# Leopard Gecko climbing sides



## vanassen (May 29, 2010)

Hi All,

I recently got my first set of leopard geckos ( 2 weeks ago ) i bought a tank with a complete setup and a female off someone that no longer wanted them and i then went to a local pet shop and bought another female and a male.

So in the tank ive now go 1 male and 2 females, they all seem to be getting along fine and haven't seen any problems apart from i tried to feed them crickets and they haven't touched them, but i then put some locusts in and they disappeared over night. Since then i have also put a pot of meal worms in there just to try and see what they prefer to eat.

Anyway my point of posting was that in the last week i have noticed the original female that was use to being by herself has started trying to climb the walls as if she wants to get out and i was just wondering whether there could be any reasoning behind this, is this normal? I have a nice big tank for them with 3 hides and a moist box, water is changed every day and there is a calcium dish in there. Only other bit of detail i can add about her is that she hates being handled.

Any advice would be helpful thanks


















As you can see from the second photo, there she is in the corner climbing up lol.


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## vanassen (May 29, 2010)

Not sure why my photos wont show up in this post but heres the links:

Imageshack - p1011106f.jpg

Imageshack - p1011113.jpg


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## maryacross (May 29, 2010)

Hi Im new to this forum, was wondering if anyone could help. i have a bearded dragon aged 3. we adopted him from our son. they originally had two. but after awhile, the one we sold was attacking stumpy, the one we have now. he lost a bit of his foot. but has been fine, eating etc since we got rid of the other bearded dragon. stumpy is very tame. we are emigrating to america in two months, and would like to be able to place him in a good loving home, as we have all been really fond of stumpy and his actions. if anyone interested they may have stumpy, and equipment as long as we know they will take good care of him.


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## amylls (Sep 18, 2009)

She's prob just trying to climb,they like to climb or maybe want out.But 1 thing i would suggest that is totally unrelated is get rid of the wood chips


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## vanassen (May 29, 2010)

Thanks for the advice. Someone i know with geckos said to me that it was good to have them in one corner of the tank where they poo, i did start to question this though as i havent seen anyone else using it.


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## kirky1980 (Apr 4, 2010)

iv had mines for 8 weeks and she has always climbed the sides of her viv she now climbs onto the runners scratches the glass for me to open up and let her out 

she also likes to watch the tv for some strange reason lol


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## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

Firstly, you should really have quarantined the new gecko's BEFORE introducing them to the original female. What are the dimensions of the tank? Temperatures? Also, how old are the gecko's?
If she seems stressed out then maybe she is being bullied by the new ones, or just does not like sharing her tank with two newbies.


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## vanassen (May 29, 2010)

The tank is 60x45x45. During the day i try to keep the tank in the 80s then at night i turn the heat matt off and it drops down to the 70s.

All 3 of the geckos are around 2 years old from what i was told by previous owner and reptile shop, the other female and male were in the same tank together at the reptile shop.

I dont think there is any bullying going on as the new female just hides away constantly at the moment (shes massive and got a really fat tail to her so im not to worried about her) Im guessing she is still settling in and the male does come out but he isnt aggressive what so ever and loves to come out the tank. 

The original girl is the most active one, I put a moist hide in the tank because the previous owner didn't have one in there and she loves it shes always in and out of it but its just that at night ive noticed she starts trying to climb up the side of the tank. Im pretty sure she has shred her skin aswell as she was very pale one night then the next day she was back to normal. Ive got her out a couple of times but shes very lively.


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## ReptileLady (Feb 4, 2010)

The reason for a quarentine period is so that if any of them have any illnesses or parasites, they wont be passed on to the others. As the original female has only had 2 weeks to settle in before having 2 new leos put in with her (and one a male, who will likely be showing interests in mating) she (and probably the others) are most likely stressed.

I would only keep 1 leo permanantly in a 2ft tank, 2 temporarily (for breeding purposes) but not 3 even temporarily, it's just not enough room per gecko.

It sounds like you're nearly there with the temperatures, is the heatmatt on a thermostat? Without a thermostat you wont be able to control and maintain the correct temperatures. They need a basking spot in the warm end to reach 88F and stay at that temperature until the night time drop, if it's not reaching the correct temperatures and keeping them stable, they won't be able to digest their food properly in the long run (which could be why you've not seen them show much interest in food so far). : victory:


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## vanassen (May 29, 2010)

I gotta be honest i had read about quarantine periods but i ignored it and took a risk and put them all in together and they seem quite happy all together. They've got plenty of room in my tank. I no people that also have 2 females and 1 male in small vivariums and they get along fine. 

Yea i was thinking of getting a thermostat to control the temperature a bit more, do you think this is quite important then? I just have the analog thermometer atm and i try to make sure that during the day its in the 80s and then at night i turn my heatmatt off and the temperature drops to the 70s. 

