Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Would a 20 gallon long tank with 4 hides in it(2 on hot side, 2 on cold side) be large enough for 2 female leopard gekos? If so what about 3 females? All relatively the same size.

Definately large enough for 2 ....and I think most people would agree with me that three would be alright as long as each gecko tolerates the other geckos fine.

I have had one "hot female" that must have been incubated high that could not be housed in any size aquarium with an other geckos....period, or else she would bite and scar the others.

But as long as they are nice to each other and are the same size, I think it would be fine......be 100% positive about their sex before putting them in though.

Good luck.
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1.3.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Copperhead
1.1.0 Eastern Box Tutles

I know its bad to house 2 males together but is it bad to house a male and female together? I thought it was ok as long as you expect to have babies.

I housed 3 females and a male together in a 20gal long and they were fine. Yes you can keep the male with them as long as you know that you will end up with eggs. I have kept my male with my female together since I got them as hatchlings.

Two is okay but three is the max. And definitely make sure they cope well with each other before you leave them alone. More than one male is never alright, but two or more females is fine. And only house different sexes if you are planning on incubating eggs.

-Patrick

I would say a 20 long is the minimum for two - and thats providing you can supply all the hides that are needed. I would not put three in it. When housing multiple leos you really should have 2 or 3 hides per lizard....with three leos, that would be a lot of hides to fit into a 20long.

A 30 or 40gallon breeder tank is a great size for multiple Leos.

If you are going to house male females then you should have two or three females per single male. if you have one male and one female you will have problems with overbreeding. And/or the male will stress out the female.

Personally, i dont recomend keeping Leos together. Its not in their best intrest - but in ours. We like keeping them together because we can keep more in one tank. Although you may be able to keep Leos together without fighting - they definately thrive better, acheieve better weights when housed alone.

Below are a variety of factors to consider prior to placing Leos together:

1. Dominance Aggression/Stress: Many people make the mistake of assuming that aggression is displayed only through physical aggression, but this is incorrect. While its true that these are SOME of the ways that dominance/aggression can be shown there are other, subtler, and probably more dangerous (because they can be harder to notice) ways. When multiple Leo’s are housed together, even females, one of them will be more dominant than the other one, the more dominant one will usually take the best hiding spots and the most food. Getting less food and taking second best spots chronically will lead to one of the Leos becoming stress; chronic stress will lead to failure to grow and thrive and parasite infections. Even if the more dominant Leo doesn't "take" the most food, their presence will often lead to the less dominant one not eating us much. A good analogy is to imagine you are back in school, you are sitting down, about to eat your lunch and the class bully plops down right next to you to eat his lunch...you are probably going to lose your appetite. Right? Now what if that happened every day?

2. Physical Aggression: Not much needs to be said about this, physical aggression is when they actually fight. Chasing, biting, etc. Obviously this leads to drastic problems such as stress, infections and lost limbs. Sometimes Leo’s will appear ok with each other for months or even years and then one day they begin fighting. Any combination of sex can lead to fighting, even two females…especially if you have a female that was incubated at male temps – or a “hot” female, as they are referred to.

3. Positive Sex Identification: This is a problem that frequently gets over looked when people consider putting two Leos together. Leos cannot be sexed with the naked eye until they are close to a year of age. Educated guesses can be made, but there is no sure fire way to tell, without using special equipment. There are a few problems that can arise from this. If you get two baby Leos and house them together and they turn out to be a male and a female, they will figure this out before you do and they may mate, and possibly when they are too young. Mating when they are too young causes serious problems for the female, producing eggs takes a lot of nutrients and energy...energy that young Leos need to be using to grow. Young Leo’s that are bred are more likely to get sick or become egg bound or have other problems related to reproduction. If it turns out they are two males, the Leo’s will be able to tell before you do and you could come home one day to find they have been fighting. It’s possible that one may even kill the other.

4. Disease, spreading and identifying: Another issue when Leo’s are housed together is disease. First and most obvious, if one Leo gets sick, its housemate is more likely to get sick also and then you will have two Leos to treat, not just one. Also, say you come home one day to find a suspicious looking poo (smelly, runny, and nasty) or some vomit, there is no way to tell which Leo is having a problem, unless you can constantly observe them, precious time is wasted trying to figure out which Leo is ill. Or, how do you tell if they are both defecating? If one Leo was to become impacted (or has another issue causing constipation) you may not be able to tell until it’s too late. You will still be seeing fecals, but will be unable to tell which Leo they belong to. Also, one early symptom of disease is lack of appetite, when Leos are housed together it’s harder to tell who is eating how much. This is especially true if you keep a bowl of insects in the tank constantly, or often. You may set out the insects, walk off, come back later and find them all eaten...but who has eaten them? There is no real way to tell, you may not notice one Leo isn't eating until you see significant weight loss.

