Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All.

My calmest, mellowest leo went crazy yesterday.

He's nearly 3 years old, born and raised by me. Super sweet, very kind. He's the herp I hand to children and skeptical adults when they want to see. He gets the most attention and handling time. He's never shown any signs of agression ... until yesterday.

He was romping around his tank, seemingly restless. I went in to go pick him up, which I do and have done every day for nearly 3 years, and he chomped down on my finger. I've been raising leos for more than 3 years and have been bitten many times, usually during hand feeding. It rarely hurts, and they usually let go. But this was an aggression / attack bite.

This guy CHOMPED on my thumb and would not let go. I lifted my hand out and he held on, dangling in the air holding nothing but my thumb with his jaws. At first I got a kick out of it, but then it started to hurt. Once I saw my blood on his face, I knew it was "serious". I couldn't get his jaws off. Eventually I had to get a pen to pry them open.

Here's a pic of that wound, about 20 hrs later:

(You can pretty clearly see the oval shaped teeth marks under the line on my knuckle).

So this morning I go to check on him, and he seems pretty normal. I'm on my way to work, but I usually check one on or 2 of my animals in the morning depending on the circumstance. I reached in to pick him up and he lunged at my hand again. This time he caught the soft, fleshy part at the tip of my middle finger and ripped a piece of it straight off. No dangling, no head shaking. Just a clean cut.

Here's that wound, about 11 hrs old:

So now I don't know what to do. My easiest herp took a small chunk out of my hand. I can't believe it, but, till he gets back to normal, I'm going to have to handle him with gloves. The snakes are fine, but a l'il leo needs gloves!

Any one have similar stories?

Joel
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2.3 Leopard Geckos
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Blair's Phase Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.0.2 Crested Geckos

Were you handling your other male prior to the attack? The only other time I've seen an attack that viscous the person didn't wash their hands in between handling males. They smell the scent of the other male and go off. If this is not the case, I say what you got there is a man eater. You know once they get the taste of human blood there is no stopping them j/k. Either way be careful.
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Sleep, what is that???????
Just my thoughts and opinions based on my experiences.
Jeremy Letkey
jletkey@yahoo.com

Wow sometimes gecko remind me of pits [the mean ones].
All of my 6 geckos snap at their alive food [crickets,mealworms & waxworms] and sometimes miss.I've caught sum of them get their jaw locked on their repti caprt of any of their tank furniture.Their a lil like pits.They try yanking whatever is in their mouth and wont let go for about 2 mins till they find out its not an insect.I have one mean male.He acts like my ex-pet was a baby savannah monitor wit a rude attitude! Hates being even touched.He [bleep]ted out twice out of the 3 times i grabbed him wit gloves since December.Any one got any suggestions on taming him ?
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Jae from Jer'z

my reptile collection and their names..
1.0.0 normal ball python [1½ ft.] Jumangi
leopard geckos
1.0.1 tremper albinos [juveniles] Yoshi & Laly
0.2.0 albino [babies] Peatree & Little Foot
1.0.0 hypo [adult] Tigga
0.0.1 normal [seems pregnant] Queens

hmm.. Trying to figure out suggestions for what? There's a [bleep]
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

It IS the breeding season. My question would be the same as that of a couple other people--do you have another male leo? If so, did you handle it prior to handling this one? If not, have you put anything in with this leo that might have the male's scent on it, that might drive him to be expecting a territorial incursion at any moment?

If the answer to all of that is no, maybe the leo is just so stirred up by hormones that he's going to attack anything that moves...doesn't quite know what to do with himself?