Leo taming? and climbing side of tank?

[bamf64]

okay so ive had my adult leo for about 5 months now.. and she is awsome! shes in a 20L and has 2 hides, water dish, food dish, and calci dish. she plows down 5-10 mealies a night and seems perfectly healthy. theres just a few things i need help on..

in my family, i am known as the worrier.. haha. so when i try to pick her up, i get all nervous like she is gona jump out of my hand and run away or get hurt..and sometimes she is so squirmy and running around so i just dont pick her up cuz i odnt want to hurt her. so every day what l i do is before i feed her, i attempt to slowly pick her up and she just kind of sits in my hand for a minute or so and then sometimes i can set her down, and sometimes she jumps out of my hand when i try to pick her up.. and i get all jealous when i see my freinds just lettin their leos roam around their bed and is all tame.. so my main question is..how do i tame my leo to let me pick her up? i want her to be happy and roam around a little bit..i need advice.

another thing i am wondering about, is that sometimes, i see her just kind of vertically in one of the corners of the tank like she is trying to climbb up it or somthign.. any idea what this is? is it stress or just weirdness lol?

il take any advice i can get.

thanks

[CoolioTiffany]

Start doing small handling sessions each day, maybe 5 minutes at the most right now. After she seems to be getting used to the handling and taking it quite well, start handling her for 5 extra minutes. Once she gets used to that, keep on extending the time 5 minutes after you notice she is getting used to be handled. If you are afraid that she'll jump out of your hands, handle her in her enclosure not far from the ground. If she decides to walk around your hands, you should let her explore so she gets used to human contact and exploring outside of the enclosure. I really need to start doing this with my girl, LOL.

The climbing on the side of the tank is normal, mine does it when she's exploring her enclosure. I just find it that she's curious and eager to explore (which she loves doing) so she always tries climbing the sides of the enclosure and climbing all over the place.

[bamf64]

Start doing small handling sessions each day, maybe 5 minutes at the most right now. After she seems to be getting used to the handling and taking it quite well, start handling her for 5 extra minutes. Once she gets used to that, keep on extending the time 5 minutes after you notice she is getting used to be handled. If you are afraid that she'll jump out of your hands, handle her in her enclosure not far from the ground. If she decides to walk around your hands, you should let her explore so she gets used to human contact and exploring outside of the enclosure. I really need to start doing this with my girl, LOL.

The climbing on the side of the tank is normal, mine does it when she's exploring her enclosure. I just find it that she's curious and eager to explore (which she loves doing) so she always tries climbing the sides of the enclosure and climbing all over the place.

ok so ill hold her for 5 minutes every day...or attempt to lol. she gets really squirmy and annoyed with my if she jumps out of my hand then i try to pick her up again. one time she like made a creaking noise . but ill do my best

lol ok i was just making sure she wasnt like stressed or anything. i REALLY want to get her a freind soo badly but cant afford one rite now. maybe for christmas..

thanks!

[CoolioTiffany]

ok so ill hold her for 5 minutes every day...or attempt to lol. she gets really squirmy and annoyed with my if she jumps out of my hand then i try to pick her up again. one time she like made a creaking noise . but ill do my best

lol ok i was just making sure she wasnt like stressed or anything. i REALLY want to get her a freind soo badly but cant afford one rite now. maybe for christmas..

thanks!

Your welcome. I'll also start doing this tomorrow (since I'm at my dad's today, and I go to my mom's tomorrow which is where all my herps are at) and as I'm doing this I'll let you know the results I get. My female is really squirmy and hates being handled. I'm thinking about buying her another friend (female, I don't wanna breed Leos so female it is! LOL) to keep her company in her lonely 20g enclosure.

[bamf64]

Your welcome. I'll also start doing this tomorrow (since I'm at my dad's today, and I go to my mom's tomorrow which is where all my herps are at) and as I'm doing this I'll let you know the results I get. My female is really squirmy and hates being handled. I'm thinking about buying her another friend (female, I don't wanna breed Leos so female it is! LOL) to keep her company in her lonely 20g enclosure.

ya thats just what im thinkin about doing i feel like she needs a buddy. and ya ill giv u results 2

[Artistry Exotics]

I'm thinking about buying her another friend (female, I don't wanna breed Leos so female it is! LOL) to keep her company in her lonely 20g enclosure.

Reptiles, even leopard geckos, don't really need "buddies" to keep them company. There are more benefits to keeping them singly than keeping them with companions.

[olstyn]

What I've found works really well as an initial plan for "taming" leopard geckos is this: don't try to pick them up. Just put your hand down on the floor of their enclosure and wait. They will eventually get curious and come to investigate you. (Yes, this requires patience.) Just let them check you out. They'll probably lick you, and might climb up on you. If they decide to climb on you, go ahead and lift them up a little bit, but don't try to grasp them or control their movements too much, and keep the initial handling sessions short. In my experience, they'll eventually decide that you're just warm, moving terrain, and if you put a hand down in front of them, they'll willingly climb up.

Doing that has (thusfar, at least) had a 100% success rate at producing calm, handleable leos for me. (I'm talking about starting with juveniles, so YMMV with older adults, and of course, there's an exception to just about every rule. I'm sure there's at least one leo out there who is just preprogrammed to be ornery for its whole life.)

[coldblooded]

Reptiles, even leopard geckos, don't really need "buddies" to keep them company. There are more benefits to keeping them singly than keeping them with companions.

+1, +1, +1.

It's really important to remember this. If you do get another female you need to be prepared to house them separately in case they do not get along. Often - even with females - you will see bullying, territorial tendencies, fighting for food, and so on.. I'm not saying it can't be done because there are a lot of people that do, just remember that if you find that your females are not getting along and they (or one) is suffering for it you need to set up another enclosure.

Remember to get one that is similar in size and weight and also remember to quarantine for at least 30 days..

Good luck