cresteds fighting

[danielle]

I just got an adult female crested gecko with the intention of putting her in with my one unpaired male. When i put her in the tank, i kept an eye on the male to see his reaction and he was extremely agressive with her. At first he was just chasing her and i just watched and waited to see what he would do. After he nipped at her a couple of times, he took a big lunge and was hanging on to her tail. Rather then have her lose it, i carefully seperated them, but now im not sure how to introduce them. None of the literature i have read so far says how to do this, everything ive read so far says it's really only males who fight, not pairs. They are definately a male female pair, he is well over a year now and she is about a year and a little bit. Any advice would be appreciated. Also, is there any difficulty in sexing a tailless crestie? i have one that is about 8 or 10 mos and it looks like a girl but im not sure if not having a tail would affect the size of the bulges ?
thanks
danielle

[HeatherRose]

I have a pair together, and I see lots of agression, but lots of snuggling too. I always find them curled up, making googly eyes at each other. My male tends to be aggressive during mating, biting and holding the female, but the female is also agressive towards him, biting him in his body and tail. Rough lovin'.

No lost tails yet. This is more of a defense used to escape big scary predators rather than a frisky mate...In my opinion...I think they're much less likely to lose a tail like that. I have been worried though.

Tail-less cresties can have just as big of bulges as their tailed counterparts, from what I've seen.

Good luck :D
Heather

[ColleenT]

i was worried when it happened to mine, too. But it sounds like foreplay.

[sara]

Don't worry about it, as long as your female is breeding size there shouldn't be a problem. I have some insanely agressive breeders around here, and they are paired accordingly with mates who can handle them. However, this doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary so relax, despite what you're seeing the whole process is much more stressful for you than it is for your geckos.:p

Oh, and don't worry too much about their tails, afterall it is their decision to lose them. I have a male who had his tail eviscerated and broken in two places during mating and he didn't lose it, so I guess the moral to that story would be that a bite to the tail does not always = dropped tail.

[reptiguy420]

as long as you dont have TWO MALES...something to think about

[danielle]

Yeah don't worry, i am definate on the sex, and they're getting along great now. Plus i didnt' lose any tails =)

[little_dragon_]

They like it rough! don't worry

[alan]

That's pretty normal, although I had my share of worries at the beginning too. :)