Is it okay to have more than one leopard gecko in a terrarium?
How long have you been keeping leopard geckos? I ask because while yes, it is possible to keep multiple females together, it requires a LOT of monitoring for stress or small signs of bullying or aggression. Some of those signs can be very minute and become a huge problem shortly after.
Also remember that if these are young geckos and unsexed you can end up with more than one male and that never ends well. Males will always fight. So again, observation is key.
I’ve kept groups of females for quite a while, but you need to have a much larger enclosure for them to have more hiding spots and places to feel comfortable.
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I don’t really know what happened with mine since I housed two males together and never once did I ever see them snap at each other. they actually slept together quite a bit.
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I’m relatively new, I have one leopard gecko, Iris, who is an albino with brown spots, who is 6 years old, my friend who is interested in getting a leopard gecko said it would be fine to house two adult leopard geckos regardless the age, in a 20 gallon long, and no matter what i say he doesnt listen-so i just wanted to see what other people had to say.
Yeah I wouldn’t keep two in a 20. I used a 34g, so there’s a lot of extra floor space.
It sounds a bit silly, but keeping 3 is easier than 2. Mostly because it makes it a better balance and avoids it being a more dominant gecko bullying a shy one. The extra makes it easier for the balance since most often, one gecko doesn’t get picked on. There is still a possibility of 2 ganging up on the one, but definitely not as common as the 1 v 1.
There are sometimes wild situations like above where 2 males seem to get along, but that’s typically not the norm and very rare. Usually one will loose a tail or constantly have bite marks which start off looking like flecks of dried skin before they may be worse and scabs or open wounds.
Until you really feel comfortable knowing leopard gecko basic behavior, I would just keep your single Leo. If you do want to try cohab further down the line I highly recommend starting with young geckos and letting them grow up together. Start off with 2 (or ideally 3 maybe 5) of a similar size and make sure as they’re growing that one doesn’t massively outsize the other or that you end up with just 1 male and 1 female or multiple males.
1m 1f can cause a lot of stress and possibly early breeding for the female and can greatly affect their health. A lot of the cohabbing you see may be breeding setups as well so that one female doesn’t get bullied too much by the male. That was originally how I set up my first breeding project after doing so much research into genes and behavior. Lol.
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sounds great! just one more- so two females is better that one male, correct?
If it’s just 2, definitely 2 females.
But again, you absolutely need to know leopard gecko behavior because some signs of stress or aggression can be very nuanced. I would definitely recommend holding off until your gecko is properly settled in and doing well with you. Then you can really start watching normal behavior and learning how that looks for a Leo.
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got it, tysm
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Hey, late reply but just wanted to give you some insight on cohabitating Leopard Geckos. @armiyana is 100% right about housing females together and not males and also a size difference can mean a lot when cohabitating. I just wanted to throw in some additional details to avoid any issues.
- Feed them separately, they will fight over food. I recommend taking one and feeding them in a separate container, once you’re done wait a few mins and make sure they’re no longer in “feeding mode” and then return them back into their enclosure.
- You can cohabitate babies. When your leopard gecko babies are unsexed and not matured there wont be fights over territory and dominance until they start to age up.
- More leopard geckos = More room. Leopard geckos need at least 3 hides per enclosure (Cool, warm, and humid.) if you’re cohabitating I suggest having maybe 4-5 hides so they can 1. not have to always be around each other and 2. Have more free space to roam and hide.
- Always be prepared to separate them in case something happens. I cohabitate my breeder females to avoid having to buy multiple enclosures but I always have a quarantine or temporary enclosure which is basically a plastic tote with mesh on top or small holes (for breathing) and paper towels as substrate as well as 3-4 hides and food + water. Remember this is a temporary enclosure and should be used until you find an appropriate enclosure for them. Fun story, one of my girls partially dropped her tail (no idea what happened) and was shedding poorly, because I had that quarantine enclosure I was able to safely separate and rehabilitate her. She’s now thriving in her own enclosure.
- Don’t cohabitate extremely skittish or sickly leopard geckos. It can just result in more stress and it’d be a lot safer to keep certain leopard geckos separate.
Sorry if this is a lot I just want to make sure that you’re prepared to handle certain things and know what you’re doing when cohabitating. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me.
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Very well written and good info for sure. 
I’ve just been in the practice of always having an enclosure ready for any reptile just in case. It’s just good husbandry. But definitely a good reminder for newer hobbyists
I actually haven’t fed my cohabs separately, but I feel pretty good about my observation skills with them. Multiple food stations are a good idea though and you can always move one to the other dish if they are getting spicy at dinner. Every now and then with my current cohabs one will get too excited and accidentally nip the other, but they’re thankfully very aware and both jump back and start taking turns instead of starting a brawl.
Many new hobbyists enjoy the tong feedings so it’s a little less of a worry. But if anyone is new at cohabbing or just at Leo’s in general it’s good to feed separately until you really understand the body language and signs or aggression or stress.
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