This Giant Frog-eyed Gecko is mental!! Is this typical?

Well I've been eyeing up this Frog-eyed Gecko that my Local Exotic store guy took in.

I met him at the store one morning and we found a box in front of the door. He took it inside and opened it up to find, what he thought at first, was a leopard gecko. So he reached inside to grab it and it clamped down on his thumb and would not let go. We tried everything under the sun to get him off to no avail. Luckily we had some vinegar in the back for stubborn snakes. Turns out geckos hate the taste of vinegar as well. A couple drops on the edge of his mouth and he let go and fell to the counter.

So I figured he was going to take off...nope. He turned around and faced us, puffed and flattened his body as much as he could, raised his stance and hissed at us. I didn't know geckos could hiss. Then he jumped at us. Yes, jumped TOWARDS us. He was flailing wildly in the air towards my chest so I grabbed him when he hit me and sure enough, he clamped down on my middle finger. And man oh man can he clamp down. I've been bit by many a leopard but this guy has a mouse trap for a mouth. So as I whimpered in disgust with this little demon attached to my hand, we got the vinegar out and this time did it over a terrarium. He let go and fell inside.

Once inside the tank I rubbed my hand a bit and looked at him closer. When I put my face to the glass what does he do? He jumps off the sand a good 6 inches, arms and legs sprawled out mouth wide open, and smacks against the glass. I almost fell backwards. We put the top on the tank and the whole time he was puffed and jumping up trying to bite our hands.
Every time you so much as walk by the tank, let alone put your face up to it, he runs out from his cave and jumps into the air at the glass. Bounces of and takes the biggest, flattest stance he can. Then jumps at your face again. He has lost his mind. He's acts like a wild monitor trapped in a geckos body. It was so bad that he had to put him int he back room because everyone who walked by his cage got attacked through the glass. Of course people thought this was funny so they would wave at him and make it do it more. After a couple days of checking in on him, his nose was getting chapped from smacking the glass so much and I felt bad for how stressed he must feel. That was when we moved him into the back.

My friend told me he actually had to change his water dish everyday with hemostats because if he put his hand in the tank, the gecko would run out and lunge at him. After a week in solitude, he was still just as crazy.

Obviously, no one wanted him. Anyone who he took in the back to show the Frog-eye, walked away. They would say "Ahhh what an adorable little..THUMP." "Holy, did he just try to attack me?"

So I felt so bad, I decided to research as much as I could about them, since I have never even seen one before now, and take him home with me.

He came home this morning to what I considered, the best enclosure I could provide him with. I tried to replicate as much of a natural environment for him that I could.

It's a 40 gallon breeder aquarium with 30 pounds of Reptisand mixed 50/50 with 20 pounds of Eco-Earth dirt. I wet it so it would hold shape and packed it in. I read they love to borrow and can dig holes as deep as 20". I also built him a small rock cave and some dead branches to climb on. He has a 60 Watt basking lamp over the branches with a basking temp of 98 deg. The ambient temp of the warm side is 85 deg and the cool cave side is 79 deg. There is also a 24" Reptisun 5.0 (even though he's nocturnal, I though it might help him relax) and a 40 Watt red night lamp. There's a few scattered plants and some rocks.

I put the box in the cage and opened it carefully expecting him to jump out at me. But he just sat there. I tipped the box and just left it there for him to crawl out on his own. He did. I took the box out slowly and he just watched. I left him alone for a few hours to look around. I came back and he had been digging like crazy. They definitely love digging. He dug a huge hole in his cave and a bunch of little holes all over the place. He hasn't jumped at me once even with my face right up the glass. I even changed his water, because he filled it with sand/dirt, and he just sat and watched. He seems very content.

My question for you gecko experts is, Does this seem normal for a Frog-eye to be so incredibly violent and defensive? I've never seen anything like it. NO fear whatsoever.

And what is up with the dramatic change in attitude? Is he just scared and getting used to things? He didn't seem to be concerned about that when he arrived at the store. Is he traumatized?

I did check and I think it is a male. The first thing I though was maybe it was a female who wanted to lay some eggs but definitely not.

He is by far, the most entertaining and interesting gecko I have ever had. I hope he is happy now.

If anyone with experience with these guys has any advice or input, that would be great.

Here are some pics I just took.

And some of the Enclosure.

That looks like a happy home for him. Maybe he figures this is so much better than multiple people walking by? Was there more heavy traffic at the store? Vibrations making him nervous? I haven't a clue on specific gecko stuff, but as far as animal behavior.. there is a lot of variables that could explain him being highly upset in one location. Anything from a particular smell, or sound or lgihting, or maybe he just didn't like the place. Maybe he just needed to get over whatever happened to him before and the latest change in venue was the trigger for him to finally relax?
At any rate he is adorable, looks like he is all mouth in those pictures!
Wolfy

He is definitely all mouth. Thanks for the kind words. I hope he stays relaxed.

I'm getting a bit concerned. He's just been laying in the same spot for the last couple days. I see signs of him walking around at night but he just lays there when I feed him and even when I put my hand in the tank. If I try to touch him, he rears up and his tail shakes like a rattlesnake's. But he doesn't flip out or puff up anymore. I guess that's good but he almost seems a bit lethargic. Is there something wrong with his enclosure maybe? He's in a low to no traffic room with only a couple turtles out of sight.

Any thoughts?