Do you think its a must to get a thermostat to get the heat exactly right? e.g. will they be alot more happy?


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## kirky1980 (Apr 4, 2010)

vanassen said:


> I gotta be honest i had read about quarantine periods but i ignored it and took a risk and put them all in together and they seem quite happy all together. They've got plenty of room in my tank. I no people that also have 2 females and 1 male in small vivariums and they get along fine.
> 
> Yea i was thinking of getting a thermostat to control the temperature a bit more, do you think this is quite important then? I just have the analog thermometer atm and i try to make sure that during the day its in the 80s and then at night i turn my heatmatt off and the temperature drops to the 70s.
> 
> Do you think its a must to get a thermostat to get the heat exactly right? e.g. will they be alot more happy?


 
yeah a thermostat is a must to control it and also they thermometers aint good at all i have them but after a few days i quickly bought digi ones of ebay for a couple of quid each and there great


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## vanassen (May 29, 2010)

Yea my room does get quite hot aswell tbh so i think i will have to invest in a thermostat. Any recommendations, was just looking at the habistat ones? are they about the best?


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## ReptileLady (Feb 4, 2010)

If you're using a heatmatt, yes, you'll need a habbistat thermostat. once you've got it we can help you with the positioning of it and getting it set up 

The thermostat is one of the most essential peices of equipment you can get, it will get the temperatures correct, and will also stop the tank from over-heating, which can be just as dangerous as not being able to digest food. : victory:

I really can't stress how important quarentine is, so many keepers have lost animals due to not taking the time to quarentine properly. I would reccomend at least having fecals tests done so you can know for sure if there are any nasties they might be carrying.


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## vanassen (May 29, 2010)

Ok thanks for your help, Just one more question do the thermostats just stop it getting to hot e.g. switch off the heatmatt when it goes over 88 or do they if it senses its getting a bit cold in the room turn up the temp of the heatmatt aswell? Just wondering if it works both ways.

Il have a ring around 2mora and see if any of my local shops does the habistat thermostats at a decent price otherwise il get one ordered off ebay. Think il invest in a digital thermometer aswell as i didnt think the exoterra ones were to accurate.

Thanks


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## simooshy (Mar 12, 2010)

Thermostats (if you buy a pulse one) keep the temperature stable to within a degree or so.


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## dickvansheepcake (Jul 8, 2009)

I think your tank is too small for three to live in comfortably. Just because you know people that squash them in smaller, does not mean it's right. They shouldn't really be kept together permanently in my opinion either, due to increased stress...which by the sounds of it is affecting them already. I mean no offence but it really sounds like you need to do a bit more reading up on them. There are many helpfull care sheets on here that will help you get the set up right for them (correct temps, viv size and equipment ect.) Another thing is you should be reading the floor temp, with a digital thermometer. Not the air temp. 
Thermostats are essential by the way, for the health and well being of your lizards.


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## taylor (Aug 20, 2008)

tbh i thnk some of them just like to paw things, i have one that constantly does it , does my head in but shes done it from day one, and shes in a 3ft tank on her own atm so deffinately not stressed lol


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## vanassen (May 29, 2010)

Thanks for your advice, as you can see im no expert but i have actually done alot of reading up i havent just gone out and bought them. There behaviour at the moment is quite normal from what ive read and they seem fine so i wouldnt say "its affecting them already" i was just asking if there was any reason why the female is trying to climb up the sides and people have told me thats quite normal. 

Ive found a local shop that has stock of the thermomstats and digital thermometers so would you just suggest placing the readers on top of the heat matt? Is that the reading i should be taking?

Thanks again


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## ReptileLady (Feb 4, 2010)

You need the sensor inside the vivarium as that's where the geckos will be, so put the matt under the substrate and put the thermostat sensor ontop of the substrate. The matt should cover about a third of the base, this will create a warm end and a cool end, allowing your geckos to thermoregulate. : victory:

A mat stat will turn off when it reaches the temperature you set it to, and when it goes below that it will turn back on to get the temp up again. You should be able to pick one up for £20-25 

It is difficult to get everything right the first time when there is conflicting information on alot of caresheets, but they are easily rectified with no damage caused if sorted early enough.


