I kept hear them barking at each other. Seems like they were fighting over a spot. The Male gecko was already inside the 4 inch bamboo stick and the female poked her head there. They started making noises then the male came out and they just went at it. Her skin was flying off in pieces!! I immediately let the female roam free in my room til figure where to put her. They've never fought like this before!
My female Phelsuma Grandis just got viciously attacked by the male!!
- Thread starter Samboozle
- Start date
I've heard so many stories like this. Phelsuma geckos aren't nearly as cute as they look
I hope she heals OK for you.
She'll be fine. I think it's mating season so the hormones are high. The breeder I bought it from told me to extend the light hours longer. Ever since I did that, this started happening.
I have 1.1 now. It's a perfect size from what I've researched.
sideeffect
New member
How long were they paired together before they started fighting?
How old are they?
How long do you have lights on during the day?
How old are they?
How long do you have lights on during the day?
About a year now. I got them in October 24th ,2012 when they were only 8 months old. I keep the light on for about 13 hours (7am-8pm).
cricket4u
New member
Hi,
I can't tell you why they're fighting, however I must agree that 24 x 18 x 24 for 2 grandis is way too small. I once received a grandis which came in a 24in X 24in X 48 high acrylic enclosure and if I would have kept him(which I couldn't) I would have certainly increased the enclosure size. This would be minimal for just one adult. Sadly, there's so much poor information everywhere. It would be in their best interest to provide a lot more space.
I can't tell you why they're fighting, however I must agree that 24 x 18 x 24 for 2 grandis is way too small. I once received a grandis which came in a 24in X 24in X 48 high acrylic enclosure and if I would have kept him(which I couldn't) I would have certainly increased the enclosure size. This would be minimal for just one adult. Sadly, there's so much poor information everywhere. It would be in their best interest to provide a lot more space.
sideeffect
New member
So they are about a year and a half old...how sure are you that they are accurately sexed? It could be that you have two females or even worse, two males.
I took them to the vet to verify. They're definitely 1.1. The female laid several duds
Aimless
Super Moderator
well, if you put them together prior to maturity and they seemed to get along OK, but are now fighting, then I would guess they are becoming more sensitive to territorial issues as their hormones kick in.
a pair doesn't always get along, even if they have a ton of space. you might just have an incompatible pair. or, maybe your male's just not too bright; for a lot of gecko species the male will bite/grip the female on the back of her neck during breeding. maybe he's just a little overenthusiastic.
either way, they can't really be housed together. it's possible the violence will escalate.
a pair doesn't always get along, even if they have a ton of space. you might just have an incompatible pair. or, maybe your male's just not too bright; for a lot of gecko species the male will bite/grip the female on the back of her neck during breeding. maybe he's just a little overenthusiastic.
either way, they can't really be housed together. it's possible the violence will escalate.
They usually get a long. Except that day, they were fighting over that bamboo spot. The male was already inside, then the female poked her head in started making noise. Sounded like a car turning over. She went inside and they just went at it. Just yesterday the male came up to the female and started licking her face. Eitherway, you could be right? I will keep a closer on them. She looks gravid to me.
Lunalacerta
New member
My breeding Grandis pair who often seem very affectionate (when in actuality, I am aware these species are actually VERY territorial) have not hurt each other besides possibly a graze on the nose (darkening of scale), at least not since I got them 5 months ago. They do have obvious scars from previous scuffs though.
However, at one point the much bigger female was hogging the heatspot, and would rear her head up and honk loudly and continuously, chasing away the male. She then started sleeping in the male's spot (head first in a long leaf novelty plant), causing the male to get stuck in some sort of crazy mental loop, jumping onto the plant from bamboo, then back onto the bamboo, back to the plant, etc. This would repeat for several minutes.
The male also stopped accepting food from tweezers and started hiding in a cave in the bottom corner, that they almost never use.
We got particularly worried by this point and got the advice of someone at a petshop, who suggested just moving the scenery around.
We just swapped everything around in the scenery and this "reset" the territorial areas. Since then we haven't had any issues like this and both have been eating fine. They've continued to mate and produce fertile eggs, some of which have hatched.
The female is still dominant, still randomly honks now and then, but they keep their distance, occasionally meeting face to face, sitting beside each other etc. But never chasing each other away or doing any of the highly territorial stuff before.
If you are stuck for housing for one of the two, you might want to try this, but it really is at the risk of further damage to the animals. You should prioritise separating them for safety unless they are a proven breeding pair going through a rough patch. Those wounds are pretty substantial.
However, at one point the much bigger female was hogging the heatspot, and would rear her head up and honk loudly and continuously, chasing away the male. She then started sleeping in the male's spot (head first in a long leaf novelty plant), causing the male to get stuck in some sort of crazy mental loop, jumping onto the plant from bamboo, then back onto the bamboo, back to the plant, etc. This would repeat for several minutes.
The male also stopped accepting food from tweezers and started hiding in a cave in the bottom corner, that they almost never use.
We got particularly worried by this point and got the advice of someone at a petshop, who suggested just moving the scenery around.
We just swapped everything around in the scenery and this "reset" the territorial areas. Since then we haven't had any issues like this and both have been eating fine. They've continued to mate and produce fertile eggs, some of which have hatched.
