Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When my leo goes to eat a cricket(crickets only)he will put his tail straight up and then rattle it very fast before striking, it looks hilarious, does any body else gecko do that?

yeah both of mine do. I think it's just characteristic of leos.

characteristic of african fat tails too... mine does it all the time, we call it his little dance!

all the leos i'va ever had did the same thing. i think what it is, is that as they are about to strike at prey, ALL their attention is on the prey, they are not on the lookout for predators like usual, so as a defense they wiggle their tail to get any possible predator's attention on their tail, not the rest of their body. this way if they are attacked their tail gets eaten, not them. it may also distract the prey from their head and onto their tail, if the prey gets a glimpse of the leo. so i think it is mainly a defensive behavior.

3of my geckos shake their tail but my other leo doesnt

Mine til-wag only under three conditions:

1) They are hunting food
2) They are checking on the sex of other leos (males will wag at each other)
3) Breeding/Courting
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Brian Skibinski
Milwaukee Reptiles
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com

my geckos will only shake the tip of their tail when are hunting down crickets, juvenile (sp?) seems to do it more often. However, I haven't seen any of mine shake their tail at a dish of mealworms.