I heard back from Shane and this is his advice on handling. It's a bit long.
"This following has been the information I have gathered from taming a number of different Geckos with wildly varied personalities and tolerances of human contact, this is by no means the
only way to do things.
The first thing to remember when trying to tame any Gecko is that they all have distinct personalities, anything you have read about a particular keeper's experience may or may not apply to you.
None of the taming process is scripted and it is wise for us to be respectful and try to go at a pace comfortable for the individual at hand. Forcing things unnecessarily quickly is likely to have a negative mental impact on the Gecko and believe it or not, they do remember these (sometimes forever).
With that said there are some rules which you can / should always follow before following certain steps towards taming your pet.
When close to your reptile never make sudden / jerky movements for any reason, this instantly triggers a flight response in all Geckos, I find to be irrespective of their personality.
In other words - They all hate it.
When close to your reptile try to speak at a reasonable volume, shouting or other loud noises tends to startle and / or stress them out, making them less receptive to handling or anything but hiding for that matter. Getting them used to your voice is very useful long term.
When attempting to tame any Gecko try to do so at a time they are normally comfortable being awake and outside of their favorite hide spots. For example a Leopard Gecko or African Fat Tail will likely not wish to come to your hand for any reason including food bribes during daylight hours as this is a time they normally stay hidden, compounding the stress of your presence further.
When attempting to introduce your hand to the Gecko and assuming you're not fortunate enough to have a Terrarium with front opening doors then then try to allow he/she to see the hand coming from as far away as possible, In other words, don't just reach in from the air above the gecko as this is seen by them as predatory behavior and instantly makes them wary.
Making sure to follow these rules you can begin the sometimes lengthy process of taming your Gecko, as I hinted at earlier this may take a very short or a very long time (likely somewhere in between) depending on the Gecko's personality and how careful you are throughout the process.
I have one Leopard Gecko for example who is now almost 10 months old and will still instantly flee to her hide at the sound of even my voice despite hearing it every night and tolerating handling itself very well. Some of them are just nervous individuals and this in most cases can still be worked with, though there are rare exceptions.
In contrast to this another Leopard Gecko I have took no taming at all, and I mean none. She came and ate from my hand the first night I placed her in her terrarium and the next morning instantly crawled onto my hand, up my arm and out of her environment and I have yet to see a single sign of fear months later, no matter what happens even her breathing doesn't elevate.
The point being Geckos can be vastly different even with the exact same care from the owner, so don't worry if things do not go as quickly as you like, some, as with humans, take time.
My advice is follow and repeat the following steps one by one until you can tell your Gecko is totally OK with what each involves.
Step 1: After you have given the Gecko between a week and two weeks to settle in to their new environment and begin functioning normally you can begin to familiarize them with your sight and sound, sit by the tank when you know they can see you and talk to them, a little softly but not too far from what they are going to hear daily from now on. This will help your new pet to realize you are not there to hunt them. Do this at night as often and for as long as you have time. A friend of mine studies and reads books aloud next to his African Fat Tail Geckos terrarium.
Step 2: Now that your Gecko is used to your presence next up is getting used to your smell and your hand being very close to them. Begin by slowly placing your hand onm the floor of their terrarium and see if they will come to investigate, this may take a long time, if this isn't working or stopped working move the hand to the door of their hide and waiting for them to come and investigate. Position it so that if your Gecko wishes to leave its hide it must walk across the hand, I always begin palm down at first for this step. I have yet to see a gecko that without due patience who wont come and at least look at the hand and see what it is, they are naturally curious. It should be noted however that as always some may take significantly longer than others to show any interest and patience WILL be required. The point here is getting the Gecko to realize that your hand is absolutely zero threat to them. The reason for them developing a real trust with your hand is to enable further taming through the next stages. So if you can wait until the Gecko walks onto your hand itself before moving forward with the next steps that is highly advised but not prerequisite.
Step 3: Once your Gecko has no fear of walking onto your hand you can begin to slowly lift it off the ground as the gecko is walking over it, do this slowly and only lift it a couple of inches at first before slowly placing it back down, this allows the Gecko to get used to the sensation.
Step 4: The next step from here is some short hand walking, lift your hand once your gecko is on it and slowly place your second hand in front of your Gecko as it begins to try to walk off the lifted hand, you can judge your Geckos comfort level with this by the speed at which it walks, if it slowly ambles from hand to hand continue to do it for 30 seconds or so, otherwise as soon as it begins to try to run allow it back to the ground by lowering your hand and keeping it in place where you lower it to until the gecko is in a secure spot again. Repeat this until you can get the Gecko to calmly walk between the hands at least 10 times or so. You may note at first it isn't even that cool with walking once, but this will improve with time.
Step 5: Next up is getting the Gecko used to not just your hand but your touch, once your gecko has become comfortable with climbing on and over your hand you can start very slowly touching it, what I did was try to gently stroke its side with a finger because I knew this would be the place it would be lifted up from when it came to handling. Generally speaking once your gecko is used to your hand and see's your touch coming it wont react badly to very light contact. Repeat this until you can tell the Gecko is not frightened by touch, try different areas such as the back and top of the head but always be gentle and avoid the tail. Mistakes here can push taming backward and not forward so pay attention and be gentle.
Step 6: The next and final step is picking your Gecko up, note I did not say grabbing your gecko, this isn't and never will be something I suggest doing, no matter the situation.
Use as many fingers as the space between your Geckos legs allow and very gently push your fingers underneath his/her belly while doing the same with your thumb from the other side, try to ensure you do not catch his or her skin if you're doing this when they are laying down. Lift the Gecko by its sides this way and place it into an open hand as soon as you can do so because unless they are fully supported they feel uncomfortable and will quickly struggle.
So that covers the basics, once you have gone through all of these stages and allowed a sufficient amount of time within each for your gecko to become accustomed the the new experiences it becomes a matter of repetition in order to fully tame your Gecko.
As a final note I cant stress enough the importance of patience and of trying to look at things for their point of view, rushing things like this with reptiles only has negative effects on their long term tolerances to handling and people in general.
Try to be aware of when your Gecko is not happy or feeling scared, quick pulsing of the throat almost always indicates increased level of fear and extra care should be taken when your Gecko is feeling this way. Likewise when they move in sudden bursts and stay deathly still between those they are behaving defensively and shouldn't be stressed further. If you are somewhat informed as to how they normally move and act you can make more effective decisions on how you behave around them and minimize the negative experiences they associate you with.
Good Luck"
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