Territory marking......

[GeckoJunkie]

Have any of you witness this? Or has anyone ever written anything on this with leopard geckos? I have a story and a small test to tell about but I will wait and see what everyone else has to say on the subject. Give me your thoughts or what you have witnessed.

 

[Grinning Geckos]

Males do for sure! That what the pores are there for. If you put a male in a clean container, he'll wipe his vent area to mark it with his scent. Take him out, and put it a new male, and that male will mark over the first male. Something interesting I've noticed is each male has a unique way to wipe. Brimstone keeps his head in place and moves his butt in a 1/2 circle back and forth (making a U). Ozzy lets his back legs go limp to get a really good smear. I could go on, but I think you get the point. LOL

 

[LadyGecko]

I've seen this behavior too-defintely "a male thing"

LOL

Sandy

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

ditto...

 

[GeckoMandi]

Males triple ditto

 

[GeckoJunkie]

LOL....thats kinda what I had wanted was a little feed back.

The other evening while cleaning some of the cages I moved a single male into a cage where another male had been housed for just a few minutes while cleaning his cage. i had noticed the first male "marking" his territory but thought nothing about it. I havent ever read anything on it so didnt think it that important. Well when I reached back into the cage to removed said male I must have startled him as he turned and bite into my thumb. He released almost immediately as if he knew he had biten into something other than what he expected. I think he was in process of "marking" over the previous males scent and was so involved in it that he never heard me open the cage. Then when something touch him I think he thought it was the other male that he was smelling.
Well after I put him back into his now clean cage he spent the next hour "marking" that cage. I just wanted to know if it was a fluke or if others had witnessed anything like that. It makes sense to me now them having the pores and all but before this I had never given it any thought. Anyway i just found it interesting.