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## Chaos&Tink (May 3, 2010)

Yes a matstat (thermostat) really is a must, which is something we didn't know when we started out. We also have a digital thermometer which you can get dead cheap on ebay, ones used for fish tanks or the home, as long as they have the probe on the end.
We never switch our heatmats off. They are plugged into either matstats or pulse stats, and the heatmat covers a third of the viv. We have lino as our 'substrate', so we have the probe from the matstat/ pulsestat ontop of the lino (over where the heatmat is obviously) as well as the thermometer probe next to that on the lino, because as everyones said, you need to measure the floor temp,where the Leo would be sitting if you like. We use lino & kitchen towel for their poo, you usually get an idea before long where each Leo likes to 'poo', so put a bit of kitchen paper/towel there, and just throw it away & replace when it's been poo'd on. Works for us  and much safer than woodchip 
Our females I have noticed scratch at the glass doors alot, when they are due to lay eggs. They seem to get really antsy & go mad scratching lol. So I do not know if this is true of other gravid females, or if yours are gravid? But for us, that's when ours really climb the sides & go crazy!
We also found it better to keep males seperate...though like you we started with male & female, but quickly changed that. Because we didn't want the stress of a male being around to have any ill effect on our females well being. But that was just a decision we made..maybe people do keep them in groups, and they probably do ok, but a lot of people keep them seperate too. Females go through enough carrying & laying the eggs, it takes a lot out of them, so we just wanted them to be as stress free as poss.
Good luck with your new Leo's 
Tink x


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## vanassen (May 29, 2010)

Been out today and bought myself one of the habistat thermostats, ended up getting the pulse one as i decided if im guna do it i might aswell do it properly lol. Also got a digital thermometer and my temperature in my tank is now 84.9F. So im a bit happier now that i can see whats going on in my tank and ive got a thermostat to control it all. 

I then got home and noticed there was two eggs in my tank lol, so popped back and bought myself an incubator. What an expensive day lol.


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## ReptileLady (Feb 4, 2010)

That could be why she was scratching so much! It sounds like it's been a very productive day for you! :2thumb:

Just need to get the temperature up a bit still but you can do that by adjusting the dial on the thermostat.


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## kirky1980 (Apr 4, 2010)

lol bet that was a shock lol and yeah u need to up the temps to about 90ish i keep mines at 92 and cool side staye a nice 79


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## GeckoD (May 30, 2010)

As long as you are absolutely sure that the temperatures you provide are consistant then a thermostat is not essential, if you're around alot then you can keep and eye on the temperature however if you work and are not around or indeed not awake to notice the fluctuations in temperature then you should have one (so go get one...I actually DO keep my male in with the rest and they get along just fine however he doesn't have a particularly high libido lol so he doesn't hassle his girls much but if you observe that kind of behaviour then they should be seperated for the sake of the females getting too stressed and not eating etc.
One more thing is that your viv is quite big but bare in mind that leos are not an arborial species and therefore do not have the entire space to roam as they cannot climb glass or flat surfaces like most other gecko species, they can and will climb however (and seem to actually enjoy it) so maybe some more climbing decore like branches, shelves etc. But be careful because they are clumsy climbers and have no fear of hights so for them the quickest way down is to drop which is'nt the safest way but they will do it.
All the best!


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## SleepyD (Feb 13, 2008)

GeckoD said:


> As long as you are absolutely sure that the temperatures you provide are consistant then a thermostat is not essential, if you're around alot then you can keep and eye on the temperature however if you work and are not around or indeed not awake to notice the fluctuations in temperature then you should have one (so go get one..


Personally I'd recommend having a thermostat regardless of whether anyone is home all day to watch the temps or not.



> .I actually DO keep my male in with the rest and they get along just fine however he doesn't have a particularly high libido lol so he doesn't hassle his girls much but if you observe that kind of behaviour then they should be seperated for the sake of the females getting too stressed and not eating etc.


sorry but it's not just 'sexual/mating' behaviour that can cause stress either towards the females or even the male..... male leos can be affected just as much by stress/bullying etc as females and trouble doesn't always start off with fighting or loss of appetite.... and many owners don't realise until it's been going on for a fair while and actual physical health problems arise.


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## ReptileLady (Feb 4, 2010)

I would completely disagree about thermostats not being essential. There are memebrs of this forum who have recorded the temperatures a heatmat can reach when not controlled by a thermostat and it was dangerously high! Unless you are sitting next to it all day, plugging and unplugging, you will not be able to keep the temperatures stable.


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## GeckoD (May 30, 2010)

SleepyD said:


> Personally I'd recommend having a thermostat regardless of whether anyone is home all day to watch the temps or not.
> 
> 
> sorry but it's not just 'sexual/mating' behaviour that can cause stress either towards the females or even the male..... male leos can be affected just as much by stress/bullying etc as females and trouble doesn't always start off with fighting or loss of appetite.... and many owners don't realise until it's been going on for a fair while and actual physical health problems arise.


No your absolutely right I was just making the point that horny males can stress the females especially if they're not in the mood, so i dont think males should be kept with females at all unless there are several females for him to have his way with...even females together fight i know...sorry i should have been more specific
An what i meant by the thermostat is basically yes! they are essential but back in the day when i first got mine i didn't leave them alone for five minutes, bit different now lol but yes they are an essential piece of kit! as i said (go get one)


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