Introducing two female leos

[forgivenick]

I have a female sunglow in a 30 gal tank and have had her for about a month. She is about 6 months old.
We recently got another female that is about the same weight, but a little longer and older, about 8 months old.
I introduced the newer, older female into the 30 gal tank today and found that the younger one who has been housed in that tank for a month was very aggressive. She chased the new female around the tank biting her and wouldn't let go of her tail until I grabbed the aggressor and she let go of the tank. The new one which was bitten doesn't appear to have any physical injuries, but is very frightened. The older, aggressive one appears to have a small laceration on her wrist now.
I read that the females usually would be curious, lick and as long as they were the same size, be just fine with each other. I saw the curious look, the lick and thought they would hit it off as the younger female who had been in the cage for a month ran away right after the lick introduction. The new female who is older was really sweet. She was obviously being submissive and put her head down, showed her side to the younger female and licked her. The aggressive female actually was scared when licked and darted off to the opposite side of the cage. The new female very slowly followed her and once they met again, biting and chasing and more biting ensued.
I searched various forums and web pages on female introductions and aggression and found that you should introduce them on neutral ground (a tank neither has lived in yet)?

Any advice on what to do now? My original plan was to house a group of females in the 30 gal tank and then introduce a male for breeding, keeping him and/or other females in a rack system I plan to house hatchlings in. Now I am wondering if this aggressive girl will live out the rest of her days in the rack (maybe never breed if she is like this to a male also) and I wonder if the other female will trust other geckos from here on out as well.

Sorry for the long post, but I am a little bit stressed at the moment, as are the geckos obviously, and I was hoping someone would be able to lend some advice or an opinion or their experiences if I laid it all out on the forum. Thanks in advance.
Nick

 

[DrCarrotTail]

While I don't think its the best idea to keep geckos housed together since they are relatively solitary creatures and living together and playing dominance games can stress them...

I would assume that the established female views the tank as HER territory and is defending it against the new gecko intruder. It may not work, but if you break down the cage and clean and everything so the first gecko's scent isn't all over it and rearrange the layout you may have better luck. Another idea might be to introduce them both to a box in your rack and see if they get along better on neutral ground there before transferring them back into the 30 gallon tank a few days later. I might still clean and rearrange the 30 gallon either way.

It may also turn out that your first gecko is simply unsocial and won't tolerate other females in her personal space. In that case they'll have to be housed separately for good. I wouldn't, however, lose hope about her accepting a male since nature may call and she may change her mind when she's ovulating

 

[forgivenick]

Thanks Doc.
That sounds like good advice. I am trying to just let both of them chill out and de-stress for the next week and will disturb them in their separate enclosures as little as possible.
Anyone else have any advice?

 

[GeckoCrossing]

Quarantine separately for 90 days before introducing any new leopard gecko to one you've had.

 

[GodzillaGecko]

I found when working with reps that have done the same thing. The best way to clean the tank would be vinegar. Use a vinegar solution and clean the tank to kill the scent. It won't cause any harm to your rep. You don't have to bathe the tank in it. Just clean everything with it. the water down part is to help keep the vinegar smell from being to potent also lol the smell goes away after a few days so no worries.

 

[mango+cola]

I have 2 female leo's that live together. First, it is very important to Quarantine any new gecko for 3 months, as GeckoCrossing mentioned. Your newest addition might have health issues that you can't see yet, and you can put your older gecko in danger by putting them together without a proper quarantine period. We introduced our geckos in nuteral territory outside of a tank, so they weren't trapped together. I held one gecko and my boyfriend held the other and we just let them crawl around as usual and every so often they would cross paths and neither minded that the other was present. Then when they were ready to be housed together and we knew they got along, we bought a new tank neither had lived in before and put them in the tank at exactly the same time so neither had territory issues. It is also important to have enough hides for 2, we have 2cool hides, 2 warm hides and 1 moist hide which they dont mind sharing, and they actually are both usually in the same hide anyways. So, it can be done successfully, but it has to be done properly or you could put both of them in danger.