# Keeping Geckos in a Colony?



## becki_moorcroft (Jul 13, 2009)

Hi I'm after some suggestions for a colony species of gecko. Its not something that is imminent but will probably start the set up next year, but wanting to broaden the range of species I'm looking into. At the moment I'm considering dwarf day geckos, but thought you guys might have some other ideas.

I've only kept leos and a crestie in the past but my knowledge has grown exponentially through keeping other species (torts, amphibians and exotic mammals) so feel ready to get back into lizards.

I'm looking for a gecko or lizard that not just 'can' be housed in a group, but really one that prefers it or thrives in it. My ideal would be a mixed sex group, but I'm also open to suggestions of species where its only 1 male per tank, or even female only.

I have 4 foot X 2 foot of space and I'm looking for something of leopard gecko size or smaller.

I would really love a species that has some different morphs, or just marking variations (in spots or stripes etc) or individuals can be identified, but understand that would be a long shot. 

I'd also really like to try a planted bio-active setup, so ideally suggestions that would thrive in there...

If you can think of anything that might be suitable, or ticks any of my 'wishlist' lol feel free to suggest it for my to look into.


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## NickBenger (Nov 18, 2010)

Mourning Geckos fit your criteria well.


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## supatips (May 29, 2012)

I have a trio of williamsi which is what I think you mean by dwarf day geckos. You might struggle to get anything other than unsexed youngsters or adult males. 

Expect to pay at least £70 for unsexed youngsters possibly even more. For adult females that are captive bred you might be looking at at least £200 if you are lucky to find them at the moment. There was a ban on imports at the beginning of last year which has caused the prices to shoot up. Keep your eyes on classifieds though as you might strike lucky.

Mine were purchased as a group and seem to cohabit ok but I've read that anything other than 1:1 can pose a problem for them. There could be dominance issues between two females, currently not somthing I've noticed with mine and they have been together for a while prior to my aquisition. 

Two males are a non started as they will most likley fight to the death. It's worth nothing that submissive males can look like females colour wise.


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## Nathanb (Nov 12, 2015)

I'd go for neon day geckos - (Phelsuma klemmeri), they're the only ones that I know of that really buck the trend - you can keep them in community groups with limited or no aggression (you still need to keep an eye)

I have a group of 8 in a 60x45x60 heavily planted bioactive setup and they're quite happy, they went in as a juvenile group and have grown on together. At last count there's 2 x males, 4 x females and 2 that are still too young to sex. I think they tick alot of the boxes of what you're looking for - from my experiences with them they prefer to be in groups, I have a seperate breeding pair as well and they are shier and no way near as sociable as the group - I suspect it's to do with safety in numbers. 
I personally think they're really fun to watch and if you spend some time you can see some little personalities coming out! 

Only question is how tall is your Viv? They are very active and prefer to hover around the top of the tank. Only gotcha (depending on your perspective) is they're not a handling lizard - they're fragile, easily spooked and move like lightning! On the plus side though males and females have the same vibrant yellow head and blue stripes that the males have (the babies are born the same color as the parents as well)

If you want any photos of the geckos or how I've got the tank set up let me know


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## supatips (May 29, 2012)

Nathanb said:


> I'd go for neon day geckos - (Phelsuma klemmeri), they're the only ones that I know of that really buck the trend - you can keep them in community groups with limited or no aggression (you still need to keep an eye)
> 
> I have a group of 8 in a 60x45x60 heavily planted bioactive setup and they're quite happy, they went in as a juvenile group and have grown on together. At last count there's 2 x males, 4 x females and 2 that are still too young to sex. I think they tick alot of the boxes of what you're looking for - from my experiences with them they prefer to be in groups, I have a seperate breeding pair as well and they are shier and no way near as sociable as the group - I suspect it's to do with safety in numbers.
> I personally think they're really fun to watch and if you spend some time you can see some little personalities coming out!
> ...


They sound quite an interesting proposition, do the males establish a hierachy and then they're fine or are they quite placid by nature?


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## herper147 (Feb 7, 2009)

I had several groups of stenodactylus geckos

They do great in groups and are really interesting to watch interact, I had 2 groups of 6 and one of 3. The two bigger groups were in 3 foot vivs and the smaller one of 3 was in a 45cm cube exo terra.


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## Nathanb (Nov 12, 2015)

If there's a hierachy I've not noticed it. I do know another chap who keeps a large group - I'll drop him a text and see if he's ever noticed anything like that as well


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

Tropiocolote species are perfect in colonies. Viper geckos also do very well


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## Creed (Apr 2, 2014)

becki_moorcroft said:


> I'm looking for a gecko or lizard that not just 'can' be housed in a group, but really one that prefers it or thrives in it.


I don't know of any gecko species that is truly social, most do perfectly well on their own and don't need a group structure to thrive. There are several species that do well in small groups, but I'd wouldn't keep anymore then a single male and two females. 

The only notable exceptions I've heard that do well in larger groups are the genus/species that Herper147 and vgorst suggested. I've heard that especially Tropiocolote can do quite well in groups, showing interesting behavior and supposedly tolerate young animals. Mind you I'm no gecko expert, but I'd start to look into either of those suggestions.


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## herper147 (Feb 7, 2009)

Creed said:


> The only notable exceptions I've heard that do well in larger groups are the genus/species that Herper147 and vgorst suggested.


One thing to note OP is that if keeping stenodactylus make sure you have the same species, there are 3 commonly kept species last time I checked (might be more now) and all look slightly different but are often sold under the same name usually, dwarf sand gecko, dune gecko, steno gecko, dwarf ground gecko so I would recommend looking up what species you are interested in first. Another thing to note is that these geckos are rarely CB, I had 2 that were 100% CB adults and they lived for more than 5 years with me but all the others were either 100% WC or unsure. The WC animals definitely do not thrive but the ones that make it through the first couple of months are bullet proof, I was not so against WC at the time and since I had a local shop who constantly had them I bought all of them and quite a few did not make it. 

I only kept s.Petrii, an old male:


I had a few geckos that were possibly Stenodactylus doriae (a few people said the above male was doriae and got along fine with the petrii but it is not always straightforward telling them apart, especially when they are a little dehydrated and underweight in the shop.

I am not really a gecko fan in general but these guys are just too interesting to pass up, so funny to watch them wonder round the second the lights go out. They also dig large tunnels and seeing them dig out a tunnel then cover up the hole only to poke their head out later on is brilliant.



These are desert species but appreciate a morning mist so not sure how well a bioactive setup would work.

I really wish more people were keeping and breeding these little guys, by far one of the best geckos in the hobby:2thumb:


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## lozmick (Jun 24, 2013)

Not a gecko species but i keep a trio of desert iguanas in 5x2x2 they seem to interact together with no dominant issues, they love dandilion flowers and one tries to take the flower from anotherbut still dont fight fortheflowera very underrated lizard in my opinion, and all 3 of mine are so placid if you want to handle them.


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## becki_moorcroft (Jul 13, 2009)

Thank you everyone some really interesting species to look into there, as yet the viv is 'theoretical' that's the floor space I can give, but really it can be as tall as needed. I've looked into stenos before and love them, but really want to avoid WC if possible and I've never seen any CBs come up :/ but they're defiantly something I'd consider in the future.


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## White Chocolate (Jan 12, 2011)

Mourning geckos do great in tall set-ups as they will go across the ground but prefer climbing,even upsidedown.They also do best in groups as they interact with each other.


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