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Just finished my arboreal cage for my day and was wondering if one or two females should be introduced for mating. If two females are introduced does this create problems once the other has mated (i.e. aggression)? I'm relatively new to this topic so any info is appreciated. A pic of my cage is included.

Judging by the size of the bamboo and taking into consideration that its probably a standard size waterfall I deduce that......THAT CAGE IS FREAKIN HUGE! You can put a freaking cow family in there and still have room left for 10420942 geckos. Naw but seriously I think it would be fine. As far as I know only agression is usualy between males if there is a female (or even 2) involved. For most lizards breeders actualy tend to put the 2:1 female to male ratio so they get more eggs. I dont think a male would be interested in more than 3 so 2 should be just fine.....I'm not sure about that one though I just know most put 2:1. Anyway good luck on the eggs.

wow your viv looks amazing! i am in the process of designing a new one for my day gecko pair. just after a bit of advice to get it similar to yours! could you explain it all, substrate, plants (real, potted, planted!), size measurements, door opening! anything! i cant really tell the finer details from the picture! if you could that would be great then my day geckos would be really happy!

cheers
julie

I know this should be in the cage building forum but I want to address some of your questions soI apologize in advance:

Thanks...it took awhile but it finally came together. This was my first attempt at building anything of this magnitude so I was a bit nervous about how it would look in the end. First off, I used poplar as it's a hard wood and would be strong enough to hold the glass. The dimensions on the cage are 27*28.5*47inches. The frame is made of 1.5 * .75 inch thick boards I got at Home Depot and two sides are made from exterior grade plywood (.5 inch thick). The pieces were all cut by hand with a miter box so I opted not to do a 45 degree angle on the frame joints. All joints were reinforced with 2 inch galvanized screws and wood glue. Base is made out of 8 inch wide pieces of poplar I found at home depot (this should be deep enough for substrate and a plastic tupperware for waterfall(this is the easiest way I found to do this without the risk of a leak). The base is lined with doubled up 6mm thick plastic tarp to safeguard against leaks. I stapled it to the frame to keep it secure. Substrate consists of several inches of pebbles topped with an inch and a half of reptibark (stuff is great at raising the humidity). I used an oil based stain sealed with a few coats of spar polyeurethane (make sure you let this off gas outside for a few days to a week before introducing the lizard). If you have any other questions just give a shout.

It is a nice vivarium -- for a low humidity vivarium. If your day gecko is a high tropical vivarium you may need more plants.

When a day gecko is introduced to a breeding vivarium, one should be introduced and then the second one introduced within five minutes. Wait too long and the first may set up territorial rights.

Day geckos are better off in pairs, and even in pairs we can see aggression problems. Why anyone insists on trios is still beyond my comprehension -- there is no breeding program that important that we need to risk keeping more than a pair together. When we do have a day gecko breeding program that important, the last thing we want to do is risk having one injured.

Keepers who insist on trios loose track of who laid what eggs, and then what type of records do you have to pass on to the next person who gets your offspring?

Is it really that important to get tons of eggs?

Thanks for all the input. I think I will get one more day to put in there. This cage was finished a few days ago and will have many more plants added to it to up the humidity. Its a work in progress. I still get the humidity up to 70 percent but want it higher.

The level of humidity that you want all depends on which day gecko you select. Most want humidity at 60% - 65%. Other species want higher (cepediana) or lower (standingi). The only way to know is to do research on the species you have selected, test the vivarium to see if it meets the requirement, and then add gecko.

Salute to you for taking the time to get up long before the gecko arrives.

I agree-you should add more plants, especially those with smooth big leaves, where the gex love to sit on. Also lights in the tank look abit dim to me. Do you have a metal halide?? Thats the best choice.
In most cases two or more females won´t get along well and often only one will lay fertilized eggs.
Quite often the inferior one will be stressed to death.
In some cases this may be different. I select the offspring of my grandis for low agressivity since 19 years-that now enables me to keep a group of 1,3 with all females laying fertilized eggs and no agression between all 4.
But again: That took me several generations and is quite an exception.

Hope that helps

Ingo

I just added a hibiscus, snake plant, and a large pothos. As for the lighting I'm using a 100W Powersun which should be sufficient but was pointed at the back wall when the picture was taken.

We rarely have any trios in our breeding group. If so it was because they were originally a trio and we did not want to cause problems by splitting them up or they were a smaller species such as lineata or quad quads. Now with grandis it is possible but you always have a dominant female. The other may never get bred let alone access to food etc. is it really worth it? Now with standings do not even attempt it the extra female will die. If you really must work with trios then you are going to be looking at the smaller species and not the larger (grandis etc). Just our experience

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