Its definitely possible to keep Leos together, many people do – and many with great success. The important thing is to identify the risks and take steps to reduce this risk as much as possible. It is also something that is easier to do if you have a certain degree of experience with Leos…with experience comes the ability to pick up on subtle cues in Leopard Gecko behavior, cues which may lead to early recognition of disease. If you do decide to keep multiple Leos together the set up should be as follows:

1. Tank Size: This is very important, a 30 or 40gallon tank should be used when housing multiple Leos, bigger tanks for more geckos, of course. The size is mostly relevant when it comes to having proper hides. You need to have three hides per lizard. For each Leo, there needs to be a warm hide, cool hide and humid hide. Even if all the hides are not frequently used, it’s important they have the choice – no Leo should ever have to choose between being near another Leo and be warm, or be cold.

2. Heat Pad Size: This really is an add-on to the above. You need to have a large enough heat pad to be able to fit three warm hides on it.

3. Feeding: Since it’s harder to monitor food intake with multiple Leos, you should take steps to make this easier. Instead of just throwing in crickets you can either take the Leos out one by one and feed in a separate tank, or feed insects one by one to each Leo.

4. Close monitoring: Always keep an eye out for signs of aggression, stress or weight loss. If any symptoms of disease are noticed in one Leo, that animal should be separated immediately to a quarantine cage. If any weight loss is noted, that animal should be more closely focused on, and potentially removed. Routine weight monitoring with a digital scale will help track any weight loss trends. Any serious aggression should be remedied by separating the lizards. Keep in mind that while some Leos may thrive in a multi-Leo habitat, others will not…so always be prepared to make adjustments if necessary.

5. Spare tanks: Make sure you always have spare tanks available in case a Leo falls ill, or aggression becomes an issue. You want to be able to split them up easily if needed.

6. Ratios: Always combine Leos in sensible ratios, and only house adults in multiple animal enclosures. Only keep one male Leo per any enclosure…one male can be housed with 2 or more females…however you must compensate breeding activity with increased food and supplementation. Multiple females can be housed together. No Leos should be housed together unless the are old enough to be positively sexed.

I hope this information helps!
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Uromastyx (Mali)
1.1 Corn snakes
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
1.0 Rosy Boa
1.1 Green Anoles
1.1 House Geckos
0.0.2 Flying Geckos
0.0.1 Red Eye Tree Frog

Thanks for some of the info. I see what your saying about the cage size. I am not interested in houseing a male with a female or a male with several females. I currently have a male but I am going to keep him seperate. I dont plan on breeding them. What I am interested in is getting 2 hopefully 3 females. I would preferr to house them in one tank (wich would be just one more additional tank) instead of 2 or 3 seperate and additional tanks.

I am thinking a tank the like the Vision V432 that is 54"x36"x18" would probabily be a better choice in tanks. That should give enough space to put 3 hides per geko and space them out so they arent cramed in like condominiums. A lot more space for 3 leos to move around and have space from eachother if they want it and still be comfortable. It was the one of the deepest models. I could get one thats longer but not as deep. I will definately get yearlings that can be positively sexed. All verry close to eachother in age, size and weight. Or would full adults be easier to do this with?

My past experiences with houseing leos together wass a long time ago like 15-20 years ago I got 2 leos from a petco, they were juvies. I housed them together and things were fine. As they grew one got really big and the other wasnt growing and got skinny. They never fought with eachother. I seperated them and he or she got better. I never got them sexed. I didnt do things as good as they could have been back then, not enough hides, smaller tanks, I was young. Petco does that all the time though I see them sell them all bunches in a single tank its kind of odd. One time the guy there said "Ohh dont get that for those lizards, I know you see that in their cage but we put that in there to sell items not because its good for them". Gesh....

Any other adivce you have on houseing multiple females would be helpfull. I want to get as much information and do it so it has the highest chances of success. I do have a couple extra tanks I can use in an emergency if one of them becomes agressive.

Your previous example is very common - that happens a lot, particularly when young growing lizards are placed together.

Your chances for sucess are definately improved if keeping adults together, and with a larger cage. I always recomend adults not juvies or young adults - as this way the majority of the growing is done and the animals are already at a good weight, so they are starting off on the right foot. You can buy them as adults or buy younger leos, raise them separtely ad then try to introduce them once they are 12-15months.

The tank size you describe would be excellent.

My only other big recomendation would be either to feed in a separate tank, or feed worms by dropping them in front of your Leos so you know exactly how much each lizard is eating - as opposed to just dropping them into a dish and letting them eat when they feel like it. This would be the best way to achieve good weights on all of them, and also helps you to better keep track of their overall health.

Keepoing other tanks on hand is a great idea - as sometimes, it just doesnt work. Although taking the above precautions will help increase your chances of sucess.

Good luck!
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Uromastyx (Mali)
1.1 Corn snakes
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
1.0 Rosy Boa
1.1 Green Anoles
1.1 House Geckos
0.0.2 Flying Geckos
0.0.1 Red Eye Tree Frog