animateash
Member
Hi All,
I have three sister leos, 10 yrs old, who have lived together their whole lives. Long 55 gallon tank, 5 hides of different sorts and everyone seems to have their favorite. No changes to their decor or living conditions lately. All are great eaters and in otherwise good health to my knowledge. All three sisters are of pretty equal size.
Recently I had to separate out one girl because she had significant and bloody bite wounds on her side and tail. I wasn't sure which other sister had been the attacker, so I kept the injured girl on her own for a month while I treated the wounds and made sure she was eating ok.
Tonight I put the now entirely healed gecko back in the big tank, hoping the issue was just a one-off argument motivated by food. Within an hour of the transfer back I caught the offending sister chasing her and biting those same places HARD! I whisked the biter out and now SHE is the one in solitary. Fortunately no open wounds this time.
What could cause such a sudden change in dynamic between lifelong tank mates who have not had issues before? I am now sure it was not a "I'm-hungry-and your-tail-is-wiggling" mistake, as everyone had just been fed plenty of super worms this afternoon before this happened.
I can keep the biter isolated permanently if needed, but I'm curious what's behind this and do feel bad that she'll no longer have the benefits of the nice big tank. Thoughts?
I have three sister leos, 10 yrs old, who have lived together their whole lives. Long 55 gallon tank, 5 hides of different sorts and everyone seems to have their favorite. No changes to their decor or living conditions lately. All are great eaters and in otherwise good health to my knowledge. All three sisters are of pretty equal size.
Recently I had to separate out one girl because she had significant and bloody bite wounds on her side and tail. I wasn't sure which other sister had been the attacker, so I kept the injured girl on her own for a month while I treated the wounds and made sure she was eating ok.
Tonight I put the now entirely healed gecko back in the big tank, hoping the issue was just a one-off argument motivated by food. Within an hour of the transfer back I caught the offending sister chasing her and biting those same places HARD! I whisked the biter out and now SHE is the one in solitary. Fortunately no open wounds this time.
What could cause such a sudden change in dynamic between lifelong tank mates who have not had issues before? I am now sure it was not a "I'm-hungry-and your-tail-is-wiggling" mistake, as everyone had just been fed plenty of super worms this afternoon before this happened.
I can keep the biter isolated permanently if needed, but I'm curious what's behind this and do feel bad that she'll no longer have the benefits of the nice big tank. Thoughts?
