Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got my crested a little over a month ago. I started handling him a week after I got him. When I put my hand in the cage to tried and get him out, he sprinted around the cage trying to get away. I thought it was just because he was stressed out about the change of environment. But now it's been over a month and he's still the same way. When I try to take him out, he completely freaks out and tries as hard as he can to get away from me. Eventually, I have to herd him into my hands. The strange thing is, once he's out of the cage and in my hands, he's completely calm and willing to sit for a while, licking CGD off my fingers.

So my question is, will he eventually get used to me? Or am I just causing undo stress? He doesn't seem to have any long term effects from it. He has a good appetite, still has his tail, and is content to sit out in the open during the night. But if he's going to stay this scared, I guess it isn't worth it.

I would limit handling to once a week tops, but yes, s/he will calm down. It does depend a lot on personality, however. My brother in law's crested is completely tame and will sit on your arm for a game of cards. Mine on the other hand, not so much... as I've said many times here, she has gecko ADD and is still a bit frantic. On the other hand, after her first year of life or so she really mellowed out. I'm not saying we don't have to chase her when we pull her out, but she doesn't mind being out anymore. Her breathing and body posture do not indicate high levels of stress and she'll hop around for a little while before getting annoyed with us... we just aren't interesting to her.

(This would be from the perspective of someone who started with leopard geckos which can be tamed to the point you stick you hand in front of them and they climb up it of their own free will.)
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Thanks for the reply. I was handling him 2-3 times a week, but I'll cut it back to once. On an encouraging note, today he barely put up any fight and let me easily pick him up to put him in his cricket eating container. (I feed crickets in a seperate area.) Maybe he's starting to settle down. More likely though, he was just sleeping and didn't wake up till I'd gotten him out of the cage... Oh well.

Cresties are worth it. When they are juveniles they seem to be hyper. My experience was that they were pretty docile when I first got mine - they were about a month old. When they hit about 3-1/2 months old they were jumping all over the place and didn't seem to want anything to do with me. I still pick them up though.

I have a couple of older - over a year - ones now too. Let's see - my daughter walks around and sits at her computer with one on her shoulder a lot and I enjoy picking up the others too. They are a lot calmer than juveniles!