Sharing Enclosures!?

[LizMarie]

I'm getting the Leo bug once again and I want another one! I'm thinking Mack Snow OR a little Normal but I'd like a male since I never had one and don't want it to go off food for months because of ovulation, :main_no: . I really wanted a Beardie but I have NO space at the moment so thats going to have to wait. I have one of two options buy stackable Visionariums (might get one either way because I like the sliding front doors since I have shelves right about the tank and it's a pain to open and close the top with out breaking something or hurting myself :main_laugh but they are expensive OR take a 20gallon long and divide it down the middle and make custom styrofoam set thinger that has a second level, hides, tunnels, built into it or something similar, because placing my girl with another leo is NOT an option in my book.

I just have a few concerns about placing them so close together. Lets take the second option of splitting the 20gallon and me getting a boy. What happens when she's "ready" to breed? I would imagine that he will sense it so how would he react? Would he go off food? Should there be something I should be worried about? Will she be stressed just knowing and sensing that he's right next door?

If I get another one and decide to split the tank do I still need to quarantine it in another tank? Will the parasites/bugs/etc. be able to crawl on over to the other side and infect my girl?

I have many of the same questions for tank that are stacked on top of eachother.

Can anyone shed some light on my concerns, since I'm leaning towards the splitting of the tank but umm not 100% sold with my paranoia and concerns in the way.

 

[acpart]

Personally I think it would be best to quarantine the new one in a totally separate enclosure since maintaining a real quarantine would be difficult with them so close. A 20 gallon split still doesn't give each gecko much space and it's also difficult to fit a second level in something that size. A cheaper option would be one of the following:
--get a 20 gallon stand that would hold 2 tanks, each on a shelf (I actually have something like this with a 20 long on the top shelf and 2 front-opening 20's on the bottom shelf)
--check out glasscages.com for their stackable cages. They are cheaper than their front opening (sliding door) cages. The stackable ones have hinged front openings. I use the "half 29's" which are 30"x12"x8"high. They aren't advertised on the site, but they'll make them. Originally I had mine stacked by putting velcro on the top of the bottom one and on the bottom of the top one but it got way too humid. Now I have them sitting on top of each other with wooden dominoes at each corner as spacers

Don't worry too much about ovulation, breeding and eating. If they're in the same room it's likely that they will smell each other and react accordingly, but some geckos don't change their behavior during breeding season. I just let them do what they're going to do and don't worry too much. One of my males varies during the year between 90-115 grams depending on the season.

I think you could do a better quarantine job with stacked tanks. There is always the option of making a temporary quarantine tank by using one of those plastic Faunariums (the largest size). It's relatively cheap.

ALiza

 

[LizMarie]

Thanks Aliza.

Do you have any pics of your tanks from glass cages? Do you remember how much those stackable tanks were? Were they made of glass or acrylic? My only issue would be shipping, ugh.. it kills me everytime.

 

[Alusdra]

Ditto on keeping them completely separate during your quarantine. Different tanks absolutely, different rooms if possible.

I would still say, though, if you are maybe going to get more geckos in the future and space is limited... a male might not be the best. I house my females together with no problem- you just have to feed them either with tongs or in a separate enclosure so you can make sure everyone is eating enough (with weighing weekly or biweekly, too). Males really HAVE to be all by themselves, and that extra tank is unavoidable. Boys have their own problems, too- like prolapsing hemipenes.

The Visionarium cages ROCK, definitely, and you can have up to 4 girls in there (though 2-3 is probably better, 1 luxurious).

 

[acpart]

Thanks Aliza.

Do you have any pics of your tanks from glass cages? Do you remember how much those stackable tanks were? Were they made of glass or acrylic? My only issue would be shipping, ugh.. it kills me everytime.

I can send you a picture if you send me your email because I'm running out of room here. The half 29's were $35 which I think is a great deal. The screen cover was $10. Glass cages does a lot of deliveries all over the country. If you check their site, you may find that they will be in your area at some point. That's how I get my cages. They are made of glass.

Aliza

 

[LizMarie]

Ditto on keeping them completely separate during your quarantine. Different tanks absolutely, different rooms if possible.

I would still say, though, if you are maybe going to get more geckos in the future and space is limited... a male might not be the best. I house my females together with no problem- you just have to feed them either with tongs or in a separate enclosure so you can make sure everyone is eating enough (with weighing weekly or biweekly, too). Males really HAVE to be all by themselves, and that extra tank is unavoidable. Boys have their own problems, too- like prolapsing hemipenes.

The Visionarium cages ROCK, definitely, and you can have up to 4 girls in there (though 2-3 is probably better, 1 luxurious).

I'm scared to house her with another gecko because when I adopted her from Nick she was housed with a few other girls and wasn't eating much and gaining weight like she was suppose to. A week after she was shipped over her and by herself she almost doubled in size. Just by appearance not grams because I don't have a scale. So i always wondered whether or not she's the type of gecko that stresses when others are around, ya know. And I don't exactly want to experiment either.

 

[Alusdra]

That's why you feed separate or by hand. But some geckos are just like that, it's true. Though in your case I would imagine that it was because she was still growing. Not eating is a big problem in subadult geckos and gaining weight, once they're fully grown not really a big deal (especially if you feed not in just a bowl).