Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have what im pretty sure is a 4 year old female and a 5-6 month old male. Whenever i have to put them together to clean their cages the little one rattles his tail furiously and then proceeds to nip at the females tail.

Then my girl goes over and walks ontop of him and sometimes they nipped at each other for a while then she's not interested anymore.

Is this normal? I haven't had much experience with 2 leos.

Any other behavors and what they mean would be appreciated
thanks

males rattle their tail when they see another leo. If the other leo rattles the tail then a fight occurs because they are both mails. In you case the male wants to mate but the female wants none of it.
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So the nipping at her is part of it too?

I didn't think he was sexually mature yet. he's not even a year old.
Can and will the female injure the male or each other during pre-mating?
I've heard of females having bite marks because of or during mating.

Males can sexually mature by 3 month and nip is part of it... What they do are very Normal
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Preston Berry
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While I know nothing about breeding animals, I do know a thing or two about animal dominance. This is what your problem sounds like to me. The little one is probably either scarred of the bigger one or is trying to dominate. Or he may honestly think the larger ones tail is food. I had to separate my little ones because they kept nipping at each others tails for this same reason. The fact that your larger leo stands over the smaller one sounds like it is showing it is dominant.

But it may be the breeding issue, who knows.

Lisa
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0.1 Hypo Leopard Gecko
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1 Blizzard Leopard Gecko
1.0 Albino Pacman Frog
1.0 Lovebird (Tony)
1.0 Elkhound Cross (Otto)
0.1 Malamute Cross (Paris)
6.0 Bettas