Why are my newborn leos so aggressive?

[Jamie]

I have had 6 eggs hatch this past week and they are all little terrors...they make a barking sound and are all biting my had when I am in the cage. Will they settle down or always be this crazy. Thanks

[Linds]

In the wild they are very vunerable to being eaten by larger animals, which is why all hatchling geckos and snakes and other lizards are naturally defensive. This has been bred into them for survival. Now with leos I find this behavoiur stops fairly quickly. All of our females (males have been nice from the start... coincidence? lol ) have come out of the incubator hissing and even attacking each toher, but this has only lasted at most a few days. As soon as they realize you are not a threat to them they should calm down

[sungazer]

i agree with lindsey but make sure the stress level is low thanx

[PetCrazy]

Linds was bang on..

Jamie, if you think about it. Baby leos are perfect little snacks for natural predators. Now I know in captivity this isn't a big issue (though some peoples cats have gotten to their collections before), but the baby won't be aware of that fact.

Just like sungazer said, keep the stress level low. Aka, stay out of their terrariums, only go there for quick clean ups, and water/food maintenance etc. Besides that, keep everything to a minimal till they calm down. A trick to when you are cleaning...have TONS of hide outs for them. They will run into those most of the time, and when they are in there, thats PRIME TIME for cleanup. They will feel safe and secure in their hides, thus...they won't bite you. And hopefully, they'll get used to your presence this way as well without being as stressed out then if they were out in the open. I'm sure you have plenty of hides, but the more there are, the happier the babies will be.

Be glad that they are fiesty, at least you know they are healthy activebabies. If they weren't moving and let you flop them around....I'd be concerned. As well as if they were calm adults, suddenly turned nasty....then I'd get them checked out-lol-

[Quervo]

Just to add my 2 cents ...

Our leo's were snappy and hissing when we got them too .. now, a couple of months later, they scramble TO our hands when we stick them in the cage. One of them even likes to nibble on our fingers. (testing for size?? we taste good? I dunno)

[Jotun]

hey, my leo is the exact same way but when i FINALLY get him out after we replay WW II each time I put my hand into the cage, he settles right down... now only if he'd eat!