Housing multiple male sikorae

Jackp308 · #1 08-01-2011, 10:04 PM

Anyone have luck housing males together without constant fighting? If so what size habitat any recommendations. I introduced 2 today and the smaller just wanted to attack the larger male.

jadrig · #2 08-02-2011, 02:39 AM

Yeah...aggression is not always based on size, especially with WC adults. I dont think that they are as bad as satanics...but havent kept multiple males together. I would imagine the fact that WC adult males usually have their original tails is a good indicator that they are not as aggressive as henks/fimbs...if that makes sense.

Jackp308 · #3 08-03-2011, 02:57 PM

Yea I dont think that little one is going to do well with others in general.Im going to try some other methods and matching and see what ends up going on.

Then on the other side i just got a trio of lineatus and the males are asleep together. Which I cant figure out what the deal is with that yet. If they are competing for the same bamboo sleep stick or dominance. One actually sleeping on the other. There is plenty more of the same bamboo in there too so its not like the only spot to sleep.Or anything special about it.

I heard and seen anoles and other lizards sit on each other supposedly to show type of dominance around the basking areas, but these geckos are actually sleeping in sleep position face down on each other . Ones is down about 2 inches further. I wonder if this is normal behavior.

Jackp308 · #4 08-03-2011, 03:44 PM

Scott F · #5 08-05-2011, 05:58 PM

I believe it is certainly a display of dominance- I learned the hard way a long time ago, when I first started keeping U. henkeli. I had two males housed in a very large enclosure with no visbile fighting or wounds for over one year; one night a awoke to a very loud shrill, I turned on the light to find that the more dominant male (the one that always slept on top of the other) bit the tail of his cagemate, as it was flopping around in his mouth. I keep all my males seperate now. Aggresion/intimidation may be more subtle in Uroplatus, but it can not be ignored for the sake of the long term health of the subordinate animal.

Viridovipera · #6 08-06-2011, 06:16 AM

I have to agree with Scott as I learned my lesson the hard way as well. My first supposed pair over sikorae turned out to be two males, which i kept together. The breeder told me they would probably be fine aslong as i dont put in a female. I could never spot any actual aggression and they were both eating fine. The smaller male always kept his distance and spent most his time in the lower half of the cage. Then one day I came home and found the smaller male with a stuck shed (full-body). When trying to remove it following the propper procedure it turned out there were two layers of shedding, not only one. I got him cleaned up and put him in a smaller cage, but he could not save him. I talked to a few expirienced people and noone could tell me what it was. Now my theory is that the dominance and stress could have caused an hormonal imbalance which in turn resulted in the freaky shedding. The gecko went from fine to dead in less then two days.

Jackp308 · #7 08-06-2011, 01:08 PM

Right now all of my U. sikorae are housed individually in 18x18x24in/45x45x60cm and 36x18x18inches/90x45x45cm exoterra glass terrariums. I do plan on introducing females for breeding purposes.They have been in individual 10 gallon glass quarantine tanks for about a month now.All Males have been established here for a while now and I Was trying to see if maybe 2 males could have worked since I am so male heavy 6 to 3. So far not looking like it will.I have only introduced 2 though, and in not the best circumstance I dont think. Many different variables like Starting a new cage from scratch and placing each ones sleeping branch from their prior cages into the new cage while placing all 3 in at once may work better who knows. I will watch for aggression from them as well. I used to have some mean female crested geckos that I could never leave with any other geckos at all. She was fierce and went for the face and eyes of other geckos. She did not like company.

my reverse trio of U lineatus that i just receive recently are together and have been together in a 2x2x4 foot screen for about a year already and actively breeding laying fertile eggs. I only had a 18x18x24 glass terrarium at the time i got them though so they have been crammed Id say for a week. That is the above pictures. I just got a built screen cage that is 20''x20''x50'' so they should have plenty of space now. Im going to tranfser them there and watch for any signs of aggression or dominance being shown. I will split if need be for their benefit. I think the extra space should do wonders. Thanks for input. Any suggestions let me know. I really dont know a whole lot about these geckos and like to give them the best.

Jackp308 · #8 09-08-2011, 11:10 AM

Little update. My U.sikorae are still all housed individually. Planning on rearranging and doing a big full clean and tear down. Then try to introduce some females and males if possible. Also moved all the lineatus to to standard 2x2x4 screen. Today my female laid 2 eggs for me. Prior owner said she was laying fertile but this will be my first. Hopefully all goes well.