Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok everyone - Please Help!

I have been keeping leos for a almost 2 yrs now. Rescued my first 2 leos. Have aquired 2 more and hatched an egg that came with the first 2. So 5 total. I had everyone seperate until recently. Everyone has been in my care for over 3 months (quarantined) and fecals came back clean.

I decided to put my newer male and 2 of the females together. I have an incubator and a way to sell/donate the babies. And decided that I would like to set up colonies. Seems like some have good luck with these. Well my albino girl and my male seem to be loosing weight. My scale broke and have been meaning to buy another. So I can't tell exactly how much. Should I separate them back out? Should I just take out the male? Or separate them all? The one female - the little girl I hatched - has attitude. I think she may just be dominating. She is not hot - I incubated her at 82F. But she seems to be the only one thriving. Please help. How do you guys have colonies that thrive? FYI - I have gotten one egg and I am not sure which female it was from (I was checking but it wasn't as clear as the pics seem to show) but I am strongly guessing it was the female with attitude. In the rack I have several hides, calcium dish, 2 food bowls with mealies. Just recently tried butter worms - nobody has taken any yet. Really - food intake has been minimal since I put them together. If I don't get advice soon I will probably separate them all. But I am building a cage and really would like to set up a larger colony - suggestions are greatly appreciated!!
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Jessica

0.1.0 Sharpei-Husky mix...all attitude
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
2.2.0 Corn Snakes
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
2.2.0 Carrot-tailed Viper Geckos
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
...and a saltwater tank!

I do not suggest setting leos up in colonies..... They do better on their own (especialy if that is how they are used to being housed) and should only be placed together for breeding.... One bad thing about housing leo together is you can not monitor food intake.... Another thing you need to worry about is leos picking on other leos....
Housing them together can be a very stressful ordeal....

I have my three leos (2 females one male) together in a 40 gallon tank...and everything is quiet and smooth. Everyone is eating appropriateely (monitored every evening) and there seems to be no problems or scuffling...Am I the exception to the rule?
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1.1 Cats -Siamese Emma, Asian Leopard Cat Hau-Li
2.2.Horses - Percheron Girls - Colea and Ivy - Thoroughbred Machine to Tower and my beloved Brilliant Display (Rainbow Bridge)
2.1 Leopard Geckos -Gamarrah, Gabera and Monster Zero
1.0 Miniature Goat - Betty
1.0 Dog - Bess
1.0 African Grey - Molly

I have one male and two females in a 20 long without a problem. There's plenty of food, which helps. I'd say to make a colony better, put more than one food dish with mealworms all the time, that way the dominant can't chase away the subordinates from the only food source. If they deteriorate anyway, then you obviously have to seperate them. I think these situations can really depend on the gecko. One of my geckos didnt' do so well in the colony, and wound up putting on weight a lot slower than the other females, even one younger than her weighed more than she did, so I had to seperate her.
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Corn Snakes: Eden, Mars, Sierra, Lavendar, The Tweedle Twins
Crested Geckos: Parker, Emily Dickinson, Bonnie, Benz, Jude, Cali
Leopard Geckos: Paris, Helen, Annabelle, Artemis, Vesta
Jambea Dwarf Retic: Montague

"Am I the exception to the rule?"

No, there is no rule... But it is a way to keep your leos stress free and is the best way to monitor your leos food intake.... It is proven that leos housed individualy do better.... So again, it is not the "rule", but a suggestion that is well founded....

As you read in the original post the person did state that the leos have been eating less and are not doing as well as they were while house by themselves....

I agree with gregg, i have housed my leos in colonies b4 when i didnt know any better and they did terrible. now a year pluss later i have had many upgrades and learned A LOT! all of my geckos, leos, african fat tails, and their babies are housed seperatly in a rack system and look and do great.