Bullying???

[geckoinOK]

We have had our 3 leos for a little over a month now. All in all, things are going pretty well. The question we have is this, how do you know if one of the geckos is bullying the others. None of them are really losing any weight or showing any signs of fighting, but one of them (Launa) is eating a lot more than the other two and gaining weight alot faster. We only see the other two (Leia and Lana) eat occasionally when we are in the room. Every one appears very active and are always very alert at feeding time. We feed crickets most evenings and leave mealies in their bowl pretty much all the time. No one is very crazy about the mealies, but there are always a few missing everyday. Cage temps are doing well (running right around 90 in the warm end).

Thanks in advance for all the help. This board has been very helpful as we are learning the ropes!!!!!

 

[brandy101010]

If there is no weight loss and you have not witnessed any bulling or stress they are probably fine. What size tank do you have them in? are they all around the same size. is there enough hides? enough food and water dishes. I know people house multiple leos with great success. I personally keep all mine seprate except to breed.

 

[geckoinOK]

We have them in a 20 gallon long tank. There are hides in both the warm and cool ends as well as one in the middle. They are all close to the same size, the one is just slightly bigger.

 

[Stitch]

Unless they are babies, 3 adult geckos in a 20 gallon is too much. So if they aren't adults you will need to seperate them as they grow.

The one that is slightly bigger is likely the alpha gecko. Although the other two are eating the other one is probably projecting itself as the "leader". Or that paticular gecko may just be growing faster.

It's a great sign that they are all still eating. Raising them together can be done, but you must be prepaired to seperate them if it needs to be done. I personally would not want to risk the chance of one getting sick or them getting into a fight. I house all of mine seperately.

 

[LeopardLunatic]

you may just have a more aggresive eater these aggresive eaters will discourage others from eating till they are done. I personally have one in my group, I house two of them together and the one wont eat till the smaller more aggresive eater is done.I dont have any problems though because i feed alot. You can identify if you have an aggresive eater by how it eats a less aggresive eater will barely grab their food where as an aggresive eater will snag food from up to 3 inches away. Hope this helps

 

[ReptileMan27]

I would reccomend keeping a close eye on them,especially while feeding. Bullying isnt always obvious because it doesnent always involve fighting. One leo my be a little bigger or more dominate and scare the other leo from eating, and thats not obvious to spot unless you watch them closely during feeding. I always watch all my leos while eating closely.

 

[Melody]

I'm a newby - I had four juvies together and kept a watchful eye but never noticed fighting so I thought everything was fine, even tho one was outgrowing the rest. Before I knew it, one stayed waayyy smaller than the rest. I didn't realize she was so stressed because I didn't see active fighting. I pulled her from the group and unfortunately that stressed her out even more and she stopped eating altogether. I took her to the vet, he put her on a/bs (bacterial infection prob due to stress) which were really hard on her little system, hand fed her for a month but lost her anyway.

I just pulled another from that group a week ago to supplement feed with the slurry (hopefully she can catch up!), and separated the other two as well. Now all juveniles are kept separate. My older ones seem to do okay - I keep the females in groups of two (20L) and males separate in 10G.

I truly had no idea that any bullying was going on, but I now see the outcome. It wasn't visible till the littler ones failed to thrive, and the bigger ones got bigger and bigger!