Re: New Female Arrival

[blizzard]

I have a 1 year old female at around 62 grams. I am getting another female around the same age at around 70 grams. My set up is a 22 gal/ long with a humid hide and a decent size rock to hide in. I was just wondering if I should try to put them together right off the bat or if I should split the tank with a clear piece of plastic or acrylic for a while??

 

[Nigel4less]

I would definitely quarantine the animal for 60-90 days before you think about putting them together. You don't know if your new addition has disease(s) or anything like that.

 

[LadyGecko]

I agree-the "golden rule" with keeping any types of reptiles is to Quarantine them for a period of at least 30 days-some people including myself go with a 3 month Q period

I usually keep my Leos separate but if putting 2 females together of like size then I would most definitely wait at least one month before housing them together

Your two females may get along just fine but then again they may not
There can be dominance issues between two girls that can make keeping them in separate enclosures necessary

hope this helps

Sandy

 

[blizzard]

i know what quarantine means when related to humans and disease. but what do you mean and how do you do this with geckos?

 

[Nigel4less]

Just keeping them seperated, in different rooms. Getting vet exams on them.

 

[TokayKeeper]

i know what quarantine means when related to humans and disease. but what do you mean and how do you do this with geckos?

60 days observation, during which you get MULTIPLE fecal exams (3's usually good enough)

If no pests or weirdness, move to collection

If fecals come back showing animal is diseased (parasites), keep separate and follow medication schedule. After meds are finished conduct multiple fecals again. If coming back positive, repeat medicated treatment. If fecals come back negative, move to collection

2 forms of fecal exam should be conducted. A float and smear. Most vets do one over the other and the 2nd has to typically be requested. Unfortunately I'm brain farting as to which is more commonly done.

The reason why I say multiple...

In 2005 my former boss took on a snake via donation. She questioned the health of the snakes and called me over to her house (where she was quarantining it) to visually look it over. It looked fine to me. We moved it to our place of work where we kept it quarantined there. The initial fecal exam tested positive for coccidia and pinworm. We treated and did a fecal exam after treatment. Coccidia was killed off, but still tested positive for pinworm. While talking to KelliH about this, Steve mentioned to have a 2nd fecal exam done while treating for the pinworms a 2nd time. Taking their advice I did...fecal resulted in positive test for pinworm and positive test for tapeworm! Tapeworm never came up on previous fecal exams. Tapeworm was treated with droncit (1/4 tablets) on a cycle of 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks. Ran 3 fecals again, came back positive for 1+ tapeworm segment. Treated AGAIN, 1 week, 2 week, 4 week, ran 2 fecals, and came back clean.

also take into consideration some parasites (such as pinworm or tapeworm) are zoonotic; meaning they can be transferred from animal to human! ALWAYS wear gloves (latex, neoprene, etc) when handling new animals and always thoroughly wash your hands with hottest tolerable water after handling - whether wearing gloves or not. Cross contamination is easy to do and hard to un-do.