Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I currently house 6 sub adult leos, (all different morphs and all about the same size) in a 55 gallon tank. I have UTHs on each end, and an awful lot of hiding places. I have a few questions. First, is this size tank large enough to accomodate 6 leos? Second, Today, as I was cleaning the newspaper substrate, I notice a tiny spec of what i think is dried blood nearby some feces. I hand checked all of the leos for wounds and found nothing, plus their vents were all clean. What should I do about this? I do have access to other heated tanks. And finally, out of all of them, I have been able to sex only one male. The problem is, I'm not sure they are all mature enough to be properly sexed. The question is, will immature males fight like sexually mature ones? I have seen a few of them waving their tails in the air, directed at another gecko. Is this a sign of male ( or hot female) aggression? Thanks you very much for your replies. Any help is greatly appreciated.

A 55 gallon is good enough for 6 Leopard Geckos and as for the dried blood near the stool... That really doesn't sound good. Could be parasites or even the male in the tank could of bred to a female who is immature and she may be egg bound.. Have you monitored them as far as breeding goes? Waving of the tail at another gecko is almost always viewed as agression toward another Leopard Gecko, so watch that carefully as well. The tail waving can happen when one gecko gets too close for comfort to another or if the male is bothering the females. I hope this helps a bit, I haven't had much education on Parasites because thankfully I've never had any problems-- Same goes for being egg bound.. I've never dealt with that, so hopefully someone else can help clarify the source of that problem. Take care.
-----
-Britney

Atlantic Reptiles(In the works)

2.4.1 Leopard Geckos: Ron, Raine, Dream, Tango, Go-Go, Johnneh and Salleh.
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon: Lil' Little.

Thanks for the reply, Brittney. Forgive my ignorance, but how could a male breed with an immature female? Can that really happen? Also, I was under the impression that leos are not sexually mature until they are 1year old and about 50 grams, which ever comes first. Is that correct? If so, the oldest gecko in there is no older than about 4-5 months, and none are over 30 grams. I have a vet appointment for another herp tomorrow. I could ask for a de-worming medication to be on the safeside. The problem is finding the culprit of the bloodly feces. Maybe I'll have to medicate them all. What do you think? Thanks.

From what I have read, they can and probably will mate with them anyway even if they aren't able to produce the babies. How do I want to put this. They are born with the equipment but aren't ready to use it and the males don't care.
Sort of like that without going into much detail.
Maybe someone else can clarify it a bit better.

>>Thanks for the reply, Brittney. Forgive my ignorance, but how could a male breed with an immature female? Can that really happen? Also, I was under the impression that leos are not sexually mature until they are 1year old and about 50 grams, which ever comes first. Is that correct? If so, the oldest gecko in there is no older than about 4-5 months, and none are over 30 grams. I have a vet appointment for another herp tomorrow. I could ask for a de-worming medication to be on the safeside. The problem is finding the culprit of the bloodly feces. Maybe I'll have to medicate them all. What do you think? Thanks.
-----
**********************************
Tim W. My Pictures
0.1.0 Dumeril Boas
0.1.0 Kittens
0.0.1 Leopard Geckos

It rubs the lotion on it's skin. It rubs the lotion on it's skin or else it gets the hose again.
Bleach and Ammonia make Ammonium Chloride = Dead you

Females who mate to early can become egg bound very easily from what I understand. I'm sure they can breed before they are a year, but it isn't suggested. We put our male who is 5 months old in the tank with 3 females who are mature enough to breed just to see how he reacted, and boy did that tail start shaking so we quickly removed him. I have heard that males can have some problems if bred to early.

Thanks for the input, everyone. They all are eating well, so I'm not too concerned with competition. However, I am concerned with the possibility of the females being bred with too early. I can clearly identify one male, so he is going to be removed to another enclosure. The problem now is, the others are not mature enough to tell if they are males. What signs can I look for in identifying an immature male so I can remove him before he bothers the girls? What is a good age/weight to reintroduce the male to the females? Also, in my enclosure, the middle of it is not heated and has plenty of hide outs as well, so they are able to thermoregulate. Oh, and I was able to purchase some de-worming medication from my vet. He says that I can give them all a dosage without harm to those who are not carrying parasites as a preventive measure. Thanks again.

jw,
one thing that you might think about, and I only mention it because I have a 55 gallon as well and have wondered...
Do you need a UTH at each end of your tank? I have (1) 8" x 18" UTH at the warm end of my tank, and then none at the cool end. This makes the substrate (tile) at the warm end about 92 degrees and the cool end substrate is at about 76 degrees. The only thing I'd worry about is not giving them the temperature gradient that they need so they can cool down if necessary. Since they are terrestrial and not arboreal, they likely won't climb to get away from the surface heat. They are used to going underground to get cooler or to get humidity, but if all of your hides are on the heated surface, they may have a hard time getting cool.
Just a thought. I'm a rank amateur, but have been reading a lot and setting up and re-setting up my own tank.
Regards, Dean