Is it alright to house 2 baby leos together

[Rex Taylor]

This is a question I've been trying to find a solid answer to for a few days. I recently bought a baby leopard gecko from a pet store up here, named Echo, hes/shes very healthy but has one issue, Echo has been in the hot spot hide ever since i got him/her. I've only seen Echo come out once to eat, but since then i've never seen it out unless i remove the hide, but then she/he will just follow it when i move it around. One thing i've heard to make Echo feel more relaxed and less stressed is to have another baby with him/her. This is because Echo was raised with other baby Leos, so it might be it feels nervous due to not having other geckos around. My family has had leopard geckos in the past, and they were kept together and did well with one another, from baby to adult. So would this potentially help Echo, and would they be able to stay together in a large enough enclosure?
Any and all advise is greatly appreciated.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Honestly, no. Leopard geckos are solitary animals and typically do better when housed alone. Housing two together will probably increase stress levels.

Also, many pet stores do not know the sex of the babies. If Echo turns out male and your other baby also turns out male, they will kill each other. A male and a female will mate. A female and female can get along, but don't always. Leopard geckos often grow at very individual rates and a larger gecko will often take advantage of and bully a smaller one.

Another thing to mention is that babies can kill each other as well. There was a thread here a while back about someone who had one of their older babies escape its tub and made its way into a smaller baby's tub and killed it.

Echo will do best raised alone. It's best not to remove the hide, as this will cause stress to your gecko. They're nocturnal so you often won't see them at all during the day and they want to hide.

EDIT: Realized you already have your set up posted and have received some tips on what you can improve about it. Doing that may help. Also, as far as stress level goes, that tank you have looks pretty large. If this gecko is a baby, the size of the tank may be stressful for him/her.

 

[Rex Taylor]

Okay thank you. I was just worried since I've only seen Echo out once since I got him/her. I was just worried that Echo was hiding due to the lack of other Leos. Even though this isn't the same post, I had a question about the lighting situation, do Leos actually need the UVB, or do they have a different way of getting what they need from it?

 

[Neon Aurora]

It's a good question. =) Leopard geckos don't get lonely. It's best to try not to personify them, as they are very different from us. Simple animals with basic survival instincts. They can really be quite brutal to each other.

As for lighting, no, leos don't need UVB. In fact, UV lights can be dangerous to them. They're nocturnal and don't naturally experience very much sunlight. Too much UV can give them sunburns and eye damage (they have extremely sensitive eyes, designed for seeing in very low light conditions). The reason many animals need UV light is because we use it to synthesize vitamin D in our bodies. Vitamin D is needed in order to process calcium and build bone structures. Vitamin D is one of the supplements that leopard geckos need. So instead of getting vitamin D by synthesizing it in UV light, they just get it in powder form in captivity. Leopard geckos need vitamins (including D and A amongst others) and calcium supplemented by dusting their feeders. This can be accomplished with either 3 separate supplements (calcium without D3, calcium with D3, and vitamins) or an all in one supplement powder (like Repashy Calcium Plus, which is what I use).

 

[Rex Taylor]

OK thank you, should I also remove the day time lamp and just use ceramic heaters for the day and night in order to keep Echo warm, or is the day time light good on a timer to shut off at night and use a ceramic heater for the night?

 

[Neon Aurora]

If your air temperatures drop below 60-65, then yes, a low wattage ceramic heat bulb would be better than a heat lamp. However, it's okay to use daytime lights (although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it) if you can provide your gecko with very dark places to hide and get away from the light. These would be hides that are completely enclosed except for a small opening. Don't use night lamps, though. Leopard geckos can see both blue and red light and it will mess with their day/night cycle. If you need extra heat for both day and night you're probably better off using a ceramic heater.

I would recommend buying a lamp dimmer to control the amount of heat being emitted by the ceramic heater/heat lamp. Honestly temps that are too hot are more dangerous than temps that are too cold.

 

[Rex Taylor]

Thank you, the hide on the warm side is basically as you described, its completly dark in there and the day light is hooked to a timer, ill go to the store tomorrow to get the ceramic heat lamp and moniter the temp for the night. Thank you for all the help.

 

[Neon Aurora]

You're very welcome!

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I have tried housing hatchlings together with some success. Most seem to do well up until they hit about 8g. However, I had one 4g baby eat a 3g baby - no exaggeration. I was floored. Never in a million years would I have thought two hatchlings of such similar size could harm each other so much! I've also had two babies lose tails because of aggression. Needless to say, I no longer house leopard geckos together at all except for a few groups of adults during the breeding season. IMO better safe than sorry.

 

[acpart]

I do continue to keep clutch mates together, but separate them if there gets to be a size difference or if one isn't thriving (or has some kind of deformity). In 12 years I had one hatchling lose part of a tail once.
I should mention, as far as Echo staying in the hide all the time, it's normal for young hatchlings to seclude themselves most of the time as a defense mechanism from the wild so they don't end up being someone's dinner.

Aliza