I don't think my point had to do with aggression... Obviously my crestie isn't trying to dominate his own tail! But some cresties have a stronger feeding response than others, and those are the ones that are likely to go after another crestie's tail. We're just saying that you have to exercise caution based on the feeding response/aggression of the individual animal.

As for observing that animals have different personalities... This is hardly a radical idea. "Personality" merely refers to a stable set of behavioral traits in an individual that are not found to the same degree in every individual of the species. Feeding response, aggression, and willingness to be handled all fall under this category. Stating that your animal has personality isn't necessarily anthropomorphism. For example, when you observe two males determining who is dominant, there are varying degrees of aggression displayed before one hides or submits. This varying level of aggression is a personality trait. It's not personality in the sense we use to describe other humans, but it is personality nonetheless.

And of course, with some animals, like chimps or dogs, it can be quite appropriate to describe them using SOME human states of mind. Generally not so for lizards...
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0.1 Amel corn snake - Geislandi
1.0 Okeetee corn snake - Valis
0.1 Snow corn snake - Orlando
1.0 Crested gecko - Lampkin
1.0 Golden gecko - Nosferatu
0.0.2 House gecko babies - Gigan & Jo-Go
1.0 Leopard gecko - Darwin
1.1 Chinese tree dragons - Trapezoid & Trapezium
1.1 cats - Moony and Lucky
7.0 veil tail betta fish
2.0 crowntail betta fish
(I won't subject you to the names of all the bettas.)

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