Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I always thought that ocellated skinks were very peaceful with each other. I have several adults and never had a problem, so I never expected any problems with the 4 babies I got from my big female. The other day I noticed that two of the youngsters were missing their tails. I thought it might have been caused by the Madagascar rainbow lizards I had in with them so I took them out. Today I saw two of the babies fighting like crazy. They were like two tyrannosauruses fighting over a fresh kill. When I took the one out who looked like he was getting the worst of it, I noticed his right rear foot was missing! I put him in his own tank, and when I came back to check on the remaining 3 babies, one was chasing another around with murder in his eyes. I had to put each one in his/her own tank. One of the babies was much larger than the rest and was the only one who did not have wounds.

Lizards can be very sensitive to overcrowding and territorial issues, and sometimes the line is so fine you're not aware when you've crossed it. I've heard time and again people saying how well their leopard geckos have gotten along, then something changes slightly and they're attacking each other. The babies sound as if they're programmed to be heavily territorial (maybe due to a scarcity of food in the wild) and just didn't have enough room to get away from each other. I imagine that in nature they either drive weaker babies away, or simply kill them, in order to expand their hunting grounds. Just a guess, but you're not the first person it's happened to.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko