I have a leopard gecko , i was wondering if anyone knows the best way to have the lizard get used to you?

Question

Scared to stress it out or injure it .... saying "it" because i havent picked it up long enough to know if its male or female

in reference to some of the answers already posted , im not inquiring in order to play im inquiring in order to aid with shedding seeing as it has skin caught on the toes , and i dont want them to fall off , i dont believe any animals are toys to be played with

Thankyou for the walk onto the hand suggestion , that doesnt seem to be working

Answer 1

the first answerer is being way to paranoid some reptiles are not able to handle and even those I have tamed and got them used to me, this includes snakes monitors and chameleons. I can put my hand in the cages of these animals and they will willingly climb onto my hand and want to come on me and chill. Leopard geckos are one of the friendliest of the reptiles. To get it used to you try hand feeding it and try to handle it daily for a little bit. it should be friendly toward you within no time and if it bites you which it most likely won't do not drop it jusy let it do what it is doing and make it feel overpowering over you so it knows you are no threat to it. if you drop it this may injure the gecko and it may make it feel scared when you handle it.

As for the shedding try to soak the gecko in luke warm water and slowly and gently peel and rub off the shedding skin this is the best way to help if the reptile is failing to shed properly on its own.

Answer 2

Pick it up whether it wants you to or not and gently stroke its head. I had the same problem with some of mine and this was the most effective solution. It will try to bite you the first couple of times (and every now and then after wards), but it is nothing worse than a small bird (a finch for instance) bite, just a pinch and that's about it. I have found the most effective way to quickly calm them down is gently rubbing the top of their head. Also, if you are afraid or would not like to get bite, us a thin pair of gloves. ALWAYS wash your hands before/after handling any reptile, they have incredible senses of smell and if your hands smell like food.....

Answer 3

those kind of animals are not meant to be domesticated, you are trying to ovecome hundreds of thousands of years of genetic programming. If you must have the animal, let it live peacefully in a big cage...and for pete's sake, don't handle the poor thing it scares them!

PS... I wasnt trying to be mean or suggest you got it as a toy
:-) Its just the reality that they are wild...I bet the shedding will take care if itself...it does in the wild, right? I wouldnt worry about the shedding skin.

Answer 4

reach in slowly let him know you are not a danger that would be the best way in my opinion. pick him up inspect for unshed skin, discolorations lumps etc. I assume you are trying to keep any possibility of Dysecdysis from happening. keep it short if you are concerned with stress but I doubt you will stress him any just keep him close to the floor in case he jumps.

Answer 5

put you hand in the cage and let the leopard gecko climb onit and get used to your scent. When it gets used to you then pick it up and try playing with it.