# Can you keep a male and female crested gecko in the same tank without breeding?



## andaroo (Nov 14, 2008)

I am worried my new female is very stressed out as I put her in with my male on the day I got her as the breeder told me it would be ok and a coupel of my friends have had male and female together and tried to breed them without any luck. However he mated with her right away and she isn't at the ideal weight yet (she's 33g). I haven't seen him mate with her since but he has been following her around a lot and he sleeps next to her. I don't want him to stress her out so much that it shortens her lifespan but don't want them to be separate and have a tank each as the whole point I got her was for my male to have a companion. I have them separated right now so the female can settle into her new home without being harassed but obviously would like them to be together for the long run without any babies if possible as I didn't get her to breed crested geckos.


----------



## kaaathx (Apr 20, 2011)

andaroo said:


> I am worried my new female is very stressed out as I put her in with my male on the day I got her as the breeder told me it would be ok and a coupel of my friends have had male and female together and tried to breed them without any luck. However he mated with her right away and she isn't at the ideal weight yet (she's 33g). I haven't seen him mate with her since but he has been following her around a lot and he sleeps next to her. I don't want him to stress her out so much that it shortens her lifespan but don't want them to be separate and have a tank each as the whole point I got her was for my male to have a companion. I have them separated right now so the female can settle into her new home without being harassed but obviously would like them to be together for the long run without any babies if possible as I didn't get her to breed crested geckos.


well the first thing you have to ask yourself is, why did you put them in together? i don't mean to flame but its a bit obvious whats going to happen. 

you can't exactly say "oh cresties please dont have it on i didn't buy you for breeding" or "il put her on the pill so it won't matter".

if you knew the female was under breeding weight why introduce her to a mature male?. theres nothing really that anybody can suggest to you other than seperate them now and forever if u don't want them to breed. and hope to god that if your crestie becomes gravid she'l lay okay and wont do too much harm to her.

my only advice keep them apart and learn from your stupid mistake. if you want a campanion for a boy then u cant unless you prepare yourself for breeding.


----------



## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

you really should have followed quarentining proceedures...

ah well, spilt milk and all, i have heard if you keep them quite chilly they wont go all frisky...i dunno what the temps are though ;-;


----------



## 123dragon (Jan 15, 2011)

you could always try giving them the "talk" and hope that they will be good but that wont happen so keep them seperated


----------



## heather king (Sep 9, 2009)

campanion for him? crestys as most reptlies do not need or want company,We as humans think because we like it,then they must, If i was you i would just get a other viv or sell her as he is more than happy on his own,


Hxx


----------



## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

For someone with nearly 2500 posts, im astonished you're even asking this question. You put a male and female together and dont expect them to breed? Not to mention you ignored even basic quarantine as well as putting an underweight crestie in with a sexually active male. Thats like putting your arm in an alligators mouth and not expecting it to bite!!
There is NO WAY you can put them together without them breeding, as said by heather king, the majority of lizards are solitary creatures and, although most females will abide another females company, they will breed if male and female are housed together. I see you now have them seperated, AS YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE INITIALLY, lets keep it that way. If she does lay eggs then best just freeze them as you are obviously not prepared for the job of raising them.


----------



## ambyglam (Nov 16, 2009)

is one of them gay? cos otherwise...

NO!


----------



## emmilllyyy (Oct 9, 2010)

this is very silly what you've done and your animals may suffer because of this. cresties don't need companions, they're solitary in the wild and enjoy doing so. if you put a guy in the playboy mansion, whats gonna happen? Idont think they'll chill and have a little 'teaparty' :lol2: and quarantine, you should quarantine new animals in a completely different room if you can help it for anytime from 3-7 months, you could have potentially passed on parasites to your current gecko by chucking another one in there, keep them split and don't have them together without the intention of breeding, males and females shouldn't really be kept together permanently anyway cause it can potentially create problems, but if you think your gecko needs a 'companion' I think you should sell them both on to someone with more knowledge

I hope for the sake of the crestie that she doesn't become egg bound seeing as she's under weight as that could be fatal, good luck!


----------



## Marinam2 (Sep 4, 2007)

For goodness sake ......................................how many times does it need to be said about reptiles NOT needing companions or "friends" they don't get lonely nearly all reptiles live on their own they like it its how they live.

Well lets hope that your female doesnt catch anything nasty from the new male youv've broughtg home and lets hope she doesnt get egg bound being so small and lets also hope that you know what your doing when the eggs arrive in a week or so.....

Have you given her a safe place to lay her eggs????


----------



## emmilllyyy (Oct 9, 2010)

the females the new one hes got, let's just hope she's not still stressed from her new surroundings when she lays, or it could be bad!


----------



## Chris18 (Mar 22, 2009)

Ok guys, calm down
While I agree with pretty much everything has said the OP doesn't need about 6 replies basically saying the same thing but an added insult to her intelligence in the mix.
I've spoken to the OP on another thread before and made it clear to her what she did was a mistake which is why she's separated.
While the Gecko is considered underweight (normally 40g) once upon a time the considered breeding weight was 30g so it shouldn't be too bad, obviously the stress of moving to a new location and being bred is pretty harsh but i'm sure she'll get settled before laying and there SHOULDN'T be a problem.
Ofcourse it would of been a lot better if the breeding didn't happen.

