# Aggressive Leopard Gecko Behavior



## goblinkay (Mar 8, 2009)

I have a leopard gecko and I got her in July as a baby so shes about 8 or so months old. But within the past few months her behavior has gotten to be very aggressive and mean. If i go anywhere near the tank she seems very alert (like she does when crickets are in the tank) and if anyone sticks their hand in the tank she attacks it. I was feeding her some meal worms yesterday and she leaped up at my hand when i tried putting the worms in the dish for her. I was wondering if anyone could tell me why she's become so aggressive. You can't touch her at all without her snapping at you.
Thank You so much


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## gekox (Feb 8, 2008)

Maybe because it is breeding season now and she is going to lay eggs


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## elchopchop (Nov 23, 2008)

*aggressive leo*

hey,
sounds to me like you could have a 'hot female'. It may sound daft but leos that were incubated at high temperatures can become aggressive later on in life. My mate had one and once she hit about 9 months she went berserk!! He also found it very difficult to mate her or have her live as part of a colony.
hope that helps... :2thumb:


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## POAGeckos (Jul 11, 2008)

Has she been with a male? Or possably what was she temp sexed for? if she was at male temps, she would be a hot female, which are quite aggressive, nasty little buggers hot females are, but they do have alot of personality to them. 

edit: As said by the poster above, they can't be kept with other geckos well, they are very nasty to other geckos, expecially to males because they have very bad male aggression.


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## quadrapop (Sep 20, 2008)

i doubt shes about to lay eggs at that age and it doesnt sound like shes in with a male, correct me if wrong though....have you checked your temps, i had this problem with a female and it was due to a faulty stat, after reading up a bit high temps can have a significant effect on their temprament but when corrected they can calm down again, could be anything but worth a look.


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## gekox (Feb 8, 2008)

as far as I know, female can lay even without male, and eggs will be of course infertile. If she is hot female why she was alright before


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## goblinkay (Mar 8, 2009)

She's never been with a male so she won't be laying any eggs. She'd been alone since i brought her home. Her tanks temp is about 60ish without the heat lamp on and it goes up to high 60's with the lamp on. Does that sound like that might have something to do with her aggression?


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## gekox (Feb 8, 2008)

60? Farenheit? Leos should have more like near 90


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## POAGeckos (Jul 11, 2008)

goblinkay said:


> She's never been with a male so she won't be laying any eggs. She'd been alone since i brought her home. Her tanks temp is about 60ish without the heat lamp on and it goes up to high 60's with the lamp on. Does that sound like that might have something to do with her aggression?


 Do you mean 60F or 60C? if it is 60F you need to make the temp MUCH higher.


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## kerryrep22 (Jun 10, 2008)

well im no gecko expert, but that seems awfully cold, because 61 farenheit is only 16 oC, geckos need a hot end of around 30/31 oC, which is about 86 oF. dont know if this has anything to do with it but that sounds a bit cold.


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## goblinkay (Mar 8, 2009)

Yea I've read it should be higher, but how can I raise the temp? My rooms in the basement so it's chilly but i have silicon stuff wrapped around the sides and bottom of her tank to keep in her heat (for the winter). I used to have the lamp on 24/7 until the last bulb broke and melted to my rug because it was so hot. She does have a heating pad that works, what else can I do to raise her temp?? Do you think the temp could have something to do with her aggression?


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## POAGeckos (Jul 11, 2008)

goblinkay said:


> Yea I've read it should be higher, but how can I raise the temp? My rooms in the basement so it's chilly but i have silicon stuff wrapped around the sides and bottom of her tank to keep in her heat (for the winter). I used to have the lamp on 24/7 until the last bulb broke and melted to my rug because it was so hot. She does have a heating pad that works, what else can I do to raise her temp?? Do you think the temp could have something to do with her aggression?


 The low temp would make her less aggressive, and much more slow. On the bottom of the cage, is that were you got the temprature reading from? If not, that is were you'll want to check because the heat mat will only make the ground warm, not the air. If you have the thermometer over the heatmat, and it is at that temp, you need a new heat mat.


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## MarkB (Mar 2, 2009)

goblinkay said:


> Yea I've read it should be higher, but how can I raise the temp? My rooms in the basement so it's chilly but i have silicon stuff wrapped around the sides and bottom of her tank to keep in her heat (for the winter). I used to have the lamp on 24/7 until the last bulb broke and melted to my rug because it was so hot. She does have a heating pad that works, what else can I do to raise her temp?? *Do you think the temp could have something to do with her aggression*?


It's extremely likely, yes

I'm not an expert on raising the temperature but you need to do it. Hopefully someone will help.


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## kerryrep22 (Jun 10, 2008)

i know ceramic bulbs give off a lot of heat but i dnt know if they would be too hot for a gecko. im not sure how you have got such low temps, cos i have got my heat mat stuck to the side of the viv on the inside, covered over of course, and on a stat, and it makes my hot end 30 oc, because i actually found it was too hot on the bottom still sometimes, so im guessing your heat mat isnt working, cos usually they are too hot and thats the problem with them.


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## goblinkay (Mar 8, 2009)

I have her mat in the back right corner of the tank, and the thermometer is at the front of the tank, so its not reading the area right where the mat is. She's not slow at all, shes very quick and very... paranoid is the only way i can describe it, like any little shadow or movement in the room she watches and shes very alert about everything. If your hands in the tank she'll go for it so shes very active..


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## kerryrep22 (Jun 10, 2008)

if you feel the heat mat through the substrate can you feel any heat from it? what kind of thermometer is it and can you move it and measure it right above or on the mat? to give you a better idea. but sounds like you mite have a hot female, i had one and she would not live with my other girls because she kept attacking them, but she never went for me though.


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## goblinkay (Mar 8, 2009)

Yea the sand above where the mat is you can feel heat. I'm not sure of the brand on thermometer.. would you suggest I put it closer to the mat?

Is there any way to relax her so she's less jumpy and aggressive? Or are hot females always like this and thats how they remain?

Thank you all so much for helping me out I really appreciate it!


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## POAGeckos (Jul 11, 2008)

Yupp, check over the heat mat, and as said, sounds very much like a hot female, mine is very moody, and I can not place her with anyone. She hasn't attacked me unless I was holding her to check something, if I scared her, also she really hates hair, so she will usually attack my hair alot, other then that though, so is just very aggressive to other geckos.


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## kerryrep22 (Jun 10, 2008)

yeh i would get it as close to the mat or on the mat if you can to get a real idea of how hot it is, but im sure if you can feel heat coming from the mat it is hotter than the high 60s, cos that would only be like 20 oc, and im not having a go, but sand isnt great cos they can swallow it when they catch their crickets and get impacted and very ill. as for the hot females i believe they stay like that im afraid, dont really know what you can do to tame her down, sorry.


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## Leocat (Aug 26, 2014)

It may just be a case of changing the bulb all I have in my tank is a ceramic heat lamp and it produces plenty of heat it's probably best to start looking for a stronger heat lamp and have 2 or 3 thermometers around the tank to effectively watch the temp.


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

Leocat said:


> It may just be a case of changing the bulb all I have in my tank is a ceramic heat lamp and it produces plenty of heat it's probably best to start looking for a stronger heat lamp and have 2 or 3 thermometers around the tank to effectively watch the temp.


u're about 5 years to late on this thread lol


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## Leocat (Aug 26, 2014)

Not really as other people will search for it and then read the comments so it may help others who don't know


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