Broken Hearted Gecko?/Incubator Success: Homemade!

[eliquidmatt]

Hi guys, was hoping for a little advice. I currently own 4 leopard geckos.. I have a single 6 month old female on her own in a small viv, a single male in a larger viv and a pair of 14 month old females in my largest viv. They are all in good health and eating well.

However, for about a month I had the male in with the 2 females, he wasn't overly troublesome towards them but like any male leo, he was a little rough at times. This was when I decided to move him out. Although he is still healthy, it's almost as though he misses them He comes out at night, goes strate onto his heat mat, he come's to the front to see me for his nightly cuddle, then goes back to his heat mat and he is in the same position when I wake up the next morning. He had so much character when he was in with the females, he was constantly patroling the viv, in and out of all the hides, sitting at the glass watching everyone, but now it seems he's not fond of life at all

My question is then, has anyone else experienced something simmilar when moving a male away from females? Is it really a case of having to keep them seperately or can they be housed permanently? I miss my old boy's charm

Thank you all in advance for any advice

 

[Saskia]

Hello eliquidmatt!
Actually I have seen the opposite, when a male is housed alone he doesn't need to show off, and they are usually less active, when geckos are housed together (females and males in general) they are instictively more active, looking for food, and in the case of the males, eventually trying to mate, I wuld say it is better to keep them separated, it is absolutely normal that geckos housed alone become less active, that's why it is a general recomendation for increasing their weight (to put them alone) because they move around less and therefor gain weight...
What you are seeing is normal behaviour, he is not heartbroken he just doesn't need to move that much! you can put them back together but you will likely have eggs soon, so, you need to be prepared for that, but remember that egg producing/laying is stressfull for a female, so there is a downside, in fact being housed with a male in genral is stressing for females, my recomendation is to keep them separated, and just put them togehter when you want to reproduce, and have everything you need to do so.
They are your animals in the end, this is just my humble recomendation!!

 

[eliquidmatt]

Thanks so much Saskia! I think you're absolutely right, I'm just a big softie when it comes to my Leo's.. my girlfriend says I care about them more than her :roll:

Shortly after you replied, I saw him up against the glass, 1 foot on the runners, looking bright eyed and quite pleased with himself Took him out for a run around my shoulders and popped him back in, he then had one of the most entertaining feeding sessions I've ever witnessed! Coupled with that and your reply, I'm not so worried anymore

I know it's most certainly the right thing to do in the end anyway, the females are beggining to fatten up already and do seem a lot more relaxed. One of them never used to really explore much but since moving the male out, she has been wondering around quite a bit!

I have my incubator set up and ready to go, holding at around 80% humidity and 83.6f, fluctuating by no more than about 0.4f... built it myself so was quite pleased with that result!

Thanks again for your reply!

 

[Saskia]

Builted it yourself?? WOW, very impresive!! Fluctuation of less than half a degree is excellet!! I bought mine and it fluctuates almost 2 degrees!!!

 

[eliquidmatt]

Well my local pet store is selling an Exo Terra one for over £160 :shock:

I managed to put mine together for around £40, so a considerable saving! It's quite a simple design but it works so well. I used a poly box (the type you see in Aqautics shops, they get there fish delivery in them) a 11"x11" heat mat, a mat stat, digital hydrometer/thermometer and a cricket tub.

I have the heat mat on the floor of the poly box with the mat stat probe attached directly to it. The mat stat is set 2 degrees ABOVE desired temperature at around 85 to allow the slight temperature drop as it passes through the vermiculite. I then have the probe for the hydro/thermometer pushed into the vermiculite, sat at exactly the same position an egg would be. It's been running exactly one week and the largest drop I have recorded has been 1 degree when we had a particularly cold night here!

The Exo Terra incubators scare the life out of me, I hope you don't have one as this may scare you too! They are basically re-branded mini fridges. Seriously! When I was looking into buying one I heard stories of them overheating and cooking eggs or dropping lower than 60 degrees! Plus the actual temperature inside is no where near what the digital read-out on the display is! Scary stuff!

 

[Saskia]

Well, No, actually I have a very basic one, made out of poly and inside of it there is a light bulb and a thermostat, that's it!! I put a digital thermometer inside and there you go!! it costed about £11 :blushing: it is as rudimental as it gets!! hehehehe but I really can't complain so far works good... I was looking forward to buy a Hova Bator 1602N for about £30 on Ebay, they are suposed to be quite basic but pretty much what everyone would need for leos at least

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Just checking in.......