As a matter of fact, Leopard Geckos are very docile reptiles and have a great attachment to their parents. When treated right and housed in an enriching and safe environment, geckos will undoubtedly begin to express themselves and portray behaviors that can be considered similar to emotions of excitement and happiness.
How Do Leopard Geckos Identify Their Owners?
While Leopard Geckos have good eyesight, they will identify their owners mostly by scent. This essential skill has not evolved over the years for this exact reason, and the scent is not there so that these pet reptiles can recognize their owner only.
The skills come in handy when geckos try to distinguish food (or foe) from a friend. That said, in the wild, Leopard Geckos would use their evolutionary and keen sense of smell to get an early warning of potential danger coming their way to avoid being predated upon or utilize their skill to hunt.
Given the role of their profound sense of smell, your gecko will identify you from your smell first before he comes into contact with your eyes which is why you need to avoid using strong perfumes or heavily perfumed soaps to avoid masking your usual smell as this can scare away your little friend.
This way, you will avoid scaring your gecko, making him panic, or even confusing you with an unknown intruder.
How Do You Gain Trust with Your Leopard Gecko to Allow him to Recognize You and Show Affection?
If you want your gecko to feel comfortable and safe and play with you, then you will need to spend some time with your pet to gain his trust. Lucky for you, though it may take a while, you can find a way to bond with the little guy.
This is especially true if at once you’ve cared for a gecko that you thought to have been mistreated-maybe the pet store you bought your reptile from didn’t provide the best conditions for your sweet little pet, or a previous owner didn’t show the level of concern that pet geckos would want.
Remember to take it slow. Don’t be frustrated if your gecko doesn’t show their trust overnight. Building trust, especially with reptiles, is a bit challenging since they aren’t as naturally warm or trusting to people as dogs and cats. So it is a process that can sometimes feel like an uphill battle.
Give your Leopard Gecko some time, say, 4-6 weeks before you expect noticeable results. If you don’t make most mistakes in this period, you will likely gain your reptile’s trust.
Continue carrying on as before, and if you don’t make any progress, don’t worry, as this is just a temporary obstacle.
The following tips can help you gain your gecko’s trust, and he should be able to recognize you and show affection:
Avoid Handling Your Leopard Gecko the First 2-3 Weeks
A better way to win your gecko’s trust is to start by not touching him for the first 2-3 weeks. Yeah, that’s right, you will win your gecko’s trust and start touching and holding him by keeping your hands off at first.
If it’s your first time petting a Leopard Gecko, just let it get used to its new surroundings for the first 2-3 weeks before you go touching him.
A shift to a completely new environment after getting your pet from a pet store, having a new owner and habitat is quite overwhelming for your little pet.
That said, the last thing your Leopard Gecko wants to see is your giant hand trying to reach out to him and snatch them up.
Ensure that Your Geckos Needs are Met
Pets recognize and show affection to their owners, who provide for all their needs. This is the same case with Leopard Geckos. The more well-cared and comfortable your Leopard Gecko is, the sooner they’ll trust you.
This is because offering all their care needs helps them relax in their new habitat and then begin showing emotions of happiness, and that’s how you gain your gecko’s trust.
Set up your Leopard Gecko’s aquarium as normal while taking a closer look at its behavior to detect any signs of stress and adjust accordingly during the crucial first weeks of petting your gecko.
A stressed gecko won’t show any trust or act friendly, and you definitely don’t want that to happen. Normally if you provide for your Leopard Gecko’s needs, he will gain trust with you, recognize you and be friendly whenever you’re around him.
Handle Your Leopard Gecko
I know we’d said earlier that you should avoid touching your Leopard Gecko, but that was before both of you established a bond. After 4-5 weeks of stay, you can begin by offering your pet reptile a little human contact.
We use the term offer because it’s all this should be. Note that you want the Leopard Gecko to feel like it can crawl on your outstretched hand for a bit of playtime or exploration and not feel like it’s being abducted from the well-set-up aquarium.