To people saying they can be kept together if they're cooled. While this is true they cannot survive while being cooled for their whole lives and the OP doesn't want to breed this is an impractical situation.
Just keep them separate OP, you only have yourself to blame for being stuck with two separate geckos as you didn't research throughly


----------



## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

I won't add fuel to the fire....but the OP should really have known better especially with all the frogs he has!

Chris18 - BTW Andaroo is male!


----------



## andaroo (Nov 14, 2008)

You guys need to relax, what's with all the dramatic responses?

You ask a question that requires a simple answer and you're given a variety of pointless sarcastic comments, told your an irresponsible pet owner, that you should kill the eggs your gecko is about to lay and to sell your geckos because you don't have the knowledge needed in order to keep them alive. Wow.

A simple, no they will continue to breed so it is best to house them separate for their lifetime as they are actually solitary animals and do better on their own.

A bunch of sarcastic comments and enlarged red capital letters etc are not being very helpful.

I'll explain the situation a bit more as people are being over reactive and ridiculous. 

The gecko's are my other half's. They got the male cresty last June and has had no problems with him at all. They know about keeping crested geckos more than I do as I am a frog person. They have wanted a tank mate for him for a while, they knew that males will fight but was told by 3 different friends who all keep 1 male and 1 female crested gecko together that no matter how hard they tried to get the conditions right they would not mate. So because of this we both assumed that their mating patterns were similar to frogs where there has to be the right temperature, humidity etc in order for them to breed. Also the reason we were unaware that crestys were solitary animals because we have both seen setups in zoos and peoples houses that contain several in the same enclosure. So we were under the impression like frogs they are communal and you can keep more than one together.

The reason we did not quarantine is because we asked the breeder do you need to quarantine them? And he said "it depends, is the gecko you have now sick? because she isn't sick". We said no. He said that they will be fine together. 

I am aware you should quarantine new arrivals, especially from questionable sources, as I do with my frogs for 3 months. However because www.northerngecko.com is a very reputable breeder, she was almost a year old with no health problems, told directly from the breeder that it would be ok to put them together we decided against quarantine.
We both didn't realize that they would mate so quickly, like I said we thought the conditions had to be different.
As for the eggs she may lay, I have done my research and if they aren't duds I will take care of them. Frogs are a lot more difficult to look after than crested geckos believe me so I'm sure I won't need to freeze the eggs or sell both of the crested geckos after one mistake.

We both realize we lacked the knowledge we now have and have made a mistake but like I said they are separate now, see:











and will remain so. I don't want the female to be a baby making machine and I don't keep pets to make money off them.

Thanks!:2thumb:


----------



## ginnerone (Aug 2, 2009)

Tried Bromide?

Disclaimer, don't acctually try bromide!!!


----------



## Jazzy B Bunny (Jun 21, 2007)

Man, leave the guy alone. Didn't need all the sarky comments did it? Doesn't get anyone anywhere...


----------



## nads (Apr 21, 2010)

andaroo said:


> You guys need to relax, what's with all the dramatic responses?
> 
> You ask a question that requires a simple answer and you're given a variety of pointless sarcastic comments, told your an irresponsible pet owner, that you should kill the eggs your gecko is about to lay and to sell your geckos because you don't have the knowledge needed in order to keep them alive. Wow.
> 
> ...


 Nice viv's,i love the backgrounds: victory:
Vicky


----------



## steve0 (Jan 19, 2013)

andaroo said:


> You guys need to relax, what's with all the dramatic responses?
> 
> You ask a question that requires a simple answer and you're given a variety of pointless sarcastic comments, told your an irresponsible pet owner, that you should kill the eggs your gecko is about to lay and to sell your geckos because you don't have the knowledge needed in order to keep them alive. Wow.
> 
> ...


on a plus side those terrariums look stunning :2thumb:


----------



## switchback (Nov 25, 2011)

Typical flaming  

Op those exo's are nice, it's what I keep my crestie in... As been said the backgrounds are great, where did you get them?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk and technology


----------



## c_1993 (Jun 10, 2011)

You do know this thread was made in 2011 right? 

:lol2:


----------



## switchback (Nov 25, 2011)

c_1993 said:


> You do know this thread was made in 2011 right?
> 
> :lol2:


Ha! Well I do now! Some 1 must of been doing some back reading and posted so its popped up again  

Oh well I still like those backgrounds 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk and technology


----------



## c_1993 (Jun 10, 2011)

switchback said:


> Ha! Well I do now! Some 1 must of been doing some back reading and posted so its popped up again
> 
> Oh well I still like those backgrounds
> 
> ...


:lol2:

Yeah they are pretty cool, I know you can buy a 'congo exo terra' and it comes with a background similar to the one above. I've never seen them being sold without the viv though.

Exo Terra Congo Terrarium 45x45x60cm


----------



## AgentGraves (Sep 12, 2012)

my cresties like company, i've often seen them sitting around a table talking over the workd of shakespeare while listening to some smooth soul jazz: victory:


----------



## micky0 (Jul 25, 2012)

AgentGraves said:


> my cresties like company, i've often seen them sitting around a table talking over the workd of shakespeare while listening to some smooth soul jazz: victory:


Yep my crestie likes kicking back with my beardie too, never had an issue :2thumb:


----------

