# Are my leopard geckos fighting?



## fuzzzzbuzzzz (Apr 11, 2010)

Hi all,
Wondered if you could help me on this please. I have a female gecko which I have raised from a month old and now she is 3.5 years old. She is in a 2ft viv with a male who is bigger at the age of 4 but is very friendly. I was planning on getting another gecko, but I was not sure which one, so I got him. I put them together yesterday in the same tank (and that was the first time they met) Anyway, I am upgrading the size of the vivarium and buying another hide, so I though they would not harm each other in 48 hours. I think they have mated during this time and I think she might be getting stressed or this is because its breeding season. Moving on, my husband noticed them fighting (I did not see this, but I think its probably breeding activity). I am going to get another hide tommorow evening or Thursday morning, so they can have some time away from each other. So after my husband saw them fighting, I had to contruct a make-shift hide out of small shoebox, so they could have their own space. The female seemed a little carmer when she went in. Then 2 minutes later she came out again and went back in the hide with him. I thought they needed their own hide, so I gave them one, but they like it in the same hide (as it seems). So my question is: Is this biting between them breeding activity or just them saying they need time apart. Sorry if I rambled on, but I just had to ask.
Thanks to all answers.
Gemma


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## SleepyD (Feb 13, 2008)

whilst nipping by the male may be part of breeding the female biting back isn't ~ females can and often will fight if they are not ready or receptive to mating and especially if the male keeps pestering them to breed.
I personally would not recommend keeping a male in with a female all the time as it can end with her becoming stressed/harrassed even more so if they have mated and she becomes gravid and he continues to stress her ~ is just one reason why I keep males seperate from females apart from a short visit for breeding.


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## jaykickboxer (Feb 11, 2008)

yeh i gotta say although its nice to keep animals togher u need a bigger tank and a few females in order to stop harrassment by the male they seem to do it over and over again.


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## nuttybabez (Jul 21, 2007)

Agree with SleepyD as always


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## Ninjaaa23 (Jan 22, 2010)

they are just wrestling:whistling2:


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## dragonbeardo (Apr 20, 2010)

is she just playing hard to get :whistling2: giving him a little nip to let him know she not ready, but then went back to him............ sounds like a soap :lol2:


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## supersonic46 (May 17, 2009)

I agree with sleepyD. My female wasnt ready but I kept her in with the male in the hope this might kick start her ovulation, wasn't to be... everytime the male tried to grip her she gripped him and gave him a good shake, then he would back off... it then got to the stage were even tho she was shaking him he wasn't letting her go and tried to mate with her anyway... GECKO RAPE... I eventually put her back into her own viv she wasnt the same, took her days to get back to herself. My males and females are always seperate, males will never give up!! 

My geckos only meet for 10-15 minutes, if she rejects him they get seperated, and if not they do the bussniess then seperated. Keeping them seperate is the best bet.


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## emma90 (Jan 28, 2010)

agree with sleepyd.


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## suez (Jul 8, 2007)

also agree my males are all kept separate as they will and do pester and breed the females to the point of making them ill.carrying and having eggs already takes its toll on the female without the added stress of a randy male shoving her all over the place when all she wants to do is rest and concentrate on having healthy eggs= healthy babies: victory:


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## fuzzzzbuzzzz (Apr 11, 2010)

I need to buy new heat mat, viv, stat, hide, bowl... Does anyone perhaps have what I need by any chance please, so I can seperate them. Thanks for the advice.


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