One cresty bit the others face!

[yesyesthoneandonly]

So i purchased 2 crested geckos 7 months ago. They are from a different clutch and are a month apart. They are 7 and 8 months. The male is being very aggressive to the smaller female. They have grown side by side for the whole time and now he's just getting out of control.

What has me so scared is, just an hour ago the male teased the female by wagging his take infront of her and then struck at her, taking her whole muzzle in his mouth and was shaking her around. I immedietly removed him from the tank and am just sitting here like, DAMN. WTF do i do now.

Am i really just stuck with them in 2 different tanks? I was really hoping they were in love or something but he's already turned abusive, before even making it to elementary school.

My previous specialty has been dart frogs, and as simple as this sounds, if they dont like each other they jump away.

 

[yesyesthoneandonly]

I appreciate any suggestions or help, even if it's to tell me im S.O.L.

 

[Chewbecca]

OK, for one thing, first of and most importantly:

YES, they need to be housed separately.

One is a male and one is a female??? Your male is most likely trying to mate with your female (provided that you are positive on the genders), and 7 and 8 months is WAY TOO YOUNG for breeding them.
Being "in love" has nothing to do with it, unfortunately. They need to be separated before your female becomes gravid at too young of an age and too small of a size.

And that's really all I have. I thought I had other points, but if you follow that one, and separate them, the rest of what is going on will stop.

 

[darkridder]

How much do these geckos weigh? Geckos of the same age can weigh at a varied weight, so to say an age can really vary on the size of the gecko.

With that said, you could have 2 males if they are both still on the smaller side, the one may have not started showing pores yet. I had a gecko that didnt show pores until 12g, others their gecko showed pores at 15g. Pores can bloom late which is why most breeders do not label as a for sure female until 15+g as the likely hood is much less at 15g+ of it being male and not showing pores or a buldge.

Males mature faster then females, so even if you do have a 1.1 it is not in the best interest of your female to be housed with him, he will breed her as soon as he is sexually mature reguardless if she is ready to breed or not. This in turn can be deadly for her as her body is not matured enough for breeding.

Either way you need to seperate. Even adult geckos should be seperated as males will attempt to breed females all year round and the females do need a break to gain weight, and replenish their calcium.

And the type of aggression you are talking about doesnt sound like mating, it sounds more like a male trying to attack. Males will wiggle their tails, but they bite at the back legs, why go from the front when what they want is in the back, so they usually grab at the back legs to secure her as they inch up on here. Agression from the front leads me more to think you have 2 males on hand.

 

[yesyesthoneandonly]

I really appreciate your responses, i am sure of the sex of the male. lol The female still has a possibility of being male but i would seriously doubt it. I will wieght her when she wakes up. But they should both be 18+ grams each.

Does the male know the sex of the other one? before i can tell?

When they are the same size, as full adults, should i try to reintroduce him or has he proven to be too aggressive to be a cage mate?

 

[yesyesthoneandonly]

She is 24 grams and the length of 2 bic lighters. Nose to tail. So as long as she doesn't have hemopenes (sp?) by now than she is a female right? He has to be 30-32 grams, he is too fast to get on my tiny scale. She took like 5 minutes to weigh.

I still agree with you that it's not a mating thing, it does seem territorial. The fact that he tossed her around by her muzzle like a pitbull does to a tire, it hurt me to see.

I have a little animosity towards him now, you know how certain rhac's have that mean, pissed off look? He has had it his whole life. She just looks so innocent, its sad.

Does it mean anything that she always tries to sleep next to him? The temps have a gradient but she plenty of places to sleep at the same temp that he sleeps in so it's not that.

 

[darkridder]

Well she is a female then if she is 24g and no buldge or pores, but I would remover her. She is still far to small for mating, even though he seems to be more aggressive then the normal mating aggression. He may be getting ticked off as she isnt as receptive to him as he wants to her to be so he might be acting out at her.

Thse guys will sleep with one another, my girls, a few of them love to sleep next to one another, others prefer to go off on their own merry way to sleep. This doesnt run out and buy her a friend to sleep with upon seperation, but that she was comfortable seeping there.

But even if they were getting along I would still suggest seperating her. At her size if she got gravid, her body would not absorb enough calcium or keep enough weight on to be laying eggs. So I would seperate her and if you have an interest in breeding, introduce them to one another when she is no less then 35g, even larger is better. When you move her, be sure to give her an egg laying box, although she is far to small for breeding, if she does become gravid, she will need somewhere to lay, without it one she may never lay her eggs and become egg bound, lay her egs on the floor which then they would be no good by the time you get to them. Being she is a virgin they may not be good anyways, but at least it would give you a chance to learn on incubating and raising these babies before she is a cycled female laying tons of eggs and having tons of babies.

 

[yesyesthoneandonly]

good info, they were separated at soon as i saw it happen. I quickly set him up in a new tank i had lying around. I took a 15 gallon slide top and set it on it's side, standing up.

I am currently trying to find a 55 gallon tank, i am going to silicone a net partition down the center to keep them seperated with out having to create 2 separate enclosures. This will give me a good chance to build them a vivarium. This is the last one i put together. my golden gecko is in there now. I imagine it's like a palace to him.

 

[DarthGekko]

Put the female back in when she is 30+ g if you wanna breed them

 

[yesyesthoneandonly]

Yea, they mate seasonally right? So i would wait untill next year, and then i think i'll just take down the partition, and put it back up once she's gravid. I figure they will stay familiar with each other with out biting faces.

 

[goReptiles]

She's not big enough to breed, so shouldn't be kept with the male. That's a big 7 month old. Sure she's not any older? I've noticed that mine haven't reached 24 grams till at least a year and half.

 

[yesyesthoneandonly]

No the date is absolutely correct, if anything is off it's the wieght, given that she wouldn't sit still. I might have been off by 3-5 grams.

That is good info though. And i appreciate it.