#How to know when my gecko wants to be held

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flint oracle
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So it’s my understanding that choice based handling is the way to go, I am totally on board with that. But sometimes when I stick my hand in I must be misinterpreting the vibes and he just screams at me and tries to bite me, and now I’m a bit hesitant to try and handle. He seems calm and perhaps like I could just try, but the moment he starts to raise himself to get up I get nervous like hes gonna lunge at me and bite me and I’ll upset him. How do you guys know when your gecko is ready to be held? How do you foster that relationship cause I want to build it up to that on day without forcing him when he isnt ready

snow solstice
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so to be a little blunt- not every gecko will tolerate or want to be handled ever.

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the best way i've found to bond with them though and get them used to you, while putting your hand in the tank can work- I just sit near the tank and talk to them. Do stuff in the room slowly and calmly around the tanks, and i sing to mine.

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i really only start trying to do handling after i've noticed that they're getting more confident with me being around and being interested in me

flint oracle
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Some better questions then: whag behaviors will indicate that hes interested in me vs him preparing to bite me

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What behaviors indicate he doesn’t like to be held at all?

snow solstice
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well if he's screaming at you that's one sign he doesn't want to be interacted with in that way.

But tensing up, extremely fast breathing, (in worst case scenarios) shitting on you, biting, squirming a ton, vocalizing in more than just screaming are some more stereotypical "i don't like this" behaviors

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they can be fine and then things change too.

Lemon readily comes out for example, but he's very easily upset out of the tank

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good example. I had him out once, he was just sitting in my hands, i didn't notice that he saw my other leo and was in fact, in a freeze response until shortly after.

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but without understanding behavior isn't always gonna be the stereotypical ones and isn't always gonna be apparent, i would have thought that he was fine.

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sometimes, leos also step up, but not actually wanna be taken out of the tank or be handled. they just wanna explore the hand. which is something to learn and vibe with as well.

snow solstice
flint oracle
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Just the first 3 times but those were because I startled him

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He hasn’t screamed at me in a while

snow solstice
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mine bite me occasionally because they think i'm food and i don't really have warning beforehand but if there's any clear sign of stress like stancing, or the ones above, and then he bites. that's him saying no

flint oracle
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Im just afraid of making him scream again

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He looks at me curiously I think and I get nervous

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He was just looking at me like this earlier

IMG_6015.jpg
snow solstice
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he's just lookin at you yeh

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he's also still young. they can be a little bit more flighty and vocal at that age.

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trust and bonding are an ever building process. just give him some more time and go about things slowly

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it took shortcake 6 months to get comfortable with me to step up

flint oracle
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I sat in front of his tank with the door open and just watched him and he came out to watch me for a little bit before going back to sleep

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I didn’t get a picture but he crawled out then crawled back in

flint oracle
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Question:

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If your gecko doesnt like being held and gets fussy when held, how do you go about holding them to move them when cleaning the tank?

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I didn’t want to pick him up to clean his tank, luckily I was able to do so without removing him, but in the future I’ll have to but I don’t have the confidence I don’t want to make him super stressed