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Tell me about leopard geckos biting

FLmom

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
12/11/10
Messages
2,003
Location
Tampa, FL
Real Name
Linda
I've been told it's very very rare to have a leopard gecko bite you. My son recently got his first gecko that we are told is a 2 year old female. She seems very tame and docile. My son has set her up and done well with her for the past few days but he is pretty nervous about making her angry and getting bitten. She has never appeared like she will bite but he is still nervous and unsure. I don't want him to stop handling her out of fear. Because then she may get more aggressive when he needs to handle her. So what's the best practice here? We want to respect her space but also keep her tame.
 

GCChris

Walking the driveway
Joined
8/28/15
Messages
165
Well, the best a leopard gecko can muster anyway is a hard pinch. In my experience they only get upset enough to bite if you grab them in your hand. They don't like being 'picked up', you have to shepherd them onto your hand so they don't feel like they're being grabbed by a predator. They don't exactly enjoy being handled and touched but most tolerate it just fine. A wagging/lashing tail is a sign of agitation in geckos. There are some youtube videos out there purporting to show a gecko getting "loved" and petted but its actually showing signs of distress :(. Just remember a gecko, as with most reptiles, is happier being left alone, with a handful of exceptions they don't get any pleasure out of being handled, it only benefits the human.
 
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