Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have another question: I am getting a new gecko soon. I already have an adult male gecko. If I want this new gecko I'm soon getting to live with him, should I get a male or a female?? Which would be more compatible with my male??

J.L.

Males fight with each other and can even injure the other so bad it dies. I would go with a female. Females dont fight each other but males rip each othere apart.

So, a male and a female?? That's what I was thinking!!!

The males fighting is correct, but you need to do a lot of research before you even add a female. A single female housed with a male can very easily get overly stressed due to the continual mating attempts. Yes, they will breed. Plus, are you ready for TONS of babies? A single mating can produce between 16-20 eggs. She will lay them 2 at a time about every 4 weeks. This too is very stressful on the females health if she is never given a break from egg laying. Once you have eggs you have to have a way to incubate them, knowledge of how to care for hatchlings, enclosures for all the babies when they hatch and homes lined up for all those babies. Please do a lot of reading/researching before you jump into anything.

Honestly if you want to house more than 1 Leo, it should be all females. Males are best left by themselves.

Another VERY important thing is that you MUST quarantine your new Leo for at least 60-90 days. Just because a Leo "looks" healthy when you buy it doesn't mean it's not haboring parasites suchas the deadly Crypto parasite. Moving a Leo to a new environment often times will stress the Leo enough to cause an outbreak of parasites. Paying vets bills for one Leo can be expensive let alone paying for 2. Your best choice if you really want a 2nd Leo is to simply house them separately. Leos are naturally solitary reptiles and by no means "need" the company of another Leo.

Like I already said just read/research and become as knowledgeable as you can before you make any decisions

I 100% agree with Shelley! I adopted 2 geckos a month ago, and it was a male and female living together in a 20 L. They can not thrive living together. The male was ok, but the poor female was in horrible shape. I had to seperate them immediately to get her health back up, and do not plan on rejoining them.
If you want several in a cage, get females. Leave your male in his cage alone, it will save you and your potential female alot of grief.

Shelley.. I do have a question though.
You said you have to be ready for tons of babies... but isn't it very unlikely for the eggs to hatch unless you're incubating them? Its true you're going to have a ton of eggs, and I hate to see that happen if they aren't going to be incubated... but they could be removed and not incubated -- no babies. Still, It is a bad idea to add a cage mate for the male, but I just wondered about that statement. Thanks.
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~~Tania~~
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon - Jake
1.1 Leopard Geckos - Chorky and Gilbey
1.0 Maltese Shi Tzu Mix - Mosley
RIP 1.1 Med. Geckos - Mary and Peter

Yes, that is true, if you don't incubate the eggs chances are slim to none that they will ever hatch. So, if someone doesn't plan to incubate the eggs it is senseless and, in my opinion, inhumane to put a female with a male, have her go through all the physical stress of breeding and laying multiple clutches of eggs for the owner to simply throw them out. As you (Tania) have experienced with the male/female you have rescued, it takes a heavy toll on the females health if she isn't given proper supplementation/care. Hope that explained my previous comments better

It does, thanks. I completely agree that it is cruel to put a female and even the male through the stresses of breeding of you don't even plan on incubating the eggs. Thanks Shelley.
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~~Tania~~
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon - Jake
1.1 Leopard Geckos - Chorky and Gilbey
1.0 Maltese Shi Tzu Mix - Mosley
RIP 1.1 Med. Geckos - Mary and Peter

#1 Don't take herp advice from someone who was aking questions a few weeks ago. Do some research(read some books) or talk to a breeder. Most will be more than willing to answer any questions you have. The best book i have found is The Herpetoculture of Leopard Geckos. Written by Philippe de Vosjoli and Ron Tremper. It is perfect for all levels of gecko lovers. I have been keeping/breeding leos for about seven years now and i learned alot from this book.
Where i agree with most of your points about housing males and females together it isn't a crime of nature to do it. There are several factors you would have to accomidate for. I have several females that are housed with a male year round and they are great. The one female is so fat i have to put her on a diet. At the same time if you are a rookie i wouldn't attempt this. Especially with geckos that are older and are used to living alone. You also would want to compensate for the temp they were hatched at, have they been individually housed, the size of the cage, and the number of hide outs/humid hides.
Also what is wrong with letting nature take its corse. You don't think they feel pleasure. Females will produce eggs with or without males so what is wrong with letting them enjoy the process. The eggs won't hatch unless it's at least 81 degrees in your house and has perfect humidity. If they are in the tank they will just dry out. By the way the ones i have paired only breed part of the year. So if this is to complicated thats OK just keep them seperate. I am not telling you to put them together as much as i am stoping the spread of missinformation. Example the story of mealworms eating their way out of a leos stomach. Anyway congradulations on your new pet and welcome to the world of herps.
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Brian
www.thewindycitygecko.com