40 Breeder Too Big For One Gecko?

[cowana]

I currently have my male (Chong) and female (Cheech) in a 40 gallon breeder. They are both approximately 5-6 months old and have lived together since before I got them 4 months ago. I plan on taking Chong out in the very near future (I'm completing his 18qt tub this weekend hopefully) since they are too young to breed. Eventually, I will reintegrate them but not until they are over a year. Will Cheech be okay in the 40 by herself? Or is it too big? I have another female (Chima) of the same size and age, I plan to put in with Cheech once Chima finishes her quarantine in about 6 weeks. If Cheech needs it, I will make her a tub also, until I can introduce my two girls. I eventually plan to have all 3 of them live together in my 40 gallon.

Thanks!

Amy

 

[Neon Aurora]

If Cheech is accustomed to the 40, then she will be fine by herself. And yes, I would separate them as soon as possible. As for adding another female, just be aware that it doesn't always work. You'll need to watch closely for signs of fighting or bullying. You'll need to always keep an eye out, because sometimes even geckos that have lived together for a long time can stop getting along. It's my personal opinion that keeping a male with females year-round is problematic and stressful to the females. When breeding season comes around, males can be very persistent and it puts extra stress on the females, especially combined with the stress on the body of being gravid and laying eggs. Also, with two gravid females, you could end up not knowing which eggs came from which females. Do you plan to breed? You could end up with quite a lot of eggs with a set up like this, since the male is able to continuously mate the females throughout the entire season.

If you did want to house multiple geckos together, you would need to have multiples of each type of hide (warm, cool, moist) and take extra care that they are each getting enough food. Little colonies are possible, but it does take a lot more monitoring and you should probably have places you can move them if they need to be separated.

 

[stager]

love the names Cheech should be fine in Her self unless she tries smoking some of those artificial plants

 

[cowana]

I do plan to breed them eventually and other Leos on a hobby level. But they aren't mature enough and I'm not ready myself yet. I am still expanding my knowledge on genetics, identifying morphs, etc. I have had herps most of my life but am still pretty new to LGs. I want to be able to focus on quality over quantity, and what is best for them.

I have being weighing out the colony thing for awhile, and this weekend built a rack system that right now only has a few rows of 18qts, but also room for shoeboxes for the babies come time. Chong moved into the rack until time to reintegrate him, but I gave him a "double wide" tub since he was used to a 40B. I think I still want to do the colony thing, but I will be prepared to separate if needed. I plan to keep him with 2 females minimum and 3 maximum so he isn't pestering one constantly.

My 40B has 7 hides in it currently, of which 2 are moist hides. Plus there are plants and things Cheech and Chong like to sometimes sleep behind, so not too worried about hides. Ha I can always add more moist hides as needed, also. I also know I will need to do through cleaning/sanitization of the tank and all decor, as well as rearrange whenever adding new Leos to reduce territorial issues and stress.

I do daily gecko checks where I take them out to inspect all my geckos for illness or injury, plus a weekly weigh in. Then usually get them out once or twice a night to play/bond and most nights I will either hand or tong feed them, out of their mealworm bowl. They're spoiled! Since I tended to be nocturnal we keep close to the same schedule and can monitor their activity pretty well.

Is it normal for geckos to act like they "miss" their cage mate? Since being separated Cheech and Chong both have been pacing and searching their tanks quite a bit. They typically were always together in their tank...curled up in the same hide, eating or drinking out of the dishes together, etc. I haven't seen this when separating other herps before?

Amy

 

[cowana]

Thanks! Cheech and Chong just seemed to fit them. Ha. If any of my Leos were to experiment it would be Cheech. She is my little adventurous, carefree girl!

 

[cowana]

Looks like I may have eggs sooner than I wanted anyway. I took in a posdibly gravid High Yellow her Tremper female yesterday that may be gravid. I'm really worried for her as she is too young and small. [emoji20] I currently have her in quarantine.

I posted some questions under Breeding and Incubation if anyone can give me some advice if this happens to be the case. Please and Thanks!

 

[lisa127]

I don't think they would really miss each other. The pacing is probably from just a change in environment.

I have two males named Bert and Ernie!

 

[stager]

Thanks! Cheech and Chong just seemed to fit them. Ha. If any of my Leos were to experiment it would be Cheech. She is my little adventurous, carefree girl!

No problem unless she moves on to harder thing like sniffing calcium powder.