Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got my new male leo shipped today. I introduced him to my 4 year old girl and they seemed to tolerate each other. after about 30 minutes, i put them in the enclosure together and kept a very close eye on them for about 20 minutes. I then left for a few minutes to make a phone call, and when i got back they were fighting! I have no idea what do to. I took the female out to stop the fight, but what do i do now? What steps should be taken to warm them up to each other?

take everything out of the cage clean it all and the the cage with 5% bleach and but them back in. This way it will "seem" like a new cage for your female and it SHOULD be ok.
Xavier
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1.2.1 Leopard Geckos
Blizzard females, male albino tangerine,
and a trempor albino
Turtles
1.0.0 Common snapping turtle
0.1.0 Belize slider
0.1.0 Egyptian tortoise

I set up a new enclosure for them with paper towels and cups as hides. They seemed to be fine for awhile, just wandering around amongst each other checking out the new enclosure. After about 10 minutes my female goes into one of the hides and seems to be fine. about 5 minutes after that, the male stuck his head in for a few seconds, I saw the female lick him then he jumped into the hide and they started to fight again. I've put the female in a transparent plastic container and put her in the enclosure to keep either from sustaining any injuries. Are there any other steps I can take to get this to stop? Please respond quickly. Thank you in advance.

First, are you POSITIVE you have a male and a female?

Second, describe the fighting more. Are you sure it isn't mating behavior. These guys can be a tad rough to each other during mating.
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2.9.8 Leopard Geckos
1.2.1 African Fat-tails
0.1 Gonisaurus Luii
1.1 Central American Banded Geckos
0.1 Gargoyle Gecko
1.1 Calabar Pythons
1.1 Savu Pythons
0.0.2 Cornsnakes
0.1.2 Chondropythons
0.1 Standing's Day Gecko
1.0 Frog-eyed Gecko
1.1 Ball Pythons

how old is the male? They might be trying to mate. I put my male with my female one day to clean out the cages and all. Mt male was chasing after her shaking his tail crazy like and she was running away he as licking the air and licking her and she wanted to part in it and was getting pretty mad. It turned out that he wanted some action but she wanted no part. So if he is mature enough to mate thats what is going on. he might also nip at her tail and neck and that would be mating actions.
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2 male leos: Winky HY & Lenny TangCT & 2 Female Leos: Sunshine Super tang & Serenity Tremper HY Jungle Albino

My male is 8 months old. The female is about 4 years old. The male is temp sexed as a male, I could be mistaken there, but I know the older one is a female. I dont think this kind of behavior would take place if I had 2 females. Assuming this is all mating behavior, what should I look out for? they seem to be biting pretty strong. And does the 'foreplay' normally leave small cuts on them? my male has a few small wounds, just through a few layers of skin, on his tail, back and neck, but interestingly, the female doesnt have a mark on her. I now have them seperated into seperate enclosures until I find out what to do. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

He is more than likely trying to mate and the female aint wanting any or it might also be a territorial despuit if she has benn al by herself and now all of a sudden she has a man telling her what to do lol. You should seperate them if you arent looking to have little eggs in a while, he is still kinda young too. Its up to you though. Aslong as the cuts he has arent bleeding then he should be ok. I dont think your female wants to mate right now. Bring them out to nuteral ground though. Maybe on your bed or something. So she doenst feel that he is invading and get them use to eachother before they are caged together.
Hope that helps.
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2 male leos: Winky HY & Lenny TangCT & 2 Female Leos: Sunshine Super tang & Serenity Tremper HY Jungle Albino

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how do I tell the difference between a fight and mating behavior?

If he's biting at her or licking her and she doesn't want to mate she will FIGHT. The male is just trying to get it on (unless it's with another male, then they will fight). When this happens, I seperate the leos so they don't get injured, and if I am trying to mate them I re-introduce them again later, under supervision, until the stops fighting and is receptive. If she is receptive she will raise her tail and let him bite her neck. If she is not receptive she will wave her tail, get up on her tippytoes, arch her back, and bite him back if he bites her.

Sometimes a female leo will fight another female leo if you put the new girl into the old one's territory, to resolve you need to clean out and re-arrange the enclosure and put them both in at the same time, so the old girl won't feel she wons the place anymore.

fighting is more physical and both of them going at it rather than one trying to run away. Mine have never faught because of anything besides not wanting to mate. I think my female is a tease though cuz she wiggle her tail and walk all cute for him and then when he wants to respond back she runs away lol. We (women) can be sucha tease sometimes. She has probably bit him to tell him who is in charge and telling him she wants no action, sometimes the females will want action one momemnt but not later. Fighting is when stuff in the cage is getting tossed around and their is blood shed so I believe. Mating is usally little nibbles on eachother to show them they are interested. If you dont want to worry about them seperate them, it will be less stress for you and them.
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2 male leos: Winky HY & Lenny TangCT & 2 Female Leos: Sunshine Super tang & Serenity Tremper HY Jungle Albino