Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i've just recently had my first babies. 3 clutches so far. 5 total geckos (1 bad egg) i've been housing the babies together in a sterilite container 14x10x8 w/ plenty of fake plants for climbing area and hiding. the first clutch babies are about twice the size of the latest clutch. yesterday i found one of the smallest babies dead. i figured it could be from sanitary reasons so i cleaned and re-did the entire set-up for them. then today i found its clutchmate tailess and dead. now i'm assuming it is the larger siblings killing the hatchlings. due to the tail missing i would assume a fight. i've now seperated them and keep only clutchmates together. do you guys think this is what is happening? will a 3 month old kill or pick on till it dies a one month old? i do mostly dart frogs and have been raising darts for much longer. i know in darts you can house juvies all together since aggression doesn't start to come out till much later. even different species darts are ok to mix as frogletts with no trouble.

While it's hard to say why they are dying - it is preferable to keep similar sized animals together. Your juvi's will do much better.

I hope things settle down for you. That's too bad you've had all those deaths.
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos
Email

i would definitely say your older geckos are the cause. i've had tanks side-by-side before with a 3 month old in one and newborns in the other. the 3 month old would constantly dive across it's tank after the newborns in the next tank. i finally moved its tank for its own safety.

thats what i assume is going on since the latest one had its tail missing. so i would assume a stuggle or confrontation.

I'm sure that's what it was. I NEVER put youngsters together unless they are clutchmates that hatched within a day of each other and still separate them before they're 2 months old. I've also never lost a tail (knock the same wood) and they get to grow up in peace without being picked on by the bigger kids, unlike most of us! While it's possible they would eventually become tolerant of their cagemates, it's never been worth the risk to me. Good luck!
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Terri
9:14:12 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, White Lips, Pouncer, Studley, Randy, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, Shine, Harley, Lady, LemonDrop, AllVees, Stunner, Squeak (RIP), Bling, Squeaker, Stripe, Redhead, Speckles, Harrys, Penny, BonusBebe, RedHot, Puzzle and Snickers.

I agree. I have had them lose tails even when they are similar in size. I've had them kind of go into a feeding frenzy when I feed crickets, lung for a cricket and grab a tail instead. I did lose one baby that lost his tail in this manner and the second is doing just fine. I increased the amount of foliage and reduced the number of babies per enclosure and have since not had this problem.

Steve

while ive never had a crested lose a tail (knock on wood), i have seen some slight aggression from older siblings. it actually started when i put in my first clutch with my second clutch. i would hear chirps now and then, then i actually saw one of the older ones take a nip at the more recent hatchling. but actually, over time as more and more of them were housed together for longer periods of time, they became more tolerant of one another. so it wouldnt be unheard of to me to think that your older hatchlings could be ganging up on the younger ones. looked for any bite marks yet?
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-Mike Martin
North Carolina

I agree with Mike. have you seen bite marks? are the dead ones
dead or just gone? if dead, did you check for bites?

what kind of soil are you using? might you have any centipedes? they could if large enough, kill a crested hatchling. just a thought, i'm not an ectomyologist...>? you know bug person but
i've been bite my self and if sucked, i weight 180, can't imagine what a centipede could do to a small baby crested.

yes they can pick on younger ones and ones of different sizes....I sometimes hatch clutchmates together but if I see a difference in size, I seperate them...even if they aren't fighting, bigger ones might intimidate smaller ones into not eating as well...I've never kept any with that age difference together unless they are all full sized adults
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Rachel
Hatching Herps
1.0 bearded, 3.5.14 crested geckos, 1.1 gargoyle gecko, 2.2 corns (butter, caramel, normal, anery), 1.1.1 bp, 1.1 sinaloan milks, 0.1 rubber boa, 1.1 jcp, 1.0 cal king, white's tree frog