My Scaled Dog

RayneLaRose

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
21
About 2 months ago I bought a lovely leopard gecko who I named Erume'. She is bred of both a giant female and supergiant male, but is getting big fast enough I think she takes after her dad.

I kid you not, this gecko is more dog than reptile. She won't eat until she has been taken out to explore and snuggle. Yes, snuggle! She loves when I hold her under my chin and hug her to my chest. She also loves her little head being pet, pushing it as hard into my fingers as she can.

I didn't expect what happened in the picture! She laid on her back, in that pose, with her eyes closed and her lil throat bobbing gently for about 5 mins. Why? I was rubbing her belly.

I no longer think I have a leopard gecko. I have a dog covered in scales.

Anyone else have some oddly affectionate exotics?
 

Attachments

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
2,009
@RayneLaRose Your gecko is cute!
My bearded dragon hated me for the first year. A lot of black bearding and hissing if I reached in for maintenance. Took a lot of hand feeding to convince the little fellow I was a friend.
Affectionate now -- sorta like a reptilian dog or cat really. Likes side-chin facial scritches especially. And doesn't fight me on bath time anymore -- seems to really enjoy his baths.
I bought mine a harness leash -- can't get him used to it yet -- but I have hopes for some walks outside with him.
Not a cuddler per se, (yet) but will tolerate handling. Baby steps.
 

RayneLaRose

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
21
@RayneLaRose Your gecko is cute!
My bearded dragon hated me for the first year. A lot of black bearding and hissing if I reached in for maintenance. Took a lot of hand feeding to convince the little fellow I was a friend.
Affectionate now -- sorta like a reptilian dog or cat really. Likes side-chin facial scritches especially. And doesn't fight me on bath time anymore -- seems to really enjoy his baths.
I bought mine a harness leash -- can't get him used to it yet -- but I have hopes for some walks outside with him.
Not a cuddler per se, (yet) but will tolerate handling. Baby steps.
Super weird for a beardie! But good on you for working with him. I personally believe that if you know what you are doing, you can make any reptile into a friend. Even the grumpiest bastards.

My gecko usually loves baths too oddly enough.

I have a harness I'm sloooooowly getting her used to but its a touch big right now. When I take her outside, I bring a little pouch I sewed for her. Very simple, two pieces of felt with a big button to close it so there is room for her to get out on either side. I let her crawl in before its time to go from wherever we are and she is happy as a clam. She'll stick her head out and watch everything as I walk but never tries to put up a fuss. She really seems to enjoy it. o.o maybe you could give something like that a try?

Try holding him under your chin and breathing on him. Not kidding. That's how I got Erume' to start. They like the heat of your breath. You can also see how he responds to you laying over him. Get on all fours and make a sort of tunnel over him with your body. He might feel safer and wanna hang out there. Then you can start trying to just kinda slowly pull him closer to your face or chest. Good luck! Beardies are good friends
 

ShyDragoness

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Messages
369
About 2 months ago I bought a lovely leopard gecko who I named Erume'. She is bred of both a giant female and supergiant male, but is getting big fast enough I think she takes after her dad.

I kid you not, this gecko is more dog than reptile. She won't eat until she has been taken out to explore and snuggle. Yes, snuggle! She loves when I hold her under my chin and hug her to my chest. She also loves her little head being pet, pushing it as hard into my fingers as she can.

I didn't expect what happened in the picture! She laid on her back, in that pose, with her eyes closed and her lil throat bobbing gently for about 5 mins. Why? I was rubbing her belly.

I no longer think I have a leopard gecko. I have a dog covered in scales.

Anyone else have some oddly affectionate exotics?
What a good doggo!
 

RayneLaRose

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
21
You can have my Amazon tree boa if you want. Just let me know how it works out for you.
Lol friend is a relative term. Obviously some species are more aggressive than others. However, I will point out that I have coaxed a wild northern water snake (known for being aggressive) onto my hand to help get some stuck shed off of his eye. I wouldn't cuddle up with him but I still managed to get him to trust me enough to be handled.
 

lizardminion

Arachnolord
Joined
Nov 7, 2011
Messages
626
Lol friend is a relative term. Obviously some species are more aggressive than others. However, I will point out that I have coaxed a wild northern water snake (known for being aggressive) onto my hand to help get some stuck shed off of his eye. I wouldn't cuddle up with him but I still managed to get him to trust me enough to be handled.
Water snakes actually aren't too bad in my opinion. Used to have a pair of WC broad banded water snakes myself. Never struck.
 

RayneLaRose

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
21
Water snakes actually aren't too bad in my opinion. Used to have a pair of WC broad banded water snakes myself. Never struck.
Oddly as aggressive as they are in the wild they are calm in captive lol sadly it just means you have to go through the grumpy yourself because there's not many captive breds
 

EmilzHernandez

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Messages
104
While likely not "surprising", Fresca, my 2 year old female Blue Tegu, hates being in her enclosure when I am in the room. I let her out, and she jumps onto my lap, and expects head scratches and chin scratches. She also has a little hut (the kind usually sold for kittens) that she likes to sleep in <3 She's such a sweetie :D
 

lizardminion

Arachnolord
Joined
Nov 7, 2011
Messages
626
Oddly as aggressive as they are in the wild they are calm in captive lol sadly it just means you have to go through the grumpy yourself because there's not many captive breds
They were never grumpy in my care. I really miss having them. I think some sort of internal parasites probably took their toll. They were also not as easy to feed - finding feeder fish without thiamine in them was rather difficult, and like any of my new arrivals, they weren't exactly the most enthusiastic feeders. Had a male/female pair too, and was looking forward to breeding them. I think if I ever try keeping them again, (highly likely) seeing if I can them on rodents and getting internal parasites cleaned out would probably be my first priority.

Anyway, broad bands are quite pretty, and have variable colors and patterns to boot. Also loved the way they would rapidly sidewind across the living room floor and freak out my family lol
 

RayneLaRose

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
21
While likely not "surprising", Fresca, my 2 year old female Blue Tegu, hates being in her enclosure when I am in the room. I let her out, and she jumps onto my lap, and expects head scratches and chin scratches. She also has a little hut (the kind usually sold for kittens) that she likes to sleep in <3 She's such a sweetie :D
Love tegus soooooooo much. I want one some day.

They were never grumpy in my care. I really miss having them. I think some sort of internal parasites probably took their toll. They were also not as easy to feed - finding feeder fish without thiamine in them was rather difficult, and like any of my new arrivals, they weren't exactly the most enthusiastic feeders. Had a male/female pair too, and was looking forward to breeding them. I think if I ever try keeping them again, (highly likely) seeing if I can them on rodents and getting internal parasites cleaned out would probably be my first priority.

Anyway, broad bands are quite pretty, and have variable colors and patterns to boot. Also loved the way they would rapidly sidewind across the living room floor and freak out my family lol
Wow! So gorgeous. Such a shame you didn't get to breed them. Sadly water snakes are extremely prone to parasites... awesome that yours were so chill and fun though. Gotta love when they freak people out and you know they don't mean any harm
 

Nephila Edulis

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
201
I had a blue tongue who did the exact same thing, allowing me to scratch him and not moving for ten minutes, or maybe he was just lazy :p
 
Top