Skittish Leo

Ever since I moved Chorky out of Gilbey's 20 G and into his own 10 G cage, he has been super skittish. Its been over a month now, and I never see him out and about. If I walk by when he has his head sticking out of his cave, he will shoot back in. He only eats by being hand fed, and if my husband walks by while I'm feeding him, its back in the cave he goes. He deals with being out fine (when I'm cleaning) he doesn't seem to mind being held, but is still spunky about being taken out of the cage itself. I'm not sure if I should be concerned about this behavior or not. It seems he doesn't feel very safe in his new home, and I'm not sure why. At the same time, I feel like I should mention, that he might be in "winter mode," which is why I don't seem him out and about. He spends all day in his cool hide, and sometimes in the evening I will see him in his humid hide, but not very often. He is still eating, but not much or very often, certainly not like that pig Gilbey. He's not losing weight though, if anything, he is gaining quite abit. He is still eating between 7 - 13 worms every two or three days.

Here is a picture of his setup, and his temps are right (88 warm side).
His cage is covered on one side, the other three are open. I covered another side at one point, but when it didn't seem to make a difference, I took it down.

thanks in advanced.

ps, that is an OLD picture of him. He looks much much heavier and healthier now.

lol i have two of those rock bowls in my trio setup. thats funny. but to the issue at hand. perhaps he is showing you he didnt like to be moved. my gecko performed similar to yours in that when alone was mor einactive and not as easy to handle and a bit more skittish. perhaps when leos are together for so long they become attached? no one knows if reptiles have thsoe kinds of feelings. take the shingleback skink however. mates for life and if seperated will not mate with any other shingleback. maybe he misses his cagemate. maybe theres something outside the cage that frightens him, any dogs or cats in the house? my one leo had been alone for over 2 years and when any new leos were added she became instantly aggressive, and it was a female. was quite odd as she previously had 2 other cagemates. try putting him back in with the other leo and se ehow he responds. i dont think anyone can solve this based on your description, not unless theres something you forgot

well i have a female who does the same thing,has never had anything change been the same ever since i got her. You have to remember geckos are sorta like humans very differnt lookes and very very differnt peronalitys, even cluth mates will act very differnt so it could be a mood change of when you moved him it might have been his cage mate who was making him get around? Just my input

p.s.Why did you move them?


-John

Sorry, I've posted so much lately I assumed everyone knew the story. I adopted these guys and they were pretty unhealthy. It was a male and female housed together in a 20G and neither of them was doing well, the female was the worse. They both tested positive for pinworms. I seperated them once their treatment started, the female stayed in the 20 because I thought it would be less stressful for her than moving her. The male went into a 10 G. The female is thriving now. The male seems more skittish now that he's alone. Only had them for about a month and a half.

Lets not forget theyre leos-not gineau pigs.Theres nothing wrong with them being jumpy toward humans.Most reptiles are.

Take it easy

Except that he didn't use to act like this... I was just curious... sorry.

Originally Posted by neatochickens27

Lets not forget theyre leos-not gineau pigs.Theres nothing wrong with them being jumpy toward humans.Most reptiles are.

Take it easy

i have to really beg to differ here. quite the oppositte sems to be the norm. msot reptiles are happy to be near people with a little adjustment time. although certain lizard and snake species never seem to become tame (nile monitors anyone?) i dont see how mentioning gineau pigs seem to have anything to do with this however. just my input. dont mean to seem a sif im jumping on you or anything