Phelsuma sundbergi ladiguensis gets a break

[DavidK]

Folks,

I separated my two Ladigue Island Sundbergi Day Geckos, and moved the female into the new vivarium. Here are some pics of her in situ. She has already begun to shed and repair her skin tears. I am amazed that Phelsuma regenerate their skin so readily.

I think it's strange that the pair could be doing so well together for over a year and then suddenly and unexpectedly become incompatible. I wonder if cross-gender aggression in sundbergi is common in the wild, or if it is a product of the animals being forced to cohabitate together in smaller than home range vivaria.

I want to give her time to heal and fatten up before placing the male into her cage for brief visits.

I hope you folks enjoy the pics, even if the subject is looking a little under the weather.

Regards,

Dave

 

[PhelsumaUK]

It's not unusual for these to fall out...along with several other species, it seems to happen more often in the 'winter'. I've had it happen with P. cepediana, P. ornata and even P. klemmeri this year

 

[Sgvreptiles]

I had my female P.sundbergi ladiguensis kill the male. After being together for about 2 years. My male grandis killed the female after 4 years of being together. Male abbotti checki killed my fmeale. It happens alot in phelsumas it seems.

 

[John_Woodward]

yeah, same here, i found my female ladiguensis dead last week, the pair had been together for over a year and doing great. I have no idea what this was all about, i really hope it doesnt become a trend in my phelsuma.

 

[Thetattooedone]

What tank size do you all use for the pairs? Do you think you'd have this problem if they were housed in a bigger tank?

 

[BlakeDeffenbaugh]

What tank size do you all use for the pairs? Do you think you'd have this problem if they were housed in a bigger tank?

Good question. I've thought and asked the same thing. I keep mine in a 12x12x18 exo and havnt seen any aggression besides breeding marks out of my pair. I was taking care of a friends animals and they were kept in custom cages that were somewhere close to 8 wide x 16 tall x 10 deep and there did seem to be some aggression. But once I put this pair in the exo the aggression seems to stop. Now when they were in the smaller tank there was all kinds of breeding activity and that slowed down in the bigger tank as well. But this could be because my rooms cooled down and their taking a break too though.

 

[DavidK]

Folks,

I kept my pair in an 18.5" X 12" X 30" tank (29 gallon tall aquarium). I had to separate the pair and now I have each individually in one of these tanks. I provided all kinds of visual barriers (branches, logs, heavy planting, etc.) and everything went well for about a year until one day they decided there wasn't enough room in the vivaria for the both of them.

I'm just lucky that I caught it in time and still have both my animals. In the future, I'm going to introduce the male into the female's vivaria for brief conjugal visits.

Regards,

Dave

 

[baugh]

I have caught it twice. I had to seperate my pair twice. From now on I will only pair them up when I want them to breed. This last time they were both in pretty rough shape.