Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can anyone give some advice on handling cresteds?

Mine has been with me for a week and is starting to get more used to his home I think. He ate something bc there is poop, though I havent seen him out and hunting, he is still shy in that respect.

I want to start taming him a bit, he's around 3 months old. I have had leopard geckos before, and have been told that crested can be as calm, if not calmer. I don't know if the same method of handling would work.

What I did before was, I placed my hand in the leo's tank and let him lick and smell around until he got enough courage (or curiousity) to climb ont my hand. I lifted him slowly out and would handle him outside the cage without restraining him, kind of using two hands to let him feel safe. I never went in and just grabbed him bc I thought he might drop his tail due to shock or thinking he's being eaten.

But, he can't climb and jump like a crested, so that is my main area of concern. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

handle your gecko in the evening after it wakes up and is more active. when they're that small, you don't want to just grab it because it will freak out. move slowly but deliberately. cresteds will usually climb upwards, as they see it, higher means safer. you don't want to chase it around too much because it will get stressed, just coax it onto your hand by placing your hand slightly in front of or above it and LIGHTLY touch its back legs. it will jump onto your hand. they react the calmest when they have freedom of movement to walk around, but you can guide them to where you want them to go.

you can handle it inside its cage at first so it feels safer, then later take it out and handle it above a bed or close to the floor, but make sure there's nowhere it can crawl into and get lost if it makes a dash for it. you can let it crawl or jump from hand to hand, sometimes it will jump on you, just let it go where it wants and guide it back onto your hand. try not to let it get all the way up to your shoulder, as it may crawl onto your back or head, and unless you have someone there to help, it will be difficult to retrieve it.

their aim is a little off, so it may miss its jumps from time to time and catch on to your finger with its tail. if it does, don't worry, just relax and don't grab it, it will recover itself. they can handle a short fall as well.

just handle it for a few minutes every day at most so it doesn't get too stressed, you can try putting a bit of food on your fingertip for it to lick off as well. it should get used to you in no time. have fun with your baby!

Crested geckos will jump rather unexpectedly quite often. Your goal is to give them a "controlled" and safe place to jump to rather than launching themselves into midair with no safe landing pad. Use a technique called "handwalking" in which you let the young gecko walk or hop from your lower hand onto your other hand. If you place your free hand slightly ahead of and above the other, the gecko will hop to this hand 90% of the time. Then quickly move the vacated hand back into position for the next jump. After they start to calm down, the jumps become hops, and eventually they will walk from hand to hand or sit quietly. Notice I said this only works 90% of the time. They will still make unexpected leaps, so be sure you practice this technique over a soft surface and from a low height. Good luck.

Gary