Adding New Female to Established Male/Female

[cowana]

Hi, I'm new here so I hope I'm asking this in the right area. I have a male/female pair, Cheech (F) & Chong (M), that I have had for about 3 months now. They are not currently breeding, but when the time comes I don't want Chong driving Cheech crazy to the point the stress drives her crazy and effects her health. Right now, they get a long like a charm. Cheech loves Chong. She runs to him whenever she is frightened and crawls on top of him. Totally adorable. LOL

My question is they share a 40 gallon breeder and I want to know the best way to integrate the new female. Also, I have been told to get a gecko the same size, but Cheech & Chong are different sizes. (They were already living together when I got them). Do I get one the size of my female (the smaller one) or my male? I want to make the transition as harmonious as possible.

Thanks!

https://vimeo.com/114396451

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[cowana]

Chong is the Hypo Tangerine Male.


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[DrCarrotTail]

First, when you get a new gecko of any kind or size its always a good idea to quarantine them away from your healthy geckos in a separate tank for 30-60 days. If the new gecko has any parasites or diseases you'll be able to catch it before they make your other geckos sick.

To introduce a new female I would take everything out of the tank and bleach it all accessories and the tank in order to get the scent of the other geckos off and make it feel less like "their" territory. Then rearrange everything when you put it back in and introduce all of the geckos to the "new" clean tank at the same time. Sometimes they'll be fine with one another sometimes they won't accept a new gecko no matter what you do. I'd get one as close to the size of the other two as possible. Size differences can cause fights or just lead to more serious injuries for the smaller one if there is a fight.

 

[cowana]

I was planning on doing a quarantine and cleaning the tank. Rearranging everything is a really smart idea.

However there is a size difference between the two I already have so I'm not sure which I should try to match more evenly in size. :-( The male is about an inch longer than my female, but I would say he weights 1.5x as much as she does. Unfortunately, I don't have a scale yet to get exact weights on them.

Since, I am getting another female would it be better to try to match her more to my current females length and weight?


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