Anybody ever had a crestie go aggro?

Our crested, who is about 4.5 years old, has recently decided that it's happy fun times to bite me. We did move a while ago, but she's had several months now to settle in, so I don't *think* it's stress based on that.

It's really odd - she'll be on my hand, seemingly fine, and then she'll just decide to chew on me. Thankfully, as a crestie, she doesn't have much in the way of teeth or jaw pressure, so she's not able to do any damage. That said, it's very frustrating because in the past, she's been completely peaceful, and now I no longer feel like I could let anyone else handle her. Tonight she bit me probably 5 or 6 times in the span of about a minute.

As far as I know, her environment is all within normal parameters: terrarium's temperature when she just bit me was 75.2 degrees Fahrenheit, she's got plenty of fake plants for cover, and she's in an 18x18x24 exo-terra, so she ought to be just fine. I had just opened up her terrarium to mist her for the night, and after she drank some water off the walls, she decided to hang out in the way of shutting the door. Wanting her to go either in or out, I basically just picked up one foot with a finger and ended up with a whole gecko on my hand, which seemed fine at first. She crawled around for a bit and then started chomping, seemingly at random.

Any ideas as to why or how I can correct this are welcome.

If she bites you, hold her for a few minutes afterwards and then put her back, she's showing you that she is not appreciating the handeling.

How often are you handeling her, maybe you will have to lessen it.

What are you feeding?

I've definitely kept her out for a while post biting in order to try to send the message that biting doesn't get her anywhere, but that doesn't seem to be getting it done.

She gets handled maybe 1-2 times a week for only a few minutes at a time, so it's definitely not excessive handling.

Her diet is mainly crested gecko diet with a couple of crickets every few weeks.

Are you wearing any new fragrances or using soaps or detergents or anything that like that that possibly smell stronger or different than usual and could be aggravating her? Other than some sort of stress or aggravation I'm not sure why a normally docile crested would randomly bite multiple times.

I don't wear any fragrances, and using different soaps hasn't seemed to bother her in the past, but perhaps we've just managed to hit one that makes her angry. The funny thing about tonight with regard to that was that I hadn't washed my hands for a few hours prior to handling her, so realistically, I shouldn't have smelled like much of anything other than myself, and she's been smelling me since she was a juvenile. I guess I don't know how long the smell of a soap can linger on your hands, though...

Well the soap thing is just a guess--maybe try switching to something else or something you used to use and see if it makes a difference?

Yeah, I'll try to use some different soap and see if that helps. Certainly can't make things any worse, anyway. Worst case, she's always had a forever home with us anyway, and even if she has decided she doesn't like me anymore, I'll still take care of her just the same - I just might occasionally have to "persuade" her to let go of my knuckles. At least it's not like I've got a 15-foot burmese python that's suddenly decided to hate me. :)

Haha, yeah crested bites luckily aren't too fierce. :P

I've never had a crestie go aggro on me but I've seen youtube vids of crestie bites.. they almost look kind of funny.

My personal guess? Your crestie wants to breed.

The breeding theory is somewhat interesting, given how the bites went. Once she started biting, I had a very hard time getting her to get off of my hand in general. If she was scared/feeling threatened/etc, I'd expect her to want to run back into her leaves, but presented with that opportunity, she just kept on hanging on to my hand with all 4 feet and biting. In fact, I eventually had to kind of herd her off of my hand, and she wouldn't quit attempting to bite until contact was completely broken. It was a very strange experience.

My understanding was always that it was the males that did the biting in crested gecko mating, though, and she is most definitely female, having laid quite a lot of unfertilized eggs over the last several years. If it is that she wants to mate, I don't really have the option of letting her, as I have neither a male nor space for a bunch of hatchlings.

Regardless, I remain confused by it. I guess I'll report back after I buy and use some alternate soap. Here's hoping that calms her down.

I doubt it's breeding, the only time I've seen females biting is to ward off a male because she doesn't want to breed.



Idk why she bites you but it is interesting.. at least crestie bites are rather comical :oops:

Since she is female, I doubt it could be breeding. I did have a male who was quite...well, he was a lover.

YouTube - ‪Tyrian The Frisky Crested Gecko‬‎ - Sexy gecko love

YouTube - ‪Tyrian The Crested Gecko: In The Mood‬‎ - Such a tease!

YouTube - ‪Tyrian The Crested Gecko Plushofile‬‎ - Trying to romance....a stuffed animal

Well, our grumpy little girl's attitude still hasn't changed much. I've been making sure to use the least scented soap in the house before going near her, and she'll still lash her tail around when hands come near her, even through the glass, and sometimes bite when the opportunity arises. I'd be willing to test the breeding theory if it weren't for the fact that I just don't have the space for a whole herd of baby cresties at the moment. I guess we'll just have to continue to ride out the situation and hope she eventually re-realizes that we take care of her and do good things for her. :P

Figured I'd update the thread since it's been a while. We moved a couple of days ago, and while her behavior up to this point hadn't changed much, for some reason she was super cooperative about getting into a deli cup for the move, so that was nice. Haven't handled her since, but she hasn't displayed any of her in-cage aggressive behavior since the move either.

One other thing that may have been a factor there is that we discovered that some of her fake plants had developed a mold problem and replaced them with new ones. I'm not sure how mold could make her aggressive, but having a nice clean terrarium can't hurt, and is obviously better for her and us regardless of whether it had anything to do with the aggression.

Interesting--I hope her attitude continues to remain improved since the move and plant change. Maybe the mold was giving her a headache and that made her grumpy! I know I'd be grumpy about a headache that wouldn't go away. :P But seriously, I can't imagine that you would have an unnoticed serious mold problem go on for several months time, to the point that it actually affected your gecko's temperament, but I guess stranger things have happened.

Ugh, feeding her tonight (CGD, just pull bowl with old, replace with new), she decided she needed to hop out onto my hands. I let her crawl around for a bit, and then she went from seemingly friendly/curious to wanting to fight again. Bit me several times before I could "persuade" her to go back into her cage.

I guess that rules out the mold theory once and for all, as her cage is clean. *sigh*

Does she bite other people too, or just you? Does she make any audible noises when she bites? Are you sure she is a female and not possibly a male? I have had a few males that would bite me sometimes, like they were trying to copulate.

100% certain she's female - she has lays 5+ infertile eggs every summer, and has done so since she reached adult size. (Hasn't been around a male since she was a juvenile.)

As to the sounds thing, she sometimes "barks" at us when agitated, but that seems to be a separate thing from the biting, and she has bitten my GF as well as me, which is everyone who has handled her in recent memory.

Thought things were getting better, but tonight, she actually managed to draw blood when she chomped on my girlfriend. She seemed fine with being handled while I was cleaning her cage, and then all of a sudden, bam, she was doing her best Tokay impression again. It took a pretty significant effort to get her to let go, too. It was only a few little pinpricks, but even that is pretty impressive for a crestie.

I continue to be open to any ideas of how to deal with this - I'm really confused as to how she could make it to more than 4 years old and then suddenly have a really nasty personality change. :(

I had a couple of aggro girls. but they where older girls and it was usally when they where getting ready to lay.