Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When i bought my gecko, the guy at the petstore practically forced me to by reptisand. i told him a few times that i wanted repticarpet but he kept reccomending reptisand. I had read a couple of sites that said it was bad but a couple others said is was fine. i figured the petstores knew what they were talking about so i bought it. now that i know that they dont i went ahead and bought some repticarpet but i'm having a bit of a problem.
I've had the gecko about 40 days now. i havnt been able to touch her even once. she acts like she's absolutely terrified of me. if she sees me approach she goes to the very back of her hide. if i happen to see her out and she sees me, she heads straight back in her hide. she doesnt mind my hand in the tank as long as she's in her hide. after week two i started trying to tame her but to no avail. a couple days ago i saw her out and put my hand down next to her and she flipped out and started hissing and trying to bite. i need to get her off the reptisand and her furniture out, but i cant get her out unless i lift her hide off of her and just snatch her. i really dont want to do that but i dont know how long this is going to go on.
thanks for reading such a long post and i appreciate any help.
Jerrod

Is the Leo a baby? if so..all babys are skittish in their own way some bite some his and some run as fast as they can...i recomend you get her off the sand ans soom as possible and put the repticarpet in there if you cant touch her try using a plactic container to soop her up..this might cause stress but its better than having the leo impacted.

Well, the solution- as I see it, and I am not an expert- is simple and relatively painful. I too have leos that were once very nippy. The one I am holding now actually took a sizeable chunk out of my finger! This is how I tamed my three biters... Big mama- a 350 dollar prize from Albeys- is a beautiful SHCT. Anyway, after she bit me I bravely kept taking her out once a day for about five minutes. Now "Mouthy" on the other hand would spaz and bite and hiss, she actually ran from one side of her cage to the opposite end just to bite me. Well, she took a bit more calming! But after taking her out - yes she bit me the first few times- every day for a few minutes, she tolerates me. Don't overdo it though, a few minutes a day works wonders. Also make sure your temps are not too high or low.....
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1.1 SHCT Leopard geckos Big Papa and Big Mama
2.5 jungle & leucistic morphs Van Gogh, Monet, Manet Pissarro, Speckels, Mouthy, and Mama Cass
0.1 Ragdoll cat Tinkerbell
2.0 Devon Rex cats Gryffindor, Tigger
0.1 Cat Dinah
1.2 Bassett hounds Bogart, Sadie, Hermione
3.0 Feretts Blizzard, Coco, Fuzzums
3.1 Chinchillas

I'm not quite sure how old my leo is right now. I know she's not a baby, she has all her spots and everything. She is about 5-6 inches long.
Should i just lift her hide off of her and pick her up because otherwise there is no way i can touch her.

You can do what the others suggested, either carefully get her to run into a container and remove her or you can attempt to hold her gently. Just watch that tail.. when it starts swirling around I'd just sit still for a minute until she calms down, because this is a sign that she's willing to drop that tail to get away from you. And of course, becareful about touching it. I find my leos are sensitive about their little tail being touched in anyway.. some leos aren't, some will let you hold them practically by their tail when checking for eggs in females. It's amazing how different they can be, just like us people. Again, careful with her and let her be the boss for now, if she's between 5-6 inches she is still quite young and they can be pretty skittish even as juveniles, even older then that. Take care!

-Britney
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1.1 Leos(Ron and Raine), 2.1 Kitty Cats(Bubba, Angelo and Cookie) and 1.1 Rouen Ducks(Buddy and M.J.).

I had a problem like this. I had a midnight paranoia attack and wanted my daughter's gecko off sand NOW. She was not terribly in the mood to be held. I was afraid to push it cause I figured she'd be stressed enough when she saw her sand was gone. Plus when she was new, I was very worried that the wrong way of trying to hold her would make her drop her tail. I put down a towel in the bathtub (no water obviously, drain blocked, duh). I put some hides on the towel. I took out all the "stuff" in her enclosure so nothing would fall or slide onto her. Then I carried the whole enclosure into the tub. I slowly slowly tipped the enclosure sideways so she kind of got the idea that she had to crawl out. She went immediately into one of the hides. I cleared out the sand (stinky), put down paper towels. Getting her back in the tank was a little trickier. If I were smart, I'd have made sure the hides were possible to just pick up with her in it (like a margarine tub with a lid) to go back in the enclosure. But I didn't. She still didn't want to be handled. So, I ended up kind of herding her into the enclosure and then slowly tipping it up.
Kind of involved! But might work with your super skittish guy.
GeckoGirlsMom

Ok, come on now... Geckos especially juviniles dont bite hard! The one that drew blood on me didn't hurt that bad. Just be sure not to pick it up by the tail, and to either hold it with enough pressure so if he squirms he doesn't get away, or cup it in your hands. I have changed enclosures completely with only a little stress....
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1.1 SHCT Leopard geckos Big Papa and Big Mama
2.5 jungle & leucistic morphs Van Gogh, Monet, Manet Pissarro, Speckels, Mouthy, and Mama Cass
0.1 Ragdoll cat Tinkerbell
2.0 Devon Rex cats Gryffindor, Tigger
0.1 Cat Dinah
1.2 Bassett hounds Bogart, Sadie, Hermione
3.0 Feretts Blizzard, Coco, Fuzzums
3.1 Chinchillas

Well, I can do that now without any problem, move her from place to place whether she likes it or not. But I gotta tell you, when we first got her, when she'd squirm a little, we'd kind of freak and lose our grip. Luckily we never held her anywhere other than in her cage and when she'd fly out of our hands, she was ok. My daughter and I were both so afraid of hurting her. I took her to the vet (in another fit of paranoia) and he helped me to understand how to hold her without worry of dropping or tail loss. Is there a video with this stuff? That would be a great resource for novices. We read 2 whole books but still could not hold her with confidence. And she wasn't as skittish as the one he talked about here.
geckoGirlsMom

I found that the best source of information is right here. If you look at the breeder/dealer section of kingsnake.com- this is a huge site you will get a list of breeders about 300 strong. I found that my fav's for leos are: Albey's Too Cool Reptiles, VMS herps, Geckos by Design, Ray hine, and Ron trempers' site. The top breeders and in my opinion the guys with the most years in the field are Albey, Ron Tremper, and Ray Hine. These guys have a lot of info and are masters at their jobs. Tremper does tremper albinos- everyone wants his gene's in their pool, Ray Hine does a bit of everything and Albey too- however Albey's Carrot Tails are amazing Everyone has their favorites- these are just three of the most sought after. I have spoken and bought from Albey and he is a wonderful guy, and the gecko I got from him is amazing. However if you are looking for something in your area, many of the smaller breeders produce amazing animals and sell for less. I got my SHCT (super-hypo-carrot-tail) from Monte Meyer- Power Geckos. He posts here quite often and is WONDERFUL to deal with. Well, I suggest you explore as many sites as you can to increase your knowlegebase! good luck!
Katherine
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1.1 SHCT Leopard geckos Big Papa and Big Mama
2.5 jungle & leucistic morphs Van Gogh, Monet, Manet Pissarro, Speckels, Mouthy, and Mama Cass
0.1 Ragdoll cat Tinkerbell
2.0 Devon Rex cats Gryffindor, Tigger
0.1 Cat Dinah
1.2 Bassett hounds Bogart, Sadie, Hermione
3.0 Feretts Blizzard, Coco, Fuzzums
3.1 Chinchillas

If you construct a humid hide for her out of a portable plastic container, then when she is sleeping in the hide, you can just pick it up and move her somewhere else while you change the substrate.
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chickabowwow

3.2.3 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)