Really strange thing going on with my Gecko! Opinions?

[zina10]

Ok,

This may get a bit long.

I've had Smeagol for about 4 weeks now. He was always rather calm, if not totally comfortable with handling. So I limited handling to short sessions that were necessary to get old stuck shed off of him.

He was never spazzy, and he slept out in full view on the front/side of his cage (still does).

For the first 3 weeks I didn't get to see him do much of anything. He waited until it was pitch black dark before he would even move. A Couple of times I hid in the darkness with a very weak tiny red led light and got to watch him walk around very carefully with a jump here and there.

Just a few days ago he finally got trusting enough to start moving around a bit when the light got low late evening/night (not pitch black dark). He also started to enjoy being fed bugs by hand (tweezers). After that he got a lot braver.

Fast forward to 2 days ago. I decided to put dark/low light light bulbs into my bedside table lamps, in the hopes that I would have a LITTLE bit of light while it would be dark enough for him to get brave and move around. I found some dark/amber bulbs that are very low light. They are in amber glass lamp shades. The shades throw some reflections on the wall.

It stays pretty dark in his cage when they are on.

On to the weird thing. Literally as soon as I turned them on Smeagol SPRUNG to life. Not in a stressed or panicky way at all. Just in a HUNTER way. BIG eyes, lively. So cool He sat by the door, waiting to be fed.

So today I though, I'll try red light bulbs, even darker and less disturbing. So..I put the red lights in. Turned the main lights off and....NOTHING. He kept on sleeping in his crazy Yoga pose. I figured he was still tired, it wasn't all that late.

Since my room started looking like the red light district I decided to pop the amber light bulbs back in.

OMG, it was like someone flipped a switch on , on Smeagol. Immediately woke up and got lively again. Again..not in a spazzy way or stressed or anything like this. Nope he was hunting !!
Ended up at the door again STARING at me. Then, getting on his ledge, staring at me. Since that didn't work, got on his tree STARING at me.

Since I don't want the bad habit of him only eating when hand fed I put a container with bugs in front of the door, and like I said in the other post, it was so incredible. I opened the door and instead of picking him up I just held out my hand, not really expecting him to walk on. But he did, he walked straight onto my hand. I could have cried, it was so cool, only wish someone would have filmed it. He didn't use the hand as a stepping stone either, because the Kritter keeper was directly under my hand at this point. I lowered him into it and back into his cage after he ate 3 bugs. He was calm and deliberate.

LONG story short, what the heck kind of magic is in those lightbulbs ?????????????

Couple of pics. In the pics the light looks brighter then it is, there is actually not that much of reflection, you can clearly see the bulb and you can look directly at it without hurting. One picture shows how dark the cage stays.

[Alter-Echo]

I know many lizards see colors very well, including red, so it may just be that he can see the light from the red bulbs, but maybe the amber seems more like sunset to him.

[zina10]

I know many lizards see colors very well, including red, so it may just be that he can see the light from the red bulbs, but maybe the amber seems more like sunset to him.

Maybe that is it.

It was weird though. The first night I didn't really think to much of it, thought he just simply happened to wake up right as I turned on the bulbs.

But tonight...he totally ignored the other lights, no reaction out of it. When I put the amber one's back in ...WHAM, instant awake, bright eyed and bushy tailed ! No stress, no fear, just the mighty hunter awoke and was all over the place and esp. waiting for me to open the door.

So weird..

[mlededee]

I think it is probably just a case of not seeing the light from the amber bulbs as well. I have used red bulbs in the past for a few different nocturnal geckos (as a heat source) and they were not active with those lights on. It definitely disrupted their day/night cycle if left on at night. A lot of my crested geckos do become active at sunset, so the amber bulbs probably simulate that for him.

[zina10]

I think it is probably just a case of not seeing the light from the amber bulbs as well. I have used red bulbs in the past for a few different nocturnal geckos (as a heat source) and they were not active with those lights on. It definitely disrupted their day/night cycle if left on at night. A lot of my crested geckos do become active at sunset, so the amber bulbs probably simulate that for him.

That must be it, then! I have to say, I love the bulbs as well. So we can enjoy them together for the couple of hours before all lights go out and I go to bed, LOL.

It is really amazing, though.

Esp. when he just walked on my hand, that was to awesome. I feel so honored that he trusts me enough to walk out on my hand.

He is probably thinking "Oh, so what. I just wanted food, big deal!!!" LOL, I love him