Can You keep Leopard Geckos Housed Together?

Keeping more than 1 leopard gecko in the same enclosure is often argued about... everywhere. Personally, I have successfully kept female leopard geckos together with no problems. However, after experiencing this myself, I've realized it's easier, safer and more beneficial to the animals and myself when housed by themselves. Today, I go into the details of why I believe this is the case!

🠟 MORE FUN STUFF BELOW 🠟

[Romanticoutlaw]

to be fair, if I was stuck in the same one room with someone else for most of my life, I would eventually be sick of them too

[coahmain]

i had two leos i rescued, apparently theyve lived together fine their whole lives. i figured they were both females from the information i was given, so i had them together. started fighting the day after i rescued them and had to separate. both turned out to be dudes.

[PrimitivTool]

1:07 hopefully that rarely happens
*Petco* hold my beer

[eggoerin]

“As you can see there’s a couple”
Me:sees like 74 geckos

Yup just a couple

[gigikate]

If you notice your geckos "cuddling" separate them immediately, this is sign of dominance.

[JAMPortraits]

i had 2 females together for a year (they were fine) then one started bullying the other.... its just not worth it.. it took about 6 months for the dominated one to regain her confidence... thankfully they're all fine now in separate enclosures. i would always advise against housing together because although mine were fine for about a year its almost inevitable one will dominate the other.

[cinnaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

when it comes to geckos in captivity, it seems like cost is another issue that people think about, because a whole other enclosure is twice the cost, but i always have to tell people if you want double the animal you really need to expect double the cost anyways. that, and people tend to project human emotion onto their reptiles, saying they "look lonely" and stuff like that, not really realizing that reptiles don't work like people. for the most part they're not social, if anything it's like having a roommate who sometimes says hi to you

[anneohnamous]

I kept 3 females in one 55 gallon tall tank with a bi-level. basically a second and third floor. I ended up doing this because I had adopted a gecko from a pet store that had been there for months. Nobody would buy her because she was "ugly." She was a Murphey's patternless being marketed as a snow leopard. So I took her home and gave her a lovely little set up and waited a few weeks to handle her to avoid stress, but I noticed a few things. First, she was MUCH older than a gecko is normally adopted--a fully grown adult. Second, she was all ready very hand tame and was honestly an absolute treat to handle her. Not shy one bit and would ask to be held. But, Third and saddest, she was losing energy and slowly refusing to eat, eventually refusing to leave her hide. Basically just kinda flopped on the floor under her log and wouldn't move. Vet said she was fine and to wait it out. But then it hit me; she had lived in a pet store for her entire life up until we adopted her with other, baby geckos! So the following year, I went back to this pet store and go figure, they had two on the euthanization list. So, like the sucker I am, I took them for the 2 cent fee and brought them home. After 2 months of quarantine and side-to-side tanks, I did the first introduction. After several months, Everyone's physical and mental health started to improve! However, a dominate female did immerge and she had to be housed separately. She was okay with that, since she was healthy and highly territorial, all she really cared about was dinner. But yes, Housing several together is a lot of work. I fed each separately and luckily, the oldest had potty trained the kids, so each went in their own corner, tank cleaning was a circus, the gecko bath-house always had THE LONGEST LINES! But some do benefit from cohabitation and it likely saved Miss Ishii. <3


TL;DR


I bought my gecko an emotional support gecko and it went well.

[amandac.]

I had 2 Females together for about 4 years without any problems. Then one day I found one of them completely shredded and bleeding. I cleaned her wounds and separated them. She made a full recovery and is doing great. But that’s my gecko co hab experience :)

[Eternalozzie]

the only reptiles I house together are my aquatic turtles. they cohabitate easily. map turtle swims around a lot and the softshell is in the sand a lot. both bask in different spots.

[evonwhenperishing]

Different geckos definitely react, well, differently with certain other geckos... while it’s definitely fun to watch them interact, there is always that possibility of injury. I really like that you covered not just one or two aspects, but the wide majority of information to take into consideration. Also, hope your day is going well— ^v^!

[kevinfikes]

Dang what are the chances I was just looking this topic up yesterday on YouTube. However I would say yours is the most comprehensive while still remaining condensed. Thanks!

[jax-ninjanat]

6:06 Ow! Why are you biting me?
Gecko: *Blep*

[Bo.Burton]

I have three females living together. They have a LOT of hides and all three of them happen to pace themselves pretty well when they eat and none of them hog much. Two of them were raised together by their previous owner and were already comfortable with each other. The third I got later and kept her by herself for a while. I would out her in the other's tank every now and then for a few minutes at a time, monitoring them to make sure there was no nipping. One of my first two was completely fine and chill and really doesn't care about anything. The other gave her a few looks in the beginning as if to say "WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE!?" but eventually got used to her. Once I thought it was safe, I housed her with the other two. I plan on upgrading them to an even bigger tank in the future and make even making it "two stories" by building a platform that goes across the length of the cage and having a ramp to walk up to it. I'm sure they'll appreciate the extra hides. I use a ceramic heat lamp for their heat source, but if I upgraded them like I want to, I'd probably also add a heating pad underneath so that there is a nice warm spot on both the upper and lower level of the tank.
I'm lucky. My three never fight. I do have an extra tank in storage though, in case there's ever any problems.

[Nz-tmgs]

Alex, i Literally today Just Bumped-Up one of my
Ball Pythons into a 40gallon tank. And was Going to use her old 20gallon for a leopard Gecko
(in the near future.) So Thanks for the last minute Info!

*Edit:* I fall into the Middle ground on the subject myself. However I have heard stories from some friends who kept 2 "incompatible" geckos together, It did *NOT* go well. And I for one NEVER want to experience that for myself.

[brawly]

There's just really no benefit in general. I think for most people getting two or more stems from thinking that one animal must always get lonely as they themselves would and a lack of research. I wouldn't take the chances, too much possible stress for both me and the animals involved. Really great video!

[DeathcrudeCommentary]

Cohabbing usually leads to an animal being hurt or stressed out

[rj]

I have two females that have been living in a 40 gallon together for over a decade and have had no problems, but that is probably only because they grew up together. I would never put together two adults that had grown up alone. They were near death when I adopted them from petco years ago, so one of them has pretty bad vision and may accidentally bite my hand or the other’s tail during feeding, but the bite is very soft and neither have ever gotten hurt. I also kept a closer eye on their attitude as they became older in case things changed, but they never did.

[technocheese]

Thank you so much for covering this! I’m a moderator on Reptile amino, which is kinda like a forum. We are CONSTANTLY telling these exact things to little kids who bought two female geckos and put them together because “they needed a friend because they were lonely”. I genuinely think that this video will help people understand the risks, and why it really shouldn’t be done.

But again, thank you so much for this video! You are definitely the best reptile YouTuber on the platform. I cannot think of even one thing you have done incorrectly that you haven’t changed, updated, or fixed, and you are absolutely a great resource for new owners looking for info.

[themilkman]

How do you not laugh when the leopard gecko walks on bare skin? I always laugh because my leopard geckos claws keep tickling me