Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was going through the pages in the forum on handling and came across one on page 3 - and i've learned that cresties can be difficult to handle and are only handled when necessary.

before, i've read that they are fairly easy to handle... so i'm just wondering... in general, are they easy to handle? because i don't want to scare a poor little crestie by trying to handle it and have his or her tail fall off. and do i just pick it up like i do with leos?

i was thinking of this:
WEEK 1-2: let the crestie get used 2 its new environment
WEEK 2-3: introduce my hand by leaving it there for a couple minutes once a night
WEEK 3-4: slowly try to let the crestie walk on my hand and start handling for 5 minutes every 2-3 days

will that help? or are they just really hard to handle? coz i dont wanna scare it :x
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0.0.2 Fire Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
1.0.0 Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
0.0.2 Goldfish (Lenny & Carl)
1.0.0 Black Lab / Pit Bull (Mikey)

I have only had mine for a couple months and have held it a few times....its pretty fast and they jump real good so that makes it tough to hold..I havnt heard that its bad to hold them so i dont know for sure..i am just worried about it getting away from me so i only handle mine when its necassary to clean its cage or somthing like that....

Jason

ya, my leo was pretty fast too so i was pretty nervous about handling her. i learned that trying to hand tame her was teaching me how to properly handle leos, which helped a great deal because she became tame really quickly ! so i'm hoping i get the same results for the crested, even though i'm just as nervous as before.

when you've handled them, where did they jump to? i posted in this forum about 9 months ago when i was becoming more interested in crested geckos. i think it was Monte that told me that you can tell when cresteds are going to jump, but i have no clue what that looks like - i'm just expecting to know once i see it... hehe. what i'm worried about is WHERE they want to jump to. LOL

and i want to get into hand taming to avoid having to hold them when it's neccessary like what you do. because not only will they not be used to me, it will be more difficult for me to try to clean the cage if they don't even want to come out and jump on me so i want to start hand taming and keep that type of schedule 3-4 times a week so they don't keep thinking im going to eat them

when you clean its cage and only handle it at that time... how do you pick it up and avoid having its tail drop? or do you just move all the furniture inside and transfer it to a holding cage?
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0.0.2 Fire Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
1.0.0 Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
0.0.2 Goldfish (Lenny & Carl)
1.0.0 Black Lab / Pit Bull (Mikey)

Cresteds fall into the catagory of a Reptile that can be handled .The skin doesnt tear like some types of Geckos when handled ,They arent mean as bears like Tokay Geckos and they dont stress out over reasonable(3-4 times a week?) handling like some. They also tame too handling fairly fast.

Having said that for the most part ,Most Cresteds dont look forward too or enjoy being handled. I have read about a quite a few whom like to be hand fed.

As a rule of thumb the best way seems to be too let the crested keep moving ,jumping from one hand to the next so that he doesnt launch himself into space and endure a 4-5 ft fall. If you try to grab at him it will likely result in a tail loss.

The important thing no matter how you tame him is he learns your not looking for dinner ,after all in the wild anything bigger than it that approaches is simply hungry. Once he comes to recognize that you arent trying to eat him ..handling becomes rather easy for both parties. I should mention however that if you stop the regular handling..it wont take long for him too revert back to the big animals want to eat me concept.

as a past leo owner, i understand the idea of the geckos thinking that they are going to end up being prey which is why i want them to get used to my hand being around before i actually try to "train" them to be handled. i've read of many successes, but it seems to differ.... like there's just a little bit more people that are more successful in crestie handling than others. i read that if they do try to snap at you (which i learned they don't usually do) then you are doing something wrong and to just let the crested do what it wants to do.

and thank you for the 3-4x/week time frame, it gives me an idea of what to work for as a goal. i'm glad to hear that yours are tame to handling pretty fast, the other night i read that it took someone a month or so to try and tame theirs, but weren't successful - so they only handle them when it's absolutely necessary. and when i do hand tame my future cresteds (and previous & future leos) i make sure that i do it over the bed and low enough so that they do suffer an injury if they happen to run and fall off of my arm - and i also make sure that i don't try to grab it so its tail falls off as you have previously mentioned... but what would i do if i didn't want it to get injured in a fall? do i catch it?

and thank you about the last bit of information about cresties reverting back to their idea that they are what's for dinner. i didn't think of that and it's a good thing to keep in mind when keeping cresties that i want to have hand tamed
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0.0.2 Fire Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
1.0.0 Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
0.0.2 Goldfish (Lenny & Carl)
1.0.0 Black Lab / Pit Bull (Mikey)

Another note, Crested do tame but not like leos or beardies who will actually want to walk onto your hand, etc.
Mine will lick baby food off my finger but he WILL NOT come to me, also mine is about a year old male.
When they're in your hand they will stick to you and they are very inquisitive, you can tell when and where they're going to jump because their eyes/head will be compeltely focused in a direction and their legs will tuck in ready for a spring like crix do.
I can grasp mine around its body and it will not freak out but he does not enjoy it. I also find that they are totally nocturnal, while leos will come out if they see/hear you or are being fed during the day.