Together or Apart??

[snakewrangler89]

OK i just bought 2 leopard geckos. They are not quite babies but they arent adults either. One is about 4 in long and one is about 5 in. The guy at the pet store said he was 80% sure they were male and female. On some occasions i have seen them beside eachother and they were not fighting. Is it ok to keep them together? Will they mate as soon as they are old enough? How old do they have to be to mate. And if they dont go through brumation will they still mate? And one more thing is there ever any occurences where two males can be in one cage without fighting... Im just paranoid because i do not want them to fight. And the pet guy could have been saying that they were male and female just to make he sale. PLEASE REPLY

[ChokeOnSmoke]

Dont keep them together they will mate when they are too young. Keep them seperate and wait until the female weighs at minimum 30 grams. You should keep them seperate for a quarantine period as well. Thats to make sure both are healthy and are not going to transmit parasites or diseases to each other.

[snakewrangler89]

They kept them together at the pestore....and i dont have another cage because they said it would be fine to have them in there and what do i use to weigh them?

[klein]

there is another post that says the female should be a min of 50 grams before mating.

you need to quarentine them and males have been known to fight until death sometimes, and i am sure some males will get along but is it worth the chance? they might not be fighting when you are there but as soon as you leave they could start and you will have one dead or injured when you go back and look at them, not worth the chance in my mind ....

[klein]

you can get a digital scale, there are lot of different places that sell them

[ChokeOnSmoke]

You use a scale. I letter scale might work.
It says a minimum of thirty grams in the Leopard Gecko Manual I think. I'm sure the bigger the better. I dont think you have to wait until they are 50 grams though.

[snakewrangler89]

well i only have one cage and no money to get another one ;( what should i do?

[drewlowe]

You should seperate them. Then during the breeding season you can introduce them together, if your wanting to breed them. As reasons stated above if your female mates to soon it can cause problems; egg binding, shortning your females life, and unneeded stress.

Also when housing more than one leo together you have to watch them to ensure both are eating accourdinly. Also if one gets a parasite they both have to be treated for it.

Jamie

[klein]

here is the link with regards to breeding and what size they need to be ...

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43408

[klein]

in terms of another cage setup, this can be done very cheap, you can get a human heating pad at walmart for $20, a rubbermaid container for $5-$10, water dish can be anything, hide same thing, get an old butter container or something like that and paper towels are really cheap as well, so for another setup it isn't that much

[ChokeOnSmoke]

my bad I just read the manual and it says they become sexually mature at around 35 grams but most breeders wait until they are 40 grams and by the sounds of that thread most wait even longer