Though we’ve discussed this earlier, it applies twice here. Take your Leopard Gecko slow while handling him. If there’s something that your pet gecko will confuse with a predator is your massive hand that tries to hold him up. So double-check on this before you even think of touching him.
You can try introducing 5 minutes of handling your little guy, say when you’re cleaning the tank while ensuring you don’t scare your reptile friend by making sudden movements.
Place your hand carefully in your gecko’s aquarium from time to time to allow them to get used to your hand being in the tank, but don’t offer him your hand just yet!
Name Your Leopard Gecko
Though it might sound a bit silly to some with the notion that geckos will never actually learn their own names or anything of that sort, Leopard Geckos can start to recognize their owners’ sound patterns over time that may be familiar to them.
Giving your little reptile a name and greeting him in the same way over and over will form a routine that your Leopard Gecko will start feeling even more comfortable with and settle into it.
This way, your reptile can recognize you and show signs of joy when you approach them.
Surprises to geckos are stressful, but coming up with a routine where you greet them by their name every day can be very calming to your pet. Your
Leopard Gecko will soon start to react or expect the familiar sound of their keepers, which is indeed a great way to build a bond.
Frequently Asked Questions?
Can You Train a Leopard Gecko?
Yes, If you work with them enough, it’s actually possible to get them to perform simple tasks. It all begins by building a bond with them so they can trust you. Overall, training is easier when they are still young and haven’t developed their survival instincts yet. You can train them to respond to their name, pass through obstacles and hunt for crickets.
How Do Leopard Geckos Show Friendliness?
One thing about geckos is they are expressive and will show friendliness quite clearly. When they are in a good mood, they may seem curious and interact with you. They will watch you through the glass and even come out of their hiding and basking spot to see what you are doing.
If you let them outside the cage, they might climb all over you and show curiosity while allowing you to handle them gently. Common habits your happy leopard gecko may show include exploring while flicking the tongue and basking.
Keep in mind that excessive touching and movement may stress the gecko out.
Do Leopard Geckos get Attached to Their Owners?
After spending more and more time with your leopard gecko, you may start wondering whether they are attached to you or not. After all, some social pets can easily get attached to you. The truth is that these pets can only recognize the scent.
Beyond that, they will only associate with the owner who feeds them, helps them survive, and is not a threat to them. Interacting with humans is not a requirement for them, and if you do something that challenges them, they can turn aggressive and scared.
Do Leopard Geckos Show Affection to Their Owners?
Yes, leopard geckos can show affection to their owners. You’ll notice the positive signs and emotions when your gecko reacts to being touched and in movements. As long as your pet is full, he will usually respond every time you walk past him or whenever you are close to him.
That said, it isn’t necessarily true to say that Leopard Geckos don’t identify their friends and show affection to them since this entirely depends on the kind of environment in which your gecko has been brought up in.
Pet geckos can identify their owners and show emotions of happiness if they’ve been brought up in a loving, kind environment around humans who deeply care about them.
Socializing reptiles is more difficult compared to other pets. So, don’t expect your Leopard Gecko to nuzzle up on the bed with you as a dog or cat will.
But if treated well (not crammed into an aquarium with 30 other geckos in a reptile pet store window), Leopard Geckos are normally affectionate and friendly creatures that can identify their owners and be quite playful with them.
Wrap Up
By default, Leopard Geckos can’t recognize their owners. But with a bit of effort and enough time, you can train your little guy to recognize you and build up a bond with him.
And while your pet gecko might not feel affection towards you or identify you as its owner like we humans show feelings of affection, that shouldn’t be a surprise.
Besides, with the tiny brains they have, they’ve got restricted emotional processing power. So don’t judge the little reptile or get angry that he can’t socialize with you.
But does that mean Leopard Geckos are unaffectionate and cold pets? Absolutely not. With a bit of care and time, your little friend can be very friendly in his own way.
And when you see your Leopard Gecko standing up to greet you when you walk into the room or approach their tank, you’ll surely know your little lizard not only recognize you as his owner but also shows you some signs of affection, excitement, and happiness.
