Hello and a few questions...

I will try and make this as close to forum correct as possible.

Hi, I am Marshall

I am the Dad to my two Leopard Geckos Ella and Bella (my sister has an older one named Stella) or arent we original? I love these two like they were my own kids.

History:
About a month ago, my heat-lamp burnt out and I havent replaced it yet, I just put my two geckos in with Stella in my sisters tank, and they all did really well. However, my sister found a baby gecko at the store who "was left because she was a female" and so she brought her home, introducing baby Nella. So now there are 4 geckos in one tank for the last 2 weeks.

Question:
My sister moves out in about a week, and I will be replacing my headlamp so I can bring my two geckos back upstairs in my own tank. Unfortunately, our cat has decided that the baby gecko is interesting, didnt care about the other ones, but now the baby has intrigued him to the point of sitting on the cage, causing Ella, Bella and Stella to stand on their legs, fully extended, swirling their tails... obviously in protection of Baby Nella. With this protection, is it going to harm Ella and Bella if I take them back out of the tank? Like will they suffer some emotional trauma that could make them sick? Should my sister just take all four geckos?

ALL the geckos are females. Nella is tiny, probably only a few months old, Ella and Bella are almost two years old and Stella is the oldest at just over 3 1/2 years old.



Thank you for any advice! I hope I placed this correctly.

welcome to the forums! im glad you came here to ask your questions, first off leos dont need heat lamps they need under tank heaters, they need heat under their bellies to be able to digest their food. how big is your tank? you need to have at least 10 gallon per leo or after a while they will fight and hurt each other. they wont miss each other its actually better to have leos alone because they are lone wolves in nature and don't usually like other leos to be around them. lol i would suggest reading this thread real fast because a lot of people tend to make mistakes when it comes to the proper care of leos because for some reason pet stores give fals information. here is the link http://www.leopardgeckoforum.com/t166-proper-housing-for-leopard-geckos read that over and make sure you have everything you need for your leos. you might just want to end up getting a couple ten gallon tanks for each leo or two 20 gallon tanks for 2 leos. anyways im so glad you came here welcome and please dont be afraid to ask questions!!

Welcome to the forum, Marshall! I hope you enjoy yourself here, I know I do!
Mystic has given you some awesome info.

As she said, leos don't need overhead lighting; they actually need under tank heating (UTH -under tank heater). A under tank heater should cover 1/3rd of the tank floor, designating a "hot side" which should be 88*-95*. Leos need under tank heating as the get their heat from their bellies- it aids in their digestion.

When housing leos together you need a minimum of 10 gallons per leo. And for every leo added you need to add 1 hide on each side (so for two leos you'd need a 20 gallon tank with 2 hides on the hot side and 2 hides on the cool side). This allows the leos to have their own space to get away from each other.

Be careful housing the females together. Females can fight and will fight with each other. People have kept females together for years and then one day had them snap and begin fighting.

In the future if you get more leopard geckos, you need to have a quarantine period. Quarantining is keeping the new leo separated from the old leo(s) for a minimum of 30 days. The new leo may carry a sickness that can be passed on to your other leos, that may not be obvious right away. By keeping them separate you are able to monitor the health of the new one. By putting them together right away you risk infecting your older leos.

Swirling their tails is definitely a sign of aggression. They shake/swirl their tails to make themselves appear bigger. I don't think they are protecting Nella exactly- more likely they are protecting themselves. Leos aren't social creatures, they prefer to be alone. They don't like each other, they tolerate each other. So I would be more inclined to believe they are protecting themselves (i.e Bella is protecting Bella, Ella is protecting only Ella etc).

Separating them will not cause them to get sick. They may not eat for a few days as they get used to their new/old tank again, but they won't become "lonely".

If Nella is only a few months old, I would keep an eye on her. Leopard geckos can't be sexed officially until they are six months old generally. They can be temperature sexed in the incubator, but that is not 100% accurate. Its also not a good idea to house leos that aren't close in size together. Make sure the baby is getting enough food, as the bigger leos are likely to hog the food.

I would personally separate Nella from the other leos until she is around their size in length and weight.

I hope this helps you.
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I love their names! LOL! I wish I had thought to come up with a theme for my leos when I first got into them! All my leos names are completely random LOL. xD

Thank you!

I must say, my geckos seem to be "anti" what everyone says, as they are really social with eachother and with people. Ella is the erratic one (spelling?) she also has erratic (spelling?) spots down her back, where as Bella has a straight line of spots on her back. Stella is my sisters, and she is much bigger than Ella and Bella. Nella is the baby and has complete different look, no spots, but stripes. Ella and Bella and Stella all cuddled up in the rocks and "cave" together, they all like slept on eachother.

When the tails swirl, usually while eating (they do eat separately) its awesome, but I noticed that when Cooper (the cat) was on the cage, they were all up on their legs and all staring at him swirling their tails, didnt seem to be directed at one another.

So Im reading that I can take my two geckos out and it wont cause harm to any of the four? My geckos have been in the same habitat together their entire lives. First a 10 gallon, then I got them and put them in a 30 gallon tall, and will be switching them to a 20 gallon long tank.

you shouldn't have any problems separating them. think of it more like when kids grow up together and finally move out and get their own place, its more of a relief to get your own space with out your brothers and sisters always bothering you lol but they can always come out of the cage and see each other so that even if there was a chance they missed each other its not like they will never see each other again ^_^ also be careful with putting babies with adults, adults have been known to eat babies if they are small enough

It sounds like you have some different morphs of leos. Which means they have different coloring/patterning. Morphs have to do with the leos genetics. If you post pictures of the leos we should be able to identify them for you. For example, my leopard gecko Miracle (you can see her in my signature, below everytime I post) is a blizzard. She has no spotting at all, and is a grayish-white color, depending on the temp of her UTH. I also have a leo named Kringle (also can be seen in my signature) who is a normal. She has the normal spots of a leopard gecko. Leopard geckos come in a LOT of different morphs, its pretty awesome!

I didn't mean they were protecting themselves from each other :P I meant Ella was protecting herself from the cat. Bella was protecting herself from the cat etc. Meaning Ella was NOT protecting Nella from the cat, etc.

Although they may cuddle with each other, they could actually be showing who is the dominant leo. For example, does one of the leos lay ontop of the others a lot? The leo on top is most likely the dominant leo. Leopard geckos will create an hierachy.

Correct, no problems should occur by separating them.

Mystic, I liked your comparison to a teen moving out! LOL! That was clever!