leopard gecko handling

Question
Hi Thea I've had my gecko, Garak, for nearly three years. Every evening I hold him over the vivarium as he is so difficult to hold because he squeezes through my fingers I'm worried that he jump and hurt himself. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, can you help me as i'd really like to hold Garak more easily?

Answer
Hi Chloe,

You mentioned that Garak squeezes through your fingers which sounds like you might be trying to clutch him while you are handling him. Your fear of him falling probably reinforces that.  Small reptiles like leos (in addition to being predators themselves) are also prey animals to other larger animals, reptiles and birds. Because of this they often instinctively fear being held in a restraining way and will struggle against it.

They tend to be far more relaxed if you allow them to sit freely on your open hand and avoid actually "holding" them in any way. You will have to hold them briefly to transfer them to your hand or they can sometimes be gently coaxed with a little push from behind to walk onto your open hand.

You are correct to be concerned about him falling and I would certainly continue to hold him over a close surface until he relaxes a bit more. I would suggest moving him away from his enclosure completely though to prevent him from trying to return to his territory. Try holding your free hand in front of his face to block his vision while he sits on your open hand. That should discourage him from leaping off while he becomes accustomed to being out. Once he relaxes a bit you can try letting him walk from one open hand to the other.

The vast majority of leos are quite calm and tolerant of being briefly picked up and sitting on human hands but there will always be the rare few that didn't "get the memo" :) and just refuse to sit quietly.