Cannabalism

[beanx]

A Few days ago my fiancee checks the baby enclosure and finds 1 of our beautiful SHCTB hatchings dead, with another one of our baby's hanging out of his mouth. I'm guessing the one with the other in its mouth choked on the other one and died. Has anyone ever heard of this before? The babies were clutch mates thats the only reason they were stored together. The babies were also hand fed daily with baby meal worms. Really disappointing the SHCTB was a beautiful baby... Just curious if anyone has seen anything like this before, the geckos were less than a month old...

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Oh my!!! I just talked to another person who has had 2 babies eaten by their clutchmates! I have never seen or heard of this before... I'm so sorry you lost both babies!!!!

 

[RepBex]

thats shocking

i have never heard of that before

 

[Baoh]

I've seen this occur in a pet shop with what I would consider substandard conditions. A shame.

 

[beanx]

like i said, it makes no since, the babies along with my other adults are all hand fed daily and have a bowl of food in the cage just incase. It was really shocking :-\

 

[gage]

i have never ever heard of that happening sorry for your loss that is so strange

 

[beanx]

yeah, i wont be housing babies together anymore thats for sure. Really Really Disapointing, both babies had amazing color and i was really excited about them. Oh well i guess

 

[puppiesandkitties]

That is sad and messed up.

That is very upsetting, especially to see something like that.

I heard of bigger leos eating smaller leos, but never two of the same size doing that.

Some species are known for eating their siblings after birth, but I doubt the leo, or else, it would be in leo books.

Looks like I won't be housing my hatchlings together, if I ever get a live one that makes it out the egg. Don't wanna risk or see it.

 

[Kristi23]

Wow! I'm so sorry.

 

[beanx]

thanks for the support you guys, it really effected my fiancee the most, she loved them like they were her own babies. I guess i know now not to house them together now, and hopefully others will separate their babies and wont have to go through what we did.

This is the picture of the one that ate the other one. He was beautifull, and our first ever baby...

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

The only thing I can suggest is to keep a bowl of mealworms down at all times for your babies, and if possible, house them separately. Babies should be fed daily, and perhaps 'hand feeding' them is not giving them the instinctive preditory gratification they need?

 

[Bling_my_leo]

That is sad. If I were you, I would keep the hatchlings apart from now on.

 

[beanx]

yeah i plan on keeping them apart from now on. I always would leave a bowl with mealworms in the cage. The reason for the hand feeding was to just make sure that they all got enough to eat everyday and that 1 didnt end up eating up all of the food. But i guess its just a lesson learned. :-\

 

[fallen_angel]

I am so terribly sorry to hear about this, I have never heard of such a thing either!! We keep clutchmates housed together for the first few weeks, too.. that's very scary and heartbreaking

 

[Halley]

That is crazy, I’m very sorry.

 

[Morph]

wow !

i've never heard of that happening with babies. im so sorry for your loss wish you the best

 

[Stitchex]

That Leo you posted a pic about has LP on the tail...weird...
edit: Oh...sorry, I didn't read the post, but just went right to the picture! That is so sad, never heard of that happening before =(

 

[GeckoGathering]

yeah i plan on keeping them apart from now on. I always would leave a bowl with mealworms in the cage. The reason for the hand feeding was to just make sure that they all got enough to eat everyday and that 1 didnt end up eating up all of the food. But i guess its just a lesson learned. :-\

WoW, Sorry to hear this. I never heard or even suspected the same size could get that kind of a job done. *********and yes, it is a lesson learned.............FOR ALL OF US. Again sorry for your losses. the one pictured was a real looker.

 

[beanx]

kinda off topic, are you really from terre haute indiana? I wasnt aware there was any breeders around here, how many geckos do u have??

 

[spykerherps]

I know you said they were clutch mates but did not say they were the same size . Were they at lest close in size?.