Plz help me make Testosterone happy😑

[Clydesayzso]

Im outta my league here, Ill be the first to admit it.

My 14 yr old daughter is a less than proud keeper of a juvenile mack snow leopard gecko she aptly named Testosterone after he bit her finger while she was changing out his water dish
He lives in a 20g acrylic tank with a red bulb, a day bulb and an 18" linear uvb.
He eats a varied diet of gut loaded crickets, superworms, dubias and phoenix worms.
Eats and drinks normally and as far as I can tell, is completely physically healthy.
He's just like my ex husband though, SO MEAN AND ANGRY!
If he makes eye contact with any of us when hes in his hide, he'll come charging out, war ready. If your fingers, hands, your reflection are close enough to him, ya better move fast or youre getting bit. We've had him for 3 months now and hes been aggressive since day 1.

My veiled chameleon is farrrrr more approachable than Testosterone and that seems crazy to me.

Any veteran leo owners out there that can offer me any pointers on.......settling him down?

We dont throw away pets in my household. My daughter has accepted the fact that her lizard who may live for the next 20 yrs is a homicidal maniac but shes understandably bummed about it.
I really thought leopard geckos were just easy going by nature. This one isnt, I was wrong.

I figured since I can raise a pretty laid back well adjusted veiled chameleon, helping my kid with her freaking leopard gecko would be easy.
Sike. Wrong again!
This thing makes me skiddish even lifting the lid to the tank to drop in food. Cleaning the tank is nothing to look forward to either.
Hes just so ANGRY.

Attached is a picture of Testosterone giving up on life as we were cleaning his tank. Its a vibe I can relate to.

 

[redhorse]

Sounds like he is doing what a leopard gecko should do. He has trained your family to act how he wants, that is all. He looks very healthy but also like a juvenile, which tend to be more active and hyper than older adults.
Example:
Day 1--- What a beautiful new pet we have, let me handle him. Gecko: I don't know much about people that are 10,000 times my size, so better be cautious. (not a gecko whisperer, just have owned many different times). The first thing is to hiss, arch, and nip (maybe bite).
Gecko: Hey, that worked, and the human is afraid. I will do this all the time now and just wait for food, water and my human to clean my mess.
I see nothing wrong with him. Perfect for a leopard gecko.

He is capable of being trained with that going into the handling issue. Slowly put hand in front and let him lick (one of their ways of communicating). One reason hands should always be clean and chemical free- many use gloves to protect their animals (not usually intended for the other way around, unless you are dealing with a dangerous creature).

As fare as your chill Veiled-- Great job! I have 3 chilled and 2 that if they were my size would have me in the cage. And these were all raised from eggs by me.

That being said, my wish for my pets has changed over the years from me wanting a friendly connection, to be as natural as possible--- to include scratch, bite, and hiss as much as they feel like it. There is very little handling with them, so they can be what they want. They give me attitude all the time. My favorite part of being around them.

Others with leopards will chime in because they do make wonderful pets. But they have to trust us to the point of losing their natural instinct to flee from predators. Even if he was captive bred, he may not have been handled often Not even sure they catch in the wild anymore) .

Just by how he acts and looks, he has been well taken care of--- The tail tells a great deal about his eating. Good Job! Nails, and eyes would also share signs if there was a potential problem. Remember, they are crepuscular, so if interaction is happening during the day maybe it is his rest time, who wouldn't have an attitude? hahaha

Not going to touch your "He's just like my ex husband though, SO MEAN AND ANGRY!" Just find it funny and hope he was not abusive. That would be a different forum.

I like learning new things and found this about Macks-- pretty cool
Good Luck! https://theleopardgecko.org/mack-snow-leopard-gecko/

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. I guess I’ve lucked out that my leos are pretty calm and one actually seems to want to be held. They were already adults when I got them, so that may have something to do with it too. I keep my leos in front opening tanks to avoid having to reach in to them from above. Predators come from above and it’s their instinct to be fearful of things reaching down towards them. I would slowly try to acclimatize him to human presence and handling in small doses, building up to longer stretches as able. Start by just sitting in front of his tank, not staring directly at him, but just being present without feeding. Try to get him to associate humans with more than just food. Advance to slowly putting your hand in and flat on the tank floor a distance away from him. Let him learn that your hands won’t hurt him. When you are both comfortable enough with each other, then slowly reach under him and see if you can pick him up for even a few seconds. It’ll take time and lots of patience, but hopefully he’ll learn to trust and not be a little hellion. Making sure your husbandry is on point may also make a difference. I haven’t watched this in it’s entirety yet, but this young lady does a great job with her leos.

There’s also Leopard Gecko on YouTube who is great and several other care guides from pretty respected YTers, such as Wicken’s Wicked Reptiles, Elle’s Reptiles just to name a couple.