Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Phil1988]

I'm going to be introducing my male and female cresteds this weekend and was wondering if there are any hints or tips that might make it less stressful on them both? Both are 8 inches long with the female weighing 44g and the male 32g. It is the female moving into the male's tank if that is relevant. There is lots of cover with liveplants and branches. Should I stick them together early evening? Shold I take the male out for like half an hour and move her in on her own so she can have about 30mins to get used to her surroundings etc?

Any help is welcome...

[negri]

best advice is to put them both in little temp housing for a couple of hours and set up the tank so everything is new . move everything around , new substrate ect .


if you add the female to the tank as it is he might get nasty as she is invading his territory
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Eyeless frogs welcome...

Crested Geckos 1:7:4 + 8 Eggs
White Treefrogs 0:1:0
Green Anole 0:0:1
Fire Belly Toads 5:6:0
Bearded Dragon 0.1.0
Leopard Geckos 1.1.2
Albino Cali King 1.1.0
And a Fish Called George...

[Scott W]

yep, make it as netural as possible and plenty of hides.

to be honest I'm not a big fan of rearing lizards seperately and then putting mature animals together as I feel they haven't learnt how to respond to each and interact.
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[Phil1988]

Well I can't really setup the tank again so I guess my best bet is to take him out for an hour or so while she goes in. I don't think he will be aggressive towards her though. I was thinking I might introduce them on my bed or something but if they were to both decide to do a runner at the same time I wouldn't be able to catch them both.
Thanks guys I'll let you know how it goes.

[beege_3]

Good luck phil..
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2.3 Leopard Geckos Coming Soon
0.1. Crested Gecko 1.2 More Leopard Geckos
2.0 Corn Snakes 0.1 Gargoyle Gecko
1.2 Royal Pythons

[Xx_JoJo_xX]

Good luck! Hope it all goes well!
I sometimes get my two out and put them on my bed together.. but Biscuit is alot smaller than Spud at the moment and I always feel like Spud is looking at Biscuit as though she's her next meal! lol
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[Phil1988]

Thanks for the good luck guys but it didn't go too well. I put them together in the tank and within 5 minutes there was trouble. The female walked up to the male and then she put her foot on his back and he went mental. His tail was wiggling at the end and he was cackling, he then bit her on the head and she legged it. He followed her round the tank for about another 5 minutes - his tail was still wiggling and he was making sort of clicking noises but he didn't seem aggressive. Then out of the blue she stopped walking away from him and turned around and headed back at him. Then they were both snapping at each other and then I decided to take her out and they're both in seperate tanks again now,

None of them got any injuries and are fine now.

I don't know whether the male felt a bit threatened as she is a little bigger than him or if it was just bad timing. I will bulk him up some more and then in a few weeks when he is closer to her size I will attempt it again.

I have a few different things to try if it still doesn't go well like seperating the tank in half with mesh and letting them live side by side or trying the neutral set up.

I'll keep you guys updated.

[Scott W]

Hi Phil,
That's a shame, you may have to keep putting them together for short periods until they adjust and learn that the world now has two crested geckos and not just the one.


I know a lot people get caught up in this "don't keep young animals together as they will breed too young and die", personally I think it's rubbish for almost all reptiles I've worked with. And as you've seen it can end up causing greater problems further down the line when you decide they are mature enough for breeding etc.

From what I've seen, most animals that die egg bound or shortly after laying (snakes and lizards) appear to of caught the owner off guard, therefore correct nesting conditions weren't provided. By the time the owner saw the distress of the animal trying to find somewhere to lay it was probably too late and even when they eventually laid it had caused further complications. The blame is then put on the animal being too young, when it is in fact the onwer just not being prepared.
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[negri]

you could really also have taken the time to set up a neutral set up for them both .

he probably still thinks that its his territory

i introduced three females and a male that way and i never had any trouble




edited to say i introduced them during the day so they all went into a hiding spot and had a little time to adjust before being out on the prowl
_________________
Eyeless frogs welcome...

Crested Geckos 1:7:4 + 8 Eggs
White Treefrogs 0:1:0
Green Anole 0:0:1
Fire Belly Toads 5:6:0
Bearded Dragon 0.1.0
Leopard Geckos 1.1.2
Albino Cali King 1.1.0
And a Fish Called George...

[Phil1988]

Yeah I had thought about putting her in when it was light so they went to sleep that could be another thing to try.

I did slightly re-arrange the tank by moving branches around and adding a nestbox but I could have done more.

Thanks for the comments guys any help is welcome.