I'm ashamed to admit it...

but I'm afraid of my little leos. :(

My little 10g leos shouldn't seem scary, but they are fast and have no problems trying to bite me. One of them trade to bite me through it's tub last night. :O

My "big" (~30g) male is super sweet, I love him a lot, but the others are out for blood. Even my ~25g females don't seem to like me all that much, but I can at least pick them up and hold them for 10-15 seconds before they've had enough of me.

I'm also terrified of the bugs I feed them (meal worms), but I'm slowly working on that. I'm getting a little better I think. :P

I'm really not sure what I was thinking when I decided I wanted a couple of leopard geckos. :rolleyes:

How long have you had them? It takes a long while for babies to settle in, they are probably biting and running in fear. They are only trying not to get eaten.
Don't force it, leave them alone for now. Don't pick them up, just leave your hand in the tank (not near them) but don't touch them. Let them get used to that then slowly work up to touching them. You have to build trust before you can pick them up and hold them.
Are they together or separate? If together that could be part of the problem too.
They could also be hungry...are you letting them eat as much as they want?

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I've never heard of leos biting. That seems strange to me. I guess every reptile is different. A little handing should fix your leos and yourself! :P

Try wearing some light weight gardening gloves, while holding the older female, as far as the babies go in time they will learn to settle down, try holding them with your habd in their tub close to floor bottom, this way they can race off without hurting themselves, they will get used to you & handling :).

To be honest our guys got kind of untame for a while and I was nervous about them too--specifically our super giant adult male who HAS drawn blood before. He bites SO HARD, I swear you'd think he was trying to snap steel with his jaw! :O Just from confusing a finger for food!

We started doing more daily handling maintenance and it took almost no time for them to get tame again!

I have one baby that with the right interaction will hiss and sounds like one of those wind up cars ... "Hchhhwwwweerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr hcchhhhwwweeeerrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!" LOL. But she has never drawn blood or anything like that, just sounds vicious though! She is all talk.

If yours actually bite, lol that's a lot more scary, and then maybe try very slow movements and leaving them alone for a while, picking them up by fingers under tummy, maybe offering food first and then picking up.

They say it doesn't take long if you try and hold for just a few minutes a day so persevere and good luck :)

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Originally Posted by Clementine_3

How long have you had them? It takes a long while for babies to settle in, they are probably biting and running in fear. They are only trying not to get eaten.
Don't force it, leave them alone for now. Don't pick them up, just leave your hand in the tank (not near them) but don't touch them. Let them get used to that then slowly work up to touching them. You have to build trust before you can pick them up and hold them.
Are they together or separate? If together that could be part of the problem too.
They could also be hungry...are you letting them eat as much as they want?

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The little ones I've had for about a month and the females I've had for 2 months I think (I've lost track of time >_<)

The two larger females are together in a 15qt tub but I'm going to be separating them soon because they seem too big to be in it together. My male is also in a 15qt tub by himself. The 3 little ones are all in I think 6qt tubs by themselves.

I let them eat all they want. I refill their meal worm dishes when they get low. The 3 little ones are also in my quarantine room so I only check on them every other day or so. I don't really interact with them other than refilling water and food dishes and cleaning, which might be part of the problem. My larger females I will interact with more often and actually try to pet.

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Originally Posted by Reakt20

I've never heard of leos biting. That seems strange to me. I guess every reptile is different. A little handing should fix your leos and yourself! :P

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Lol, lots of little things bite. I would love to try to handle these guys, but they just freak and bolt when they are out. The only way I can old them is grab them, which I'm sure you can imagine they don't like. :P

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Originally Posted by llovelace

Try wearing some light weight gardening gloves, while holding the older female, as far as the babies go in time they will learn to settle down, try holding them with your habd in their tub close to floor bottom, this way they can race off without hurting themselves, they will get used to you & handling :).

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The larger females aren't that bad any more, I can at least pet them. The younger ones won't let me near them without freaking. I also can't have the lids off the top of the little ones' tubs because they can get out. I've almost them a couple of times because they got out while I was reaching in for their water dish. >__<

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Originally Posted by purplemuffin

To be honest our guys got kind of untame for a while and I was nervous about them too--specifically our super giant adult male who HAS drawn blood before. He bites SO HARD, I swear you'd think he was trying to snap steel with his jaw! :O Just from confusing a finger for food!

We started doing more daily handling maintenance and it took almost no time for them to get tame again!

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Ouch. :(

I will try interacting with them more often. :)

Semi daily interaction was how I got the females to calm down some.

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Originally Posted by Jessica Loesch

I have one baby that with the right interaction will hiss and sounds like one of those wind up cars ... "Hchhhwwwweerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr hcchhhhwwweeeerrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!" LOL. But she has never drawn blood or anything like that, just sounds vicious though! She is all talk.

If yours actually bite, lol that's a lot more scary, and then maybe try very slow movements and leaving them alone for a while, picking them up by fingers under tummy, maybe offering food first and then picking up.

They say it doesn't take long if you try and hold for just a few minutes a day so persevere and good luck :)

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The problem is I can't hold them, I have to grab them. I learned pretty quickly with the females when I first got them that runners will run and jump out of your hands/off your arm to the floor if you don't grab them and they hate being grabbed. :(

Oh yes by holding I mean .... handling in any sense. You just have to keep at it until they realize you aren't gonna give up. They learn pretty quick, even the onry ones. Lol. They may always stay onry and bite but they may calm down some.