This is why Leopard Geckos should be house seperately

sunshinegeckos

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1,683
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Clearwater, FL
I have 2 leopard geckos that are housed together but I have always taken them out seperately to feed them. They got along fine (they are both juveniles). I have had them that way since I got them a couple months ago. Last night it was late and I got lazy ( I freely admit I was stupid) and decided to hand feed them while both were in the cage. I fed the one because he/she always likes to eat first. When he was finished (when he refused anymore food) I went to feed my other one. The minute she took a worm he tried to grab it out of her mouth. I quickly pushed him back and he attacked my hand and the feeding tongs. When I went to grab the other one out of the tank he took a swipe at her tail. Luckily neither one has any marks but it scared me half to death. I then quickly made up another tank and seperated them. I just wanted to share my story for those that ask if they can house their geckos together. I feel so bad because it was all my fault and I made a stupid mistake which could have caused serious harm to my geckos who I love so much. From now on every one of them will be seperately housed.
 

AmberJean86

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Wisconsin
Is it maybe because they were always fed seperate? And never learned a feeding pattern type of thing? My three are very young yet, but all eat together, so maybe growing up with this will prevent such an outburst.
 

sunshinegeckos

New Member
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Clearwater, FL
I think it has more to do with one has recently gotten larger then the other. It was time to seperate. They both were housed with other geckos and fed together before i bought them. I seperated to feed them so i can control how much each were eating because they were underweight when i got them. I also wanted to prevent the very thing that happened. I learned my lesson.
 
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Pinky81

New Member
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1,100
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Wisconsin
There are many variables in this situation. What size tank, how big each leo is, temperment etc. If they truely are Male and Female, that could be a big reason why this happened. Keeping Leo's housed together is alway going to be a risk. Glad you learned they weren't good tank mates without any injuries!!
 

lillith

lillith's leo lovables
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Land of the Rain and Trees, WA
You made an observation and took appropriate action. yay!

I do think cohousing does depend on the geckos involved, and whether or not they were raised together. But it sounds like in this case, one was starting to become a bully.

I'm glad no one was hurt in your discovery, too.
 

sunshinegeckos

New Member
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1,683
Location
Clearwater, FL
Thanks for making me feel a little better. Yes there are a lot of variables. Some can live together fine and others cant. Mine did fine for the past 2 months I have had them until tonight. I guess what I was just meaning was that you always need to keep an eye on it because at anytime one can get aggressive. Jack is actually ended up being a girl so they are both female. I think it came down to Jack was getting bigger faster. There is now a 5 gram difference. Lesson learned. Thank God I had an extra set up ready for an emergancy.

oh and they were in a 20 gal long each had their own humid/warm hide and cold hide in case they got fed up with each other lol and both are about the same age but just recently Jack started gaining more weight.
 

Thorgecko707

THORGECKO
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Northern California
The only problem with giving each their own hide is that they may still fight for the best piece of real-estate. Multiple animals housed together will always cause some problem at some point. Mine have decided who eats first and who gets which part of the 40 breeder.
 

OnlineGeckos

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1,407
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SoCal
I have 2 juvies probably 3-4 months old, they do just fine any other time other than feed time. Food seems to bring out the aggressive parts of them occasionally. I used to just drop mealworms in and just observe who eats them first and such. But have noticed if they are both going for the same mealworm, that's when they get feisty.

To solve that I separate them, still in the same tank but I make sure they're a bit apart. Then I drop mealworms in there one by each of them rather quickly so they're both busy chomping on the mealworms to worry about the other one. They get full rather quickly and by the time they're full, they aren't even interested in another's mealworms.

Works so far. They've been raised together but I have no idea of their sex yet, so I keep checking to see hints of a male. None so far, so I'm crossing my fingers :)
 

LeoMerlin

New Member
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292
Location
Southern USA
I guess some can live together and some can't, I know males get aggressive, especially if there's two males. But again, I suppose like everyone else is saying, it depends on how they were brought up. I'm just going to stick with the one leo for now, he's spoiled enough as it is, spoiling two could be an issue, though I wouldn't mind having another one down the road some time, but definitely in its own tank :)
 

Adinar

New Member
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1,275
Location
Elizabethville, PA
You did exactally the right thing, kudos to that. Luckily you were there to actually see the bullying and to put a stop to it right away.

Don't feel bad about it, some people have luck housing their animals together, others don't. I for one never had any luck. We tried it on three seperate occasions. Twice we stopped the bullying, and only once did it come down to one loosing a tail to suspected bullying (we don't know for sure, but it's possible.)

Having that extra set up just in case was a smart thing to do, it never hurts to have extra supplies on hand for emergencies like that or if you happen to see another leo that catches your eye. ;)

Again, good job.
 

cinderbirdswing

sticky toes
Messages
62
Location
Burtonsville MD
I have some geckos (fats or leos) that can handle being cohabited, and some that can't. It really depends on the individual geckos. I actually have one fattail that gets aggressive (aggressive, not defensive) if her room mate is removed. Luckily the gecko she gets along with is very easy going. She will bite and lunge and hiss and tail wag and intimidate and basically stress herself out so bad she will stop eating. Give her back her buddy and these behaviors stop, instantly. This is a uniqueish situation as far as Im concerned and took some trial and error to fix because I didn't want to give such a bossy gecko a punching bag.

But I've also had geckos live together for months (4 or 5 months) and be fine until suddenly, one day they were not. I came home to one gecko with a third of her tail gone and a bite mark on her head. Needless to say they were separated immediately and have both grown and eaten very well.
 
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ownagemaximus

New Member
Messages
12
Well, leopard geckos all have different personalities. My 2 female leopard geckos of about 11 inches in length don't seem to harm eachother. In fact they love to huddle together in their hides.
 

Dog Shrink

Lost in the Lizard World
Messages
2,799
Location
NW PA.
Is it maybe because they were always fed seperate? And never learned a feeding pattern type of thing? My three are very young yet, but all eat together, so maybe growing up with this will prevent such an outburst.

I hate to say not likely but... not likely... as your three pass certain age milestones the competition and desire for dominance which will happen. Dominant leo will be earned thru who has the most resources and isn't afraid to put his ass behind keeping them will dominate and back it with force.... eventually.

For the op... sorry to hear that your leos had a bad spat, and you're lucky no one, including yourself got hurt... it's hard to learn a lesson like that thru experience but thankfully everyone's ok. Good thing you were there to seperate them and had the equipment to make another enclosure. Thanks for sharing your experinece with us. I've always been opposed to communal living for leos. It's just not something their genetically programmed to want, need or desire.
 

sausage

BSc AMAS
Messages
1,548
Location
Winchester, UK
Awww sorry to hear about this. im glad every ones okay.
Every ones right housing leos together is a bit hit and miss. I at the moment have a breeding colony of 5 females that live together, males are kept away from them though and introduced into the tank when needed.
Their cage is huge with two levels, with lots of hides and several hot spots. the only thing they share is the wet box.
They do seem to have a pecking order but all just get along fine, even at feeding time :)
 

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