Crested gecko personality shift and tail drop

My crested Jupiter has always been a super sweet docile little guy. Tonight however he went absolutely ballistic and ended up dropping his tail. Is this complete personality shift possibly due to it being breeding season? I can’t think of anything different that would have triggered this behavior besides maybe hormones.

Also I’ve never had a crested drop their tail in my care. So is there anything else I can do to make sure his tail heals well? I moved him out of his bioactive and into a sterile critter keeper.

Has anything changed in his environment or your house? Noise levels, temperatures, construction outside, the cat got let into the room for a few hours- Any changes.

Also what behaviors are you observing, specifically? Ballistic looks very uh alarming on my Dachshund, for example, but I don’t think your gecko can do what she does, like zooming around at 25mph. I don’t mean to make light of your troubles so much as request you tell us what you’re seeing him do, specifically. People with more experience of Cresties may be able to tell you more that way.

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A little more info as to what his doing would be helpful. Was he like it as a one off or a few days? Was he hissed alone?

Just keep his bum clean and maybe keep the humidity a little lower than usual, just till it heals but make sure it’s still humid for him.

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Unfortunately it can just happen.
I had Haise have a funny moment the other day and bolt around the viv when I was digging, he went crazy then just chilled out.

Cresties can at any moment drop their tail, nothing you did wrong.

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Every night Jupiter sits at the front of his enclosure, some nights he comes out and some nights he doesn’t want out. So at first he wasn’t acting different at all.

I was cleaning the glass because he pooped on it. I clean the glass every week it’s something he’s very used to.
But then it was like a switch flipped, he started running all over the enclosure and jumped out, I caught him put him back in and he immediately jumped back out, again I put him back, and again he frantically jumped back out so I put him in an empty bin I had right next to me. This all happened in the span of like 15 seconds.
I was trying to just get him to calm down for long enough that I could put him back in the enclosure. But he wouldn’t stop frantically running around the bin and then after like 30 seconds he just dropped his tail.

And no there was nothing different tonight, no vacuum, no temp change, no construction, I don’t have a dog or cat and my pig is very quiet and never came in my room.

so far this is a one off he’s never acted like this, but I’ll have to see if he continues acting like this over the next few days. And yes he’s housed alone, and I don’t own a female crested either.

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Hopefully he was just started by something and he’ll be back to normal soon :crossed_fingers:

Have you changed cleaning products/ air freshener / perfume or hand sanitizer recently? Or anything similar

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Nope, I use diluted chlorahexidine for cleaning it has no sent, I don’t use candles or any heavily scented products anywhere near the reptiles. I do use hand sanitizer in between holding every reptile but I hadn’t used any last night and hand sanitizer is a smell he’s extremely used to.

I’m really hoping so, I did move him to a new clean bin this morning and he freaked out again. But I did wake him up so maybe I just scared him.

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I sanitise my hands between reptiles also. Once I changed hand sanitizer and a free of my Geckos freaked out a little and the same happened when I changed perfume.

He will probably be on edge while in the temporary enclosure, but once his bum has healed and his had time in his enclosure… Then he might start to be himself again.

Maybe give him a little space while his bum heals, if you can.

Keep us updated

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I moved him into the office which is almost never used because he kept jumping into the glass when I walked by. I’ve been gone all day, which was probably for the best to give him some quiet. But I just checked on him and he seemed a bit calmer so hopefully that continues.

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Ugh. This sucks. I’m sorry!

I had my first tail drop this year and it freaked me out. His bum will be okay. :blush:

Was he housed next to Mercury? I’m wondering if breeding season plus another male close by wigged him out.

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This is something I was thinking is a possible cause. They are housed next to each other, they can’t see each other but it’s still a possibility. And I did just move mercury into my room around 1.5 months ago.

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They look beautiful!

I’ll let the gurus weigh in, but I think that might be it, especially if he’s chilled out in the office. See what he’s like the next few days, and report back.

I have the girls and Kain next to each other, and had to put a blanket between them because the girls were going nuts trying to get to Kain earlier this week, so that’s what’s making me think about it.

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I definitely will!

It’s possible that is what caused it. But I doubt it.

My Geckos are next to each other, usually male to female but some males are next to each other and they are all crazy in their own way :yum: seriously though, they all currently have their tails and act as normal as can be

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So small update on Jupiter.
Last night I gave him fresh food and misted him and he didn’t freak out. He was very calm like usual so I think we’re heading in the right direction. Though I haven’t changed his paper towel yet so I don’t know how he’s going to react to getting moved. I’ll keep y’all updated!

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Oh great news!

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I had to change Jupiter’s paper towel out twice yesterday, he was pretty frantic both times. Also his balance is pretty bad but I guess that’s to be expected. Thankfully I was much more prepared for how he would act after the first time I changed the paper towel, so I was able to make it a little less stressful.

I was also able to get a good look at his wound. It looks good so far, it’s starting to heal up nicely.

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That is awesome! Hope it continues to get better!

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I’m so so incredibly happy right now! I just changed Jupiters paper towel. And for the first time since he dropped his tail he was so calm. There was no running frantically, no jumping onto the floor, no ramming into the side of the bin, nothing!

He let me move him into the holding bin with no struggle. When I went to put him back I was able to hold him for a few seconds and he walked up my arm like he usually does!

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That’s great to hear :grin:

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