The female is still dominant, still randomly honks now and then, but they keep their distance, occasionally meeting face to face, sitting beside each other etc. But never chasing each other away or doing any of the highly territorial stuff before.
If you are stuck for housing for one of the two, you might want to try this, but it really is at the risk of further damage to the animals. You should prioritise separating them for safety unless they are a proven breeding pair going through a rough patch. Those wounds are pretty substantial.
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mkschaefer
New member
There is some great advice above. If you have a pair that is not getting along, you can always rearrange the enclosure, rinse off bamboo and plants, mist heavily, and let one animal get settled and reintroduce the other a few days later (leave the animal being "bullied" in the enclosure and pull the other one out for a few days after you rearrange and spray heavily). I have done this with pairs of numerous species that did not get along well at first or squabble periodically. With some species, I also remove a gravid female as the male may keep pestering her and you see the behavior LunaLacerta is mentioning. You can provide multiple basking spots, visual barriers with plants, and more than one feeding site. As Aimless said, some animals just don't get along while others do.
Lunalacerta
New member
Glad to share some positive experiences. 
I should also point out that this was during a "big freeze" here in the UK, where March was freezing over with lots of snow (this is a big deal here even though these days it happens every damn year haha). We had some trouble maintaining good ambient temps in the the middle of the thermal gradient and near the bottom. Of course, when the house is about 15 degrees or even less, it's pretty hard to get up to the 27-33 we maintain at the moment. We tried all sorts like putting tin foil over the mesh but in the end we just had to blast the house with central heating (big bill came through last month!!). While there are actually two heat spots side by side - non UVB Edison heatspot and infrared emitter, they don't always like to sit together, so one of them was going to hog the heat in the cold. This is no problem during summer/autumn. They're basking noticeably less and never trying to bask at the same time.
I also noticed darkening of the skin on the male, but that might just because the male was in the shade half of the time. Hiding in the cave was bad because it was definitely affecting his exposure, although it could also have been a tough shed, also due to stress.
Lots of foliage is really important. Not so much for humans but so that the pair can "screen" themselves from one anther. The exo terra suction cup novelty stuff is great because you can cover the glass on the left and right sides and they hide under that where you can still see them.
Currently the female likes to sit horizontally in some upright bamboo 90% of the time (I think this was established years ago with previous owners), and the male is usually stuck to the front or side glass at least a foot away from the female, preferably well hidden behind dense foliage. He'll often feed from this same spot.
So the territory is pretty well established and you still get them meandering around in odd places in the evenings mostly. They normally return to the same places. I think perhaps while the female was gravid she was just being a bit of a bitch really, I can't think of a better way to describe it. She feeds furiously and viciously, tearing crickets in half and ALWAYS going for the male's feed as well. She wears the trousers alright, and maybe wanted to expand her territory.
I love studying this sort of thing as it gives them an abundance of character, but certainly it is important too for the wellbeing of the animals
I'd say the previous bout escalated over just a few days, and we did the rearrangement just about 3 days after the chasing started happening. You really need to keep an eye on the behaviour. Being new to keeping them we thought the honking was only a cute courtly thing - how wrong we were!!
I should also point out that this was during a "big freeze" here in the UK, where March was freezing over with lots of snow (this is a big deal here even though these days it happens every damn year haha). We had some trouble maintaining good ambient temps in the the middle of the thermal gradient and near the bottom. Of course, when the house is about 15 degrees or even less, it's pretty hard to get up to the 27-33 we maintain at the moment. We tried all sorts like putting tin foil over the mesh but in the end we just had to blast the house with central heating (big bill came through last month!!). While there are actually two heat spots side by side - non UVB Edison heatspot and infrared emitter, they don't always like to sit together, so one of them was going to hog the heat in the cold. This is no problem during summer/autumn. They're basking noticeably less and never trying to bask at the same time.
I also noticed darkening of the skin on the male, but that might just because the male was in the shade half of the time. Hiding in the cave was bad because it was definitely affecting his exposure, although it could also have been a tough shed, also due to stress.
Lots of foliage is really important. Not so much for humans but so that the pair can "screen" themselves from one anther. The exo terra suction cup novelty stuff is great because you can cover the glass on the left and right sides and they hide under that where you can still see them.
Currently the female likes to sit horizontally in some upright bamboo 90% of the time (I think this was established years ago with previous owners), and the male is usually stuck to the front or side glass at least a foot away from the female, preferably well hidden behind dense foliage. He'll often feed from this same spot.
So the territory is pretty well established and you still get them meandering around in odd places in the evenings mostly. They normally return to the same places. I think perhaps while the female was gravid she was just being a bit of a bitch really, I can't think of a better way to describe it. She feeds furiously and viciously, tearing crickets in half and ALWAYS going for the male's feed as well. She wears the trousers alright, and maybe wanted to expand her territory.
I love studying this sort of thing as it gives them an abundance of character, but certainly it is important too for the wellbeing of the animals
I'd say the previous bout escalated over just a few days, and we did the rearrangement just about 3 days after the chasing started happening. You really need to keep an eye on the behaviour. Being new to keeping them we thought the honking was only a cute courtly thing - how wrong we were!!
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