Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi all, i have 5 females and 1 male leo. How big of a cage do i need for them to be in? the one that they are in is about 3 to 4 feet long...about 18 to 24 inc deep... is this enough for them? thanks

generally the rule of thumb is 1 leo per 10 gallon space, but leos can live quite happily in smaller spacing. if the setup is about the size of a 50gal tank and offers plenty of hiding places for all of the animals then i think they should be ok.

Usually, a Particular colony of caged leos are 1 Male and 2 females. In some occations you can have a larger colony but there are some strict rules...

Always 1 male, males will always fight, no matter what, till the death.

The number of females will depend on the cage, bigger cage, possibly more leos. I have a ...I think 25 gallon tank, housing 3. They way I would do it is...(at very most)
20 and Below = 1
25 = 3
50 = 4
70 = 6
80 = 7
90 = 8
100 = 9

Make sure you add alot of Humid huts big ones. The more leos the more huts. Leos dont like, they accept. In otherwords, Leos are really independent, they like stuff that belongs to them, although they will share if they must. But with alot of leos I say 1 hut per leos, maybe 1 extra. I have 3 leos, 2 huts, they all share.

Its a colony, and there are positions and ranks. Male leo is always on top, he almost never be bugged by a new female,(of course male leos inspect new females, most leos defend themselves) There will always be 1 main female leo that is head of the nest, she is called a "Alpha female". But she and maybe the other females will likely snap at any new female leos tail, its a colony thing, perfectly normal, the way to get the leo to accept the new leo is to keep introducing the new female, in time they will learn to accept the new female.

And to add I have heard that these postions only occur when male and female are present in the same cage and that it is common for female leos to get along with each other by default when a male has never been introduced. THIS DOESNT APPLY TO FEMALES THAT HAVE ALREADY LAID EGGS. When I introduced my 2nd girl lizzy, Ninjete was not happy, took her about a hour to accept she was going to be living with her, and about 2 - 3 days of just avoiding each other before they realized they were not threats to each other.

And to add one last thing, the new female leo will usually be frighten of the alpha female, they will shake there tail and aviod the alpha female at all cost, this will usually result in the alpha female chasing the new female, take new female out and re introduce untill the alpha female accepts.

(my
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Normal - Male - Ninja
High Yellow - Female - Ninjete
Normal - Female - Lizzy
Norm/Het for High Yellow - Male - Ninja II

yes, thats big enough. are u breeding them? make sure they have a big egg laying box enough for all of the females.