Housing male + female together in 20 gal?

brendan0923 · Jan 23, 2015

Hey all,
I've had my female leo Cleopatra for a while now, and I'm thinking about getting her a partner and possibly breeding them. However, I would like to know if I can safely house them both in a 20 gal. I don't want to stress them out, but if possible I would like to keep them both in the same space. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

acpart · Jan 23, 2015

You will get differences of opinion about this. Some people will say that it's safest to house all leos separately and that it can be a real problem to house a male and a female because the male will constantly bother the female. I think it depends on the geckos. I regularly house a male and 2 females together during the breeding season (in my case, around Jan-Oct) in a 20 gallon long tank with an extra 12"x12" second level. I would imagine that a male and female gecko would do OK in a 20 gallon long as long as:
--the new gecko is properly quarantined for at least a month before putting them together
--the male gecko is able to leave the female alone for a good amount of time once he's rejected
--no one is getting bullied

So, you can try, but you have to be prepared that it may not work out and you'd have to have alternative arrangements ready.

Aliza

brendan0923 · Jan 23, 2015

Ok cool, thanks for the info. I will probably introduce him about a month or so after quarantine, and if there are no issues, I will keep them there! Thanks for the help!

cowana · Jan 24, 2015

This may be common sense, but to add to Aliza's advice... How old are your male and female? While learning about breeding Leopard Geckos I have come to understand you shouldn't breed a Leo that is under 1 year old and 50g. So unless both Leos are healthy and meet this age and weight, you should hold off on housing them together. Best of luck!

Amy

Kristi23 · Jan 25, 2015

I don't house pairs together year round. The male will constantly try to breed with the female which could be very stressful. I'm sure some people do this without issue, but I would be a bit concerned. Definitely keep an eye on them a lot. That's not a lot of space for the female to get away from the male. Also, please make sure they are breeding size before they are put together (50+ grams) and that you have studied everything on genetics and breeding. Good luck!

brendan0923 · Jan 25, 2015

Thank you for the advice everyone. I am still looking for a male (so far I'm looking at purchasing a mack snow) and will conduct further research on leopard gecko breeding and genetics before I do so. I would like to house them together, but if not I will have the proper arrangements set-up and ready to go in case things don't work out. However, I actually did not know that the male would try to breed year-round. Do they always do this? If so, is there a way to control it without separating them, or is it best to just separate them entirely?

Thanks again, you guys have been very helpful!

acpart · Jan 26, 2015

I have not found that any of the gecko species I breed (leopards, fat tails, gargoyles, Coleonyx) try to breed year round (with one Coleonyx exception). I keep the leopard geckos together during the breeding season and by July or so the males have lost interest. The other species are kept in male/female groups year-round and don't try to breed during the off season. The fat tails and gargs have just started up this past week or so after being inactive with breeding since mid-summer.

Aliza

brendan0923 · Jan 31, 2015

acpart said:
I have not found that any of the gecko species I breed (leopards, fat tails, gargoyles, Coleonyx) try to breed year round (with one Coleonyx exception). I keep the leopard geckos together during the breeding season and by July or so the males have lost interest. The other species are kept in male/female groups year-round and don't try to breed during the off season. The fat tails and gargs have just started up this past week or so after being inactive with breeding since mid-summer.

Aliza

Okay, so is there anything I can do to simulate the breeding and off seasons? Or will they figure that out on their own? I would like to just keep them together year round if possible.

acpart · Jan 31, 2015

If you keep them year round together, I would expect that the male will be more interested in the female between about Feb. and July and leave her alone the rest of the time. There's no guarantee, however. You'll have to keep an eye on them and make sure the female isn't stressed. Signs of stress would include bad sheds, losing weight, lots of scratch and bite marks.

Aliza

brendan0923 · Feb 2, 2015

acpart said:
If you keep them year round together, I would expect that the male will be more interested in the female between about Feb. and July and leave her alone the rest of the time. There's no guarantee, however. You'll have to keep an eye on them and make sure the female isn't stressed. Signs of stress would include bad sheds, losing weight, lots of scratch and bite marks.

Aliza

Ok awesome, thank you for the help.

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