heat lamps during the day. I also have an AC unit plugged in but it's upstairs (it's the only window the thing will fit in).

2) I just handled my other female gecko. She's only 38 grams so she's still in the juvenile tank, but he's shown interest in her before when he saw me holding her (he could care less about the juvenile male).

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm a bit freaked out and afraid to touch him now, and he's still posturing aggressively without me being near him or in sight.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

My guess would be that the warmer temps tell him its breeding season and he's more affected by the scents of the other geckos. I have several males that I have to be quite wary of at this time of year that are quite docile in the winter. I've only been bitten badly once and I'm fairly certain it was because I smelled like another male. Since then I've been careful to arm myself with washcloths and solo cups to keep the mouths of my feisty males away from me when they appear agitated - which is most of the time during the breeding season.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Also - I found my males in glass tanks were posturing because they could see their reflections which made them way more ticked off than they are now in plastic bins. Once they saw their reflection they were ready to attack almost anything they saw move. Sorry you got bit and good luck avoiding any more bites!

 

[kayla.h]

Sounds good. I have no other reasonable methods of storing them currently but as soon as we buy a house, I'm switching to a bin system.

 

[indyana]

Ouch, I hope your finger feels better soon.