Bullying

Trollbie · 12-09-16, 10:41 AM

I have 2 Leo females. I'm not sure of their exact age, but one weighs twice as much as the other (28g and 46g). I had them housed together initially but noticed that the bigger one was bullying the smaller one (tail biting, etc...). We separated them immediately.

Will I be able to ever house them together again? Maybe when the smaller one catches up in size? We got a 20gal tank which is bigger than what they were in initially in hopes that maybe increased space will help, but I don't want to put them back together if the bullying is likely to continue.

I've never dealt with this issue before, so any help is greatly appreciated!

**Andy_G** · 12-09-16, 10:52 AM

Possibly when they are closer in size but it's something I would advise against generally, although I have no experience with leos in particular.

**Minkness** · 12-09-16, 11:07 AM

I keep 3 female leos together. There will be SOME fighting, but it is few and far between. The trick is to make sure you have plenty of hides and such for each individual gecko and when feeding, feed separately. I have noticed that the younger gecko will almost always be the one being bullied. I believe this is a dominance thing. When I had 2 females together, the older picked on the younger (sometimes). When I added the 3rd who is the youngest, she started getting picked on by the oldest who now happily 'cuddles' the middle female. They even share and behave during meal time instead of getting uppity or defensive with eachother, but the 3rd one is excluded from that 'nice' behavior. So long as I feed the 2 that now get along great at one end, and the youngest at the other end, there is no bullying at all.

Tail biting is not the end all bte. People make it sound like leos drop tails for everything, but in my years of experience the only dropped tail I have had was when I accidentally dropped a heavy hide on a baby's tail. I have witnessed fights between males, females, both (during breeding) and even have to pick up some of my by their tails because they would just as soon eat a finger as a worm and none have ever dropped their tails. I even had one time early in my gecko keeping where my cat got INTO the gecko tank and had the gecko down the hall batting her around. Took a chunk of skin off her neck and had several scratches and punctures in the tail, but she still KEPT her tail. She is also my oldeat female and actually healed through all that mess. Lesson learned for sure.

Just make sure to have a larger enclosure (20 long for 2 females is fine, 40 breeder for 3-5 females) and plenty of hides, both over heat, iff heat, and even up high if you can. 2 hides PER gecko and if you can have heat in more than one place. 2 smaller UTHs vs 1 large one works way better.

=)

Trollbie · 12-09-16, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minkness

I keep 3 female leos together. There will be SOME fighting, but it is few and far between. The trick is to make sure you have plenty of hides and such for each individual gecko and when feeding, feed separately. I have noticed that the younger gecko will almost always be the one being bullied. I believe this is a dominance thing. When I had 2 females together, the older picked on the younger (sometimes). When I added the 3rd who is the youngest, she started getting picked on by the oldest who now happily 'cuddles' the middle female. They even share and behave during meal time instead of getting uppity or defensive with eachother, but the 3rd one is excluded from that 'nice' behavior. So long as I feed the 2 that now get along great at one end, and the youngest at the other end, there is no bullying at all.

Tail biting is not the end all bte. People make it sound like leos drop tails for everything, but in my years of experience the only dropped tail I have had was when I accidentally dropped a heavy hide on a baby's tail. I have witnessed fights between males, females, both (during breeding) and even have to pick up some of my by their tails because they would just as soon eat a finger as a worm and none have ever dropped their tails. I even had one time early in my gecko keeping where my cat got INTO the gecko tank and had the gecko down the hall batting her around. Took a chunk of skin off her neck and had several scratches and punctures in the tail, but she still KEPT her tail. She is also my oldeat female and actually healed through all that mess. Lesson learned for sure.

Just make sure to have a larger enclosure (20 long for 2 females is fine, 40 breeder for 3-5 females) and plenty of hides, both over heat, iff heat, and even up high if you can. 2 hides PER gecko and if you can have heat in more than one place. 2 smaller UTHs vs 1 large one works way better.

=)

I will try it with the 2 heat pads and more hides and feeding separately. Thank you!

It's funny because if you saw their personalities, you would think it should be the opposite haha. The bigger one is skittish and does not like to be handled. The smaller one is very bold on the other hand. My 70lb dog likes to sit in front of her tank and she always comes out to taunt my dog. She'll eat from my hand and doesn't mind being handled. Yesterday I had my hedgie out and she was "chasing" him as he walked by her tank haha.

**Minkness** · 12-09-16, 01:03 PM

Haha, yeah, I love their little personalities. I have a male who SCREAMS if I pick him up. Lol.

Trollbie · 12-09-16, 02:03 PM

Haha "murder! MURRRDEEEERRRRR!"

**Minkness** · 12-09-16, 02:16 PM

Yup! And when I put him down he will scurry to his hide, peek out and GLARE at me! Little jerk lol.

Trollbie · 12-09-16, 05:09 PM

Hahaha! You must be so cruel!

LISA127 · 01-14-17, 05:13 PM

If it were me I'd keep them separated. Especially since you want to house them in a 20 gallon which isn't that much space.

sirtalis · 01-14-17, 08:27 PM

Are you sure they are females? My females turned out to be a male and a female and the biting/fighting was just courting behaviour lol

Cyclops · 02-08-17, 09:17 PM

I would separate them because bigger females tend to harass smaller females.

jay's reptiles · 02-09-17, 08:28 AM

i wouldn't do it, but if you plan on housing them together once the smaller one is up to size. Make sure to house them in a 30-35 gallon together, with lots of hides. atleast 2 hides on the side, so that they can have their own hot hide each. Same for cool hides and etc..