scotty08724
New member
Back in May of 2013 I purchased 2 unrelated Pictus from a local breeder (Rhachouse.com). One being around a month old(male)
and the second being around 2 months old(female)
. Their diet consist of gut-loaded; either crickets, dubia nymphs, phoenix worms every day. dusted with Miner-all(no d3) twice a week, Fluker's calcium with d3 once a week. I had intention of housing them together and for the first 2 weeks I did, in an 18" L x 18" D x 12"H exo-terra. The two got along and slept together but when food was introduced the female would strike first and eat to her desire and the smaller male wouldn't even attempt to grab a cricket until she was out of sight. So I separated them into individual 10 gallons
(Tank on the left is for a crested gecko) for a month and a few weeks ago while I went to go clean the larger females tank, I placed her in the other tank housing the younger male and with in ten seconds the male(half her size still at this point) walked right up to her and sat on her head, then proceeded to copulate with her
. She did not seem to enjoy it and when I put her back in her tank, she did not come out of her moist hide for a few days, when she did I found an egg had been laid
. At that point she was 7 grams. I do not intend on incubating the egg but am more concerned about her health.
---Is this a normal age(3 months old) and weight (7g) for pictus to be sexualy mature and safely breeding?
Also since the night that they were together the male has started chirping a few times every other night. I have spent close to a hundred hours in the past few months reading up on pictus geckos and I have never seen anyone reporting any vocalizations.
So all that being said, I have set up their original 18"x18" exo-terra (Waiting on pieces that I will be taking from their current enclosures, moist hides and such, along with more plants that are still under quarantine and the branches and leaf litter will be placed in last.)
, waiting for the smaller gecko's size to catch up to the others. They are now equal size, but having since learned that they are mixed gender I fear that the male will over breed the female.
---If I introduce a second female of equal size to lighten the load of the male wanting to someone to breed with, then would it be safe to move them all into the same tank?
---Is an 18"x18" too small for a trio? if so how about the 24"L x 18" D x 18" H exo-terra?
Another observation is that my larger heavier female can and always could climb glass, since I have noticed this, I have since added cork pieces to the geckos tanks. The male has attempted to climb the glass before but never got any traction, while the female will climb right up and out of the cage if I leave the lid off. With the addition of the cork pieces to the tank, the male has climbed up it the very first day I put it in there and has not since climbed. Where as the female hardly ever touches the floor of her cage, She remains at the highest point in the cage.
Also the male will not allow me to get near him, when I need to remove him to clean his cage, I have to wait until he is in his tube hide and remove the entire hide with him in it. When I put my hand in his cage he walks up to me, licks my hand and runs away. If I attempt to coax him onto my hand, he looks at my hand as if it were on fire and he would rather jump to his death than be on my hand for even a second. Where as the female relishes the chance to climb on my hand and I let her roam around out side of her cage twice a week for exercise.
Because of the females bold, friendly personality I am biased toward caring about her needs and health first and if need be I will put her in the larger vivarium alone or with another female and sell the male or just keep him in his 10 gallon and convert his cage into a smaller vivarium as well.
Does anybody have experience with mixed gender permanent housing? Has anybody else experienced similar behavior in their pictus?
and the second being around 2 months old(female). Their diet consist of gut-loaded; either crickets, dubia nymphs, phoenix worms every day. dusted with Miner-all(no d3) twice a week, Fluker's calcium with d3 once a week. I had intention of housing them together and for the first 2 weeks I did, in an 18" L x 18" D x 12"H exo-terra. The two got along and slept together but when food was introduced the female would strike first and eat to her desire and the smaller male wouldn't even attempt to grab a cricket until she was out of sight. So I separated them into individual 10 gallons (Tank on the left is for a crested gecko) for a month and a few weeks ago while I went to go clean the larger females tank, I placed her in the other tank housing the younger male and with in ten seconds the male(half her size still at this point) walked right up to her and sat on her head, then proceeded to copulate with her. She did not seem to enjoy it and when I put her back in her tank, she did not come out of her moist hide for a few days, when she did I found an egg had been laid. At that point she was 7 grams. I do not intend on incubating the egg but am more concerned about her health. ---Is this a normal age(3 months old) and weight (7g) for pictus to be sexualy mature and safely breeding?
Also since the night that they were together the male has started chirping a few times every other night. I have spent close to a hundred hours in the past few months reading up on pictus geckos and I have never seen anyone reporting any vocalizations.
So all that being said, I have set up their original 18"x18" exo-terra (Waiting on pieces that I will be taking from their current enclosures, moist hides and such, along with more plants that are still under quarantine and the branches and leaf litter will be placed in last.)
, waiting for the smaller gecko's size to catch up to the others. They are now equal size, but having since learned that they are mixed gender I fear that the male will over breed the female. ---If I introduce a second female of equal size to lighten the load of the male wanting to someone to breed with, then would it be safe to move them all into the same tank?
---Is an 18"x18" too small for a trio? if so how about the 24"L x 18" D x 18" H exo-terra?
Another observation is that my larger heavier female can and always could climb glass, since I have noticed this, I have since added cork pieces to the geckos tanks. The male has attempted to climb the glass before but never got any traction, while the female will climb right up and out of the cage if I leave the lid off. With the addition of the cork pieces to the tank, the male has climbed up it the very first day I put it in there and has not since climbed. Where as the female hardly ever touches the floor of her cage, She remains at the highest point in the cage.
Also the male will not allow me to get near him, when I need to remove him to clean his cage, I have to wait until he is in his tube hide and remove the entire hide with him in it. When I put my hand in his cage he walks up to me, licks my hand and runs away. If I attempt to coax him onto my hand, he looks at my hand as if it were on fire and he would rather jump to his death than be on my hand for even a second. Where as the female relishes the chance to climb on my hand and I let her roam around out side of her cage twice a week for exercise.
Because of the females bold, friendly personality I am biased toward caring about her needs and health first and if need be I will put her in the larger vivarium alone or with another female and sell the male or just keep him in his 10 gallon and convert his cage into a smaller vivarium as well.
Does anybody have experience with mixed gender permanent housing? Has anybody else experienced similar behavior in their pictus?
