I want another

[Jordycakes]

So im have 2 leopard geckos atm one male one female living away from eachother, and i want to get another female to go with my other female which is about 4months.
In order to get another female to live with her do i need the same ages/sized
and will they fight at all and if they do will they stop fighting after awhile?

thanks Jordan

 

[LeopardShade]

I would actually recommend not housing geckos together, due to a multitude of reasons. Sure,it can certainly be done, but there are lot of things to keep in mind to ensure the health of both geckos, including proper quarantine, being around the same age/size/weight, enough room, food competition, dominance, possible fighting, increased risk of infection transmission, etc. All these factors need to be carefully monitored if you are going to house multiple goals together.

I believe that leopard geckos are healthiest and most content being housed individually, alone.

 

[Jordycakes]

You are right in every way i wont do it.
Thanks for the reply

 

[mango+cola]

I think it really depends. I am currently in the process of merging my 2 female geckos into one tank. So first, my newest gecko was in quarantine for 3 months to make sure that she did not have any diseases that could be transferred to my older gecko. Once my newest gecko got to a decent size (she is now 50g) we introduced her to our older gecko to make sure that they didn't fight (usually if they don't like each other you will know straight away, its not something that usually happens over time). So now we know they get along, we are just waiting for her to get a little bit bigger because our older gecko is over 80g, so when they are roughly the same size we are going to get a bigger tank so they can live together. Its important for them to be the same size so one doesnt assume dominance over the other.

Also we are getting a new tank so neither of them have already claimed their territory.

Our reason for putting them together is because I think they are happier in pairs, obviously alot of people would disagree with that, but thats just my opinion.

 

[katie_]

Yeah, I disagree with that one there.
Its not a debatable theory that they enjoy being in pairs. Its just not true. The fact is that leopard geckos are solitary animals in the wild, and housing them together for our convenience must put some form of stress on one, or both. The AMOUNT of stress is whats debatable here.

OP, if you want to get another leopard gecko, go for it! You'll just have to get a new tank too

 

[mango+cola]

Yeah, I disagree with that one there.
Its not a debatable theory that they enjoy being in pairs. Its just not true. The fact is that leopard geckos are solitary animals in the wild, and housing them together for our convenience must put some form of stress on one, or both. The AMOUNT of stress is whats debatable here.

OP, if you want to get another leopard gecko, go for it! You'll just have to get a new tank too

I understand your reasoning, and they are generally solitary animals in the wild but that is in the wild (and generally due to resource competition). There are plenty of people who regularily keep geckos together successfully, and so long as the conditions are controlled there is no reason for undue stress. While it must be controlled carefully and there will be some added stress (as there would be with any two creatures living together...human or reptile) this stress (stress is healthy in the right amount) also acts as a stimulant for the geckos, encouraging physical excercise and interaction which they are often deprived of in captivity.

So this issue of whether they enjoy contact with other creatures is completely debateble, and so long as it is supervised there is no reason why it has to be detrimental and can indeed be argued as beneficial to their value of life. Until one of us can speak gecko and ask a acedemically sized sample of geckos whether they enjoy contact with other creatures, (regardless of how we percieve their stress) we will have to assume both sides as debateable and only an OPINION developed by a perception based on human stress symptoms.