tame leachies?

[GeckoFiend]

I really wanted to buy a baby leachie this summer and raise it up w/ regular handling and interaction with me. Not constant pestering of it, I just want to be able to take it out from time to time as an adult.

I've recently been told that they usually end up mean, no matter what. Is this true? Is a certain morph generally more "handleable" than others?

Thanks,

 

[RHACADANK]

Mean Leachy

I have 4 leachys. I can handle or hold ALL 4. One is just angry all the time. He won't even let me put food in the cage without trying to take a bite at me. If he is outside the cage he is pretty tame. I only feed Leachy Diet and crickets and a couple of roaches here and there. I have never feed pinkies. I think leachys are like people: some are cool and some aren't. Remember to only handle your rhacs for a few minutes at a time. Leachys will usually let you know with a high pitch squeek that thay are tired of your hand and want back in the cage on there favorite cork bark. If you handle your leachy on a regular basis ( a few times a week for a few minutes) they should become very tame, but remember there is always that one chance that they can become aggresive. :evil:

 

[GeckoFiend]

Thanks for the input. I think I'll still have to wait until next year for one...

 

[oscar]

hey Rhac.. thanks. i just got one and he was puppy dog tame when i got em, but as soon as i put him in his enclosure he got very aggressive. i've had him for almost a month and he still freaks everytime i open the door. he lunges any time i get my hand in the door. that sound like its something i can overcome or is that probably his personality? if i can help him relax more, how do i do it? i assume it means trying to handle him and endure the bites? :shock:

Scott

 

[GeckoFiend]

scott, just reach in there and don't let him know you're scared of a little gecko

 

[oscar]

well if you are so brave, why the heck are you so concerned about whether they are tame mr. will-they-be-handable.. wa wa wa



Scott

 

[HERPKING]

hey Rhac.. thanks. i just got one and he was puppy dog tame when i got em, but as soon as i put him in his enclosure he got very aggressive. i've had him for almost a month and he still freaks everytime i open the door. he lunges any time i get my hand in the door. that sound like its something i can overcome or is that probably his personality? if i can help him relax more, how do i do it? i assume it means trying to handle him and endure the bites? :shock:

Scott

thats pretty scary, the last thing i want is a 2lbs gecko thats almost 2ft long acting like a tokay gecko :!:

 

[Brandon]

Scott,

some leachianus will calm down with regular handling, others won't. Most aggressive males are fine once they are out of the cage, while females are generally always short tempered during breeding season.

I'd recommend some thick gloves (i.e leather) to get him out of his enclosure, hopefully he'll be fine once he's out.

 

[oscar]

thanks brandon. i have some work gloves but was hesitating on whether to try to handle him even with those. after seeing the pic of a leachie bite in the Rhac book, i was really eager to see if those gloves were thick enough.

Scott

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

leachie bites hurt, but i wouldnt consider it bad enough to warrent gloves. even gargoyles or fat tails will draw blood. with any animal, if it bites you dont put it down, because then it will learn thats what will make you put it down, i currently have 1.2 and i hold them occasionally, one female and the male are both a bit jumpy but over all calm, then another female is slightly grumpy and has bittin twice. thats just from pealing her off the log tho, onces shes out, shes just jumpy. but thats two bites out of 3 geckos that are 2 years old, not used to being regularly handled, and weve had them for at least 6 months now.

 

[GeckoFiend]

I just got a baby Isle E, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

congrats. all my babies are island e's. i think theyre easily the prettiest. but then again im biased.

 

[GEKOdave1987]

i was thinking of getting a leachie and was wondering if you guys could recomend a certain sub-species and a good breeder also will a 260 gallon vertical mesh cage be ok for a gecko or two?

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

yes that would be big enough, but screen cages dont usually keep in humidity very well which is something you need to remember with them. also, in keeping a pair, i would NEVER keep a pair of adult leachies year round. each of my leachies have a seperate cage and i plan to swap the male between them. but i would never keep them together full time, because unlike snakes, leachies wont automaticly be compadible, and they could fight and possibly kill eachother if they suddenly decided they didnt. which would be one hell of an expensive loss. so for a screen cage id probably spray it twice a day. and id have a second cage to house one of them in if you decided to get a pair.

also, if youre looking into these animals, i would trust you look look up care requirements, temperatures, feeding habbits, housing needs.

good luck tho. theyre exellent animals. very vocal, very enjoyable.

 

[GEKOdave1987]

what about setting up a humidifier or sprinkler system would that work too what about keeping two females together would that be ok or were you talking about breeding pairs not getting along?

thanks for the advice im in the process of doing research now and i hope to get one by december of this year.

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

I wouldnt keep two females together either. that just seems like too much of a risk. Call me old fashioned, but i have a pressure sprayer and i just spray my cages once daily. That works fine. Humidifiers/misters, things like that make for a nice effect, but theyre expensive and dont always do tha job as well as just plain spraying it.

auriculatus females can tend to be very agressive twords each other and twords males, ive never really heard of female leachies being kept in breeding groups so much as breeding pairs.

I have 1.2 and i plan to switch the male between the two female cages, to keep them from being kept together year round, and so that he gets to both females.

Also, the way i feel about the ammount of space that leachies demand, being such large arborial geckos, is that to keep a breeding group, you would need a decently large cage. I keep each of my leachies in a 1x2x3.5 cage, which roughly ends up being about 7 sq ft per animal. They are currently doing really well, and tho i could PROBABLY fit a trio in there, leachies are so expensive it just doesnt seem worth them being agressive twords eachother, damaging or killing eachother.

my rule of thumb with any animal is better safe then sorry. provide more then they need then the bare minimum. and theyll probably do better that way.

everyone has their own methods and advice. thats just mine.