As a beginner hobbyist, you will be surprised when you hear the different sounds and noises that leopard geckos make. You may be wondering what can be the causes of the noises that your leopard geckos are making.
Leopard geckos are not the most vocal pets that you can keep at home. However, leopard geckos make different sounds from screaming to barking sounds.
D your leopard geckos even stare at you when you suddenly appear?
And at times leopard geckos sound comes when you didn’t expect it.
In this article, we will shed more light on the list of leopard gecko noises, the reasons why your leopard gecko makes these sounds, and what it is trying to communicate with you.
This article has been reviewed by Dr. Gospel. Read more about our knowledge control process here.
Contents
Leopard Gecko Noises And Meanings
Like other creatures, leopard geckos make some sounds and noises, which depend on their emotions.
What Noises Do Leopard Geckos Make?
Leopard gecko noises and meanings are very different include screams, clicks, chirps, squeaks, or barks. In short: Screaming means they are in defensive mode, chirping & squeaking mean they are calling for mating, while clicking says that they are unhappy.
In the sections below, you will find in detail what each noise means and how to deal with each individual sound.
Let’s start it!
Screaming Noise In Leopard Geckos
Screaming is the most common leopard gecko sound. Every new owner will ask this question in communities:
“Why do my leopard gecko scream a lot?”
Wow, you don’t need to worry if your leo is screaming. The screaming sound is the normal sound of leopard geckos.
When screaming, your leopard gecko is in defensive mode.
Have you ever noticed that when you bother your leos, they will scream and look like they are “attacking” you? If so, that is the animal’s natural defensive behavior.
People also noticed that screaming happens more often in baby leopard geckos than adult leopard geckos. The main reason is that newborn leopard geckos are not familiar with humans. When seeing a “big animal” in front of them, all of the animals will defend themselves.
Source: Animal Defenses by Christina Wilsdon.
When getting older, your leopard gecko will get familiar with you and its surrounding environment. They will not scream anymore or the screaming frequency will be much less.
“hey, don’t come here. I will bite you”
Your leos when screaming
So, if you notice that your leopard geckos are screaming. Make sure no other animals are around him (including you also).
A video from Brian also explains why your baby leopard geckos are screaming
Chirping And Squeaking Noises
The chirping is used to define territory and also as a mating call. Source: crittercontrol.com.
New to leopard geckos care? Read this article to learn the common illnesses of leopard geckos.
Clicking Noises and Barking Noises In leopard geckos
Apart from screaming, chirping, and squeaking noises, the communities noticed that leopard geckos sometimes do clicking and barking noises, on rare occasions.
Clicking noises
The clicking noises in most cases mean your leopard geckos are unhappy, rarely because they want to communicate with you. It might come from many reasons, such as:
- Suddenly being handled.
- Just want to say hi.
- Uncomfortable
- stressed
How do you know if your leopard geckos clicking because he is unhappy?
If you are around and your leos start clicking, then it is because of you. But you can’t say that he is unhappy. You can try to grab him up and see what he does. If he continues clicking for a while, it means that he doesn’t want to be handled at that moment.
Just leave him alone in that case. Leopard geckos sometimes do not want to be handled.
If he stops clicking and does well on your hands it means that he is happy. And he just wanted to communicate with you.
Some people noticed leopard geckos clicking noise is because they want to let you know that they are a bit nervous or bothered by something.
In most cases, it makes the sound if you have made any changes in his cage and your leopard gecko doesn’t feel safe.
If so, you need to remember what had you changed and revert back. If your leos stop clicking after, then you should keep its original cage.
Nice source of discussion: https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/lizards/673733-leopard-gecko-clicking-noise.html
Do Loud Noises Scare Leopard Geckos?
Leopard geckos are known to be sensitive to sound, and loud noises may easily stress them.
They have a high sensitivity for sound, which is a natural protection from predators in the wild. They also use sound sensitivity to hunt for food.
This means leopard geckos become more responsive when there are loud noises, stressing them out.
Leopard geckos are more responsive when they can associate some sounds with activities, but they should be at normal volume.
This means that if you usually handle them after intense door banging or other loud noises, they will associate the loud noise with you.
However, this can make your leopard gecko not trust you, and it will be hard for you to handle them.
Wrapping Up
As a leopard gecko owner, it is guaranteed that you will hear some strange noises from your leopard gecko at some point. Leopard geckos can be vocal whenever they are unhappy for several reasons.
However, you can easily determine what causes the situation by listening to the noises they make. Once you identify the noises, you can then detect why your leo is stressed or happy.