Females Nipping each other

[Gymped]

in my main Breeder Tank a few of my females are biting each others sides and tails a few times a day. None of Which seem to leave wounds or any Harm, should I be worried about this behavior?

 

[Alex G]

You should separate them if there's signs of aggression.

 

[TranceZ]

Yeah, you must separate them now. It's only going to get worse.

 

[Gymped]

Has only happened the first day there were all moved from quarantine to actual breeding enclosure should I still worry? talked to several breeders they said some females display some aggression upon meeting new females but the tension should cease after a few hours-days acclimation to each other

 

[TranceZ]

How big is the tank? I would separate them just because I had experience with females fighting a while back. I introduced a new female to my breeding pair and the other female would fight the new female every time she wanted to come into the hide. It lasted about a month and didn't change.

I would keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't get seriously hurt. Fighting could also cause stress which could cause your females to stop eating.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I would separate them immediately and re-introduce in a week or so. If they are both nipping, they are both trying to be top gecko. It could turn bad quickly and a serious injury could occur. Why risk it?

 

[Thorgecko707]

It's a common dominance trait in all animals. It sounds like you introduced a new female to an existing female's enclosure?

 

[Gymped]

none of the females are above 35g the smallest being 27g. They are in a tremendous enclosure with 3 3-1 Reptile shelters from Zoomed 1 being the Large that could house probably 6 Geckos and the other 2 being the medium ones that could house 2-3 geckos. The ratio is 1 Male to 6 Females there was no territory dominance displayed to the hides after the initial nip at tails that the biggest female was giving in the first 30 min when I moved them from quarantine to the main breeding tank.

EDIT: should have said that I am setting this up as a breeding enclosure the male is 31g and was housed by himself prior to the females being added he seems to be loving life at the moment, as they all get bigger dominance could be a problem but with as many hides as I have for them it should be good haven't seen anymore nipping at all. Was told that adding them prior to Full maturity would help them acclimate better and all seems well at this point could have been initial stress pressing the one female to nip the tail of the others but it seems as though she has stopped. ALL INPUT IS APPRECIATED THOUGH, I know a decent amount about Leos and other reptiles but if I can learn something every day then I am happy. Thanks in Advance.

 

[Dog Shrink]

Personally I would have totally cleaned the community tank and done a little furniture re-arranging before introducing the lot to the tank. They all would have come back into neutral territory and that should have relieved any dominance issues an existing female in that tank might have displayed. I would seperate... detox the tank then try another reintroduction if you are hellbent on having a community breeding tank.

 

[Gymped]

personally I have never had any problems nor has my friend with his leo community breeding cage but the rearranging could help, but like I said all of the females were introduced so the male was the only one with any existing knowledge of the tank layout
also I have 2 Mealworm dishes that are fully stocked nightly and crickets amongst the cage so I do not think I will see any qualms over food

 

[robin]

none of the females are above 35g the smallest being 27g. They are in a tremendous enclosure with 3 3-1 Reptile shelters from Zoomed 1 being the Large that could house probably 6 Geckos and the other 2 being the medium ones that could house 2-3 geckos. The ratio is 1 Male to 6 Females there was no territory dominance displayed to the hides after the initial nip at tails that the biggest female was giving in the first 30 min when I moved them from quarantine to the main breeding tank.

EDIT: should have said that I am setting this up as a breeding enclosure the male is 31g and was housed by himself prior to the females being added he seems to be loving life at the moment, as they all get bigger dominance could be a problem but with as many hides as I have for them it should be good haven't seen anymore nipping at all. Was told that adding them prior to Full maturity would help them acclimate better and all seems well at this point could have been initial stress pressing the one female to nip the tail of the others but it seems as though she has stopped. ALL INPUT IS APPRECIATED THOUGH, I know a decent amount about Leos and other reptiles but if I can learn something every day then I am happy. Thanks in Advance.

ALL of the leos you have are too small to breed. they need to be a minimum of 45 grams (50-55 is better). at the size they are now egg binding and stress related deaths are common. you need to separate all of them into their own enclosures and do more research on keeping and breeding leopard geckos.

 

[Alex G]

Robin, I was just about to say that. Separate ALL the geckos, clean and rearrange the community tank, and put them all back together at the same time when they're 50 grams.

 

[LateNightGrubber]

I recently put 3 females of breeding size together, 48 to 55 grams amongst the three, and it was a 55 gallon enclosure. One of the three was nipping and barking away from the get go so I took her out. After a week, I noticed that the two left in the tank were getting along great. So I decided to not stress them out by re-introducing the other female, and she is alone and loving it in a 40 gallon by her self. Happy animals breed better in my opinion, and if you have the room it is best to house some breeders alone.

 

[roger]

seperate all animals permanently.One of them eventually will get hurt

 

[Gymped]

I have never had a female die due to being eggbound when I had leopard geckos breeders before even so I housed them together prior to proper weight, as I was told by my local herpetologist. Egg Binding is caused by irregularly large, odd shapped eggs, and or lack of Suitable Laying areas and Internal problems on the females end. I have more than sufficient egg laying room and yes the females are small but the male is not of breeding size yet and will not be able to fertilize any of the females eggs to begin with. This was just set up my Breeders prior to achieving the desired breeding weights, as the above poster said happier less stressed geckos breed better. All of the Geckos are healthy thus far if I see any loss of weight I would then move them to separate enclosures but as of now I have monitored them thru out the night and seen no more tail nipping since the initial transfer of Environments

 

[Gymped]

the only other option at my disposal is to move a few females to a 46 gallon bow front with 2-3 more 3-1 Repti Shelters or w/e they are

 

[fl_orchidslave]

in my main Breeder Tank a few of my females are biting each others sides and tails a few times a day. None of Which seem to leave wounds or any Harm, should I be worried about this behavior?

You asked and we all told you. I'm not sure why you even posted if you were not willing to accept any advice. :main_no:

 

[robin]

I have never had a female die due to being eggbound when I had leopard geckos breeders before even so I housed them together prior to proper weight, as I was told by my local herpetologist. Egg Binding is caused by irregularly large, odd shapped eggs, and or lack of Suitable Laying areas and Internal problems on the females end. I have more than sufficient egg laying room and yes the females are small but the male is not of breeding size yet and will not be able to fertilize any of the females eggs to begin with. This was just set up my Breeders prior to achieving the desired breeding weights, as the above poster said happier less stressed geckos breed better. All of the Geckos are healthy thus far if I see any loss of weight I would then move them to separate enclosures but as of now I have monitored them thru out the night and seen no more tail nipping since the initial transfer of Environments

ok don't listen. have fun. good luck in your endeavors

 

[Gymped]

well I have no option until tomorrow until i can acquire supplies for my other 2 tanks
Unless you think they would be fine in the cages with just paper towels and no water dish or food for a day or so?

 

[Gymped]

its 10 PM here in florida so earliest I could get around to setting up the other enclosure would be 12 PM EST tomorrow