Keeping Two Together?

[Ishenferi]

Hello Everyone!

So in November I got two Crested Geckos that were only a week old. During that week they were housed together, and since bringing them home I've been keeping them housed together in a small plastic critter keeper until they grow larger. I'm hoping in the next few months to move them to a larger glass terrarium, complete with live plants and mossy substrates, the works. However, I'm a little concerned before making that investment. I have no idea what sex they are, they were both just bred by a friend who was trying it for the first time. Thus far there hasn't been much in the way of problems, but once I did catch one nipping at the other. I separated them to different sides of the tank and have been watching them since, roughly three months. Since then I haven't seen anymore nipping, and they often sleep together during the day, separating at night to roam around the critter keeper. Is their current behavior indicative of future behavior, or are all bets off with their maturation in a few months?

 

[ballpythoncrazy]

Keeping reptiles together is never a good idea as most are solitary creatures. You also don't know what gender they are, so when they reach maturity and turn out to be opposite genders they will breed to death. If they are both male they will fight to the death. And since they've already been nipping at each other it could always happen again, and could result in a full on fight and one could end up seriously injured or dead. Just because it hasn't happened in a while doesn't mean it won't ever happen again.

Separate.


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[Ishenferi]

Keeping reptiles together is never a good idea as most are solitary creatures. You also don't know what gender they are, so when they reach maturity and turn out to be opposite genders they will breed to death. If they are both male they will fight to the death. And since they've already been nipping at each other it could always happen again, and could result in a full on fight and one could end up seriously injured or dead. Just because it hasn't happened in a while doesn't mean it won't ever happen again.

Separate.


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Okay, I'll definitely plan on doing that. Should it happen immediately? They're currently 4 months and 3 weeks old. How soon can I have them sexed, and would you recommend keeping them together if it turns out they're both females? I really want to have the two happiest cresties I can, so if that means keeping them apart I'll work on that now.

 

[ballpythoncrazy]

The sooner the better. Especially if one is bigger than the other (considering the age difference). The bigger one will try to establish dominance OR may even try and eat the smaller one. Crested geckos are known for cannibalism. Reptiles are solitary creatures so keeping them together only causes unnecessary stress. They don't develop feelings of friendship, so if you want them to be the happiest they can be you'll want to separate them as soon as possible, no matter what gender they turn out to be.


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