Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone had any tips or just to tell how you got your gecko to tolerate being handled some. I've had mine for about a month now and I sometimes stick my hand in the tank to let him get used to it more. A couple of times he has been curious and crawled on it but he doesn't stay there long. I'm afraid if i picked him up like that he might jump or fall. So I only pick him up to clean out the cage. What do you think is the best way to handle them without stressing them out?

n/p

That works to but it counts on how big the leo is. YOu ever been bit my a 6 year old leo? it hurts.

But...this may sound stupid, but I thought that leo's bite won't hurt, at least someone here told me that when I asked a question about handling a while ago. Could it meant small ones, not full growns?

Tim
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Extinction is forever. Endangered means we still have time.

Protect the global wildlife.

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1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)

lol thats funny. actually he's never shown any inclination to bite me and i dont think it would hurt even if he did as he is still pretty small. he just gets really scared when i pick him up and he's wary of my hand but still curious too.

well first I have 4 leos and I just got me the 4th one which is a month old. It bit me one time and hiss at me. I am just going to let it set in the tank for a week or so tham tame it. This is what I do I first let it get used to my sent by puting my hand in the tank and letting it sniff me. A few weeks of doing this I put my hand in the tank and try to let it walk onto my hand. I will do this for a few weeks. Than I pick him/her up and let get used to being picked up. This may take longer. It counts on the leo. I tamed 1 of my leos in just a month. That was my first leo. My second leo look about 3 months. So you see it counts on the leo. I hope I helped. SOme people do it differnt than what I do but it works for me.

lol

oooooooo kkkkkkkk. *walks to leo picks up, bites me.* hehehehe

Hi

In my own personnel experience with all of my geckos, I was able to get them handlable within one to three days, depending on each ones personality/temperment.

I would hold the gecko everyday for a period of time. Before I would even stick my hands in the tank I would softly talk to to my gecko and I would keep talking softly to it while I had my hands in the tank whether I was picking up the gecko or cleaning a few things, I would countinue to talk softly to it while I was holding it off and on during that day and again when I put the gecko back in its tank and I would do this every time.

Once you have the gecko out of the tank and you are holding it, you can start training it not to run of your hand and now when to stop. As the gecko starts to crawl on your hand and is getting near the edge of it, put your other hand parallel in front of it and just softly say "easy" and hold it there for a few seconds and then let your gecko crawl again and just keep repeating this step until you no longer need to put your other hand in front and just the sound of your voice saying "easy" will work, until eventually you won't need to use your other hand to stop your gecko or voice it will just know to stop.

It will take a little bit of time and that little stinker will have some fast moves, but after awhile you learn to anticipate if it is going to move fast in one direction or another or even possibly make a small jump so you can catch it in mid jump, if it were to happen. When you go to put the gecko back in it's tank, continue to talk softly to him/her all the way to the point of setting it down, and by sent and by voice your gecko will get to know you pretty fast, in my experience.

One more thing, make sure you don't have a strong smelling antibacterial soap on your hands, just use regular bar soap or something with a soft fragrance. I had this friend who would use that antibacterial hand stuff on her hands that you don't need to use water with or dry your hands and shortly after using it she would try to pick up one of my adult male geckos and he would bit her everytime. I had found out about this after she had been bitten on three different occasions and I asked if she had put anything on or washed her hands with anything strong smelling and sure enough she had and it was that no wash hand cleaner, so I told her not to use it anymore when she wants to hold him and she didn't and he never bit her anymore, heck, I can't stand the strong smell of it.

Have fun with your little one, they are such a great reptile to have.

Take Care, TLB