I have had Noodles, my Crested Gecko, for a little less than a month. Noodles is 8 grams and around 8 months old. I have taken Noodles out three times to clean the tank and to weigh him. I do it in the morning and Noodles tends to be calmer once he’s out although he is initially jumpy. Aside from cleaning the tank I have tried “socializing” Noodles three times. Every time I try to take Noodles out for a handling session he freaks out. I feel like a terrible first time owner that always ends up doing something wrong. The first time I handled him at night and he was okay. The second time he was running super fast around the tank and looked terrified of me. Today was the third time I have tried holding him and everything was going well until I tried picking him up. He wasn’t bothered when I changed the water and food dishes (Noodles was standing beside them) and when I sprayed down the tank. Everything went wrong when I tried picking him up. He backed away and then started jumping all around. I tried to slowly take out decorations from his tank to get a better view of him and it freaked him out even more. He hid underneath the paper towel and I had to take most of the decorations out to get ahold of him. He was breathing super hard but I didn’t want him to associate bad things with me, so I didn’t want to stop the handling session before it even started. I thought that offering some food would help once I got him out of the tank, so I took the little food dish and he licked a bit off my hand. After about a minute outside the tank he started freaking out again. I have been trying to handle him once to twice a week for no more than five minutes at a time. I don’t know what to do! What do I do differently? How can I get him to forgive me for scaring him these past few weeks?
Sometimes, you just get really skittish geckos. My male is so bad that I almost never handle him, because he goes absolutely crazy. Your gecko might just be like this… but throttling back on handling for now will probably help. I’m not sure when you started handling him after you got him, but giving him ample time to settle in might help.
From what experience I do have handling and socializing extremely skittish and terrified animals, even outside of reptiles (dogs, cats, rats, horses, goats, cattle- my sister owns a ranch lol-) I have this advice to give.
Socializing an animal that is afraid of humans will take a long time and is a tough commitment, but its not impossible. Don’t lose hope but keep these things in mind.
• You are an absolute giant to this little gecko, if he isn’t socialized to humans every movement you make directed towards him is terrifying to him.
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Please don’t remove what makes him feel secure, this is probably the worst thing that can be done inside his enclosure where he is supposed to feel safe. If you want to start having him in a spot where you can have full supervision of him while working on socialization I’d get him a separate critter carrier with minimal decor for the sole purpose of getting him used to your presence. The reason I say this is because changing a home environment drastically for any animal will stress them significantly.
• Start by being around his enclosure daily, even multiple times a day for a minimum of 15 minutes each time without trying to touch or grab him. Have the enclosure open but be ready to shut it carefully if he begins to panic as you’ve mentioned.
• If he’s comfortable enough for you to be around and near his enclosure without him panicking the next thing I’d do is just rest your hand briefly inside the enclosure without moving, and every couple of days increase the time and amount of your hand being inside the enclosure. This needs to be done gradually. This gets your scent in his enclosure, he becomes aware of your hand but doesn’t have to or feel the need to flee from it.
• I will say if he does eat from your hand I’d definitely continue this without trying to actively touch him. Food is a big trust builder with animals, do this gently and slowly.
• Be accepting of the fact that he may never be fully socialized. All animals are different in their own way, it doesn’t matter what their intelligence limits are. Some geckos can be held confidently, others can never be held for their own safety because they panic and pose a risk to injuring themselves or the people that are working with them (not that a CG can do much damage to a person, I mainly speak of all animals in general).
• Be aware of his age. A lot of young reptiles tend to be much more flighty and defensive when they are young and eventually mellow out with age. Most of my reptiles that I’ve kept in the past 15 years were a bit crazy as hatchlings/juveniles but they all mellowed out with growth and the time I spent socializing them.
• Try giving him even more stuff in his enclosure to hide in (fake plants, wood pieces, real plants, caves both high and low, leaf litter, etc). Minimize light, CGs are nocturnal and he may do better when he is in a calm, quiet and dark/dim environment.
• Don’t doubt your ability to socialize with him, but be reasonable and take your time to study his behavior and learn what he may and may not take kindly to.
There is a lot more that can be added to this list but I am no expert with CGs and only worked with them for a very short time. Make sure to do your research into his care from trusted sources to ensure that he can thrive with or without handling and human interaction. Hope this helped at least a little 
Thank you so much for the advice, I will definitely try this out! I have heard that CGs are more forgiving than other species of lizards and I hope my gecko can learn to trust me
That’s a good point and I’ll love my gecko if he’s skittish or not. I gave him about a week and a half before attempting handling of any sort. If he continues getting more and more flighty I will definitely try to give him more time to settle in and stop handling all together for a week or two 
@blue_belle Hey Bluebell! I have a beautiful boy that basically says “you may look but you may not touch!” So you are more than likely in the majority not the minority of crestie keepers! 