It’s not uncommon for a female gecko that isn’t receptive to have an attitude with regards to the male- most of my females will wave their tail in the air- a bit like a plotting cat- and sometimes smack the male with it or even bite him when they aren’t receptive. What stumps me is that your male didn’t even ‘rattle’ his tail.
All of my adult males will ‘rattle’ their tail (vibrate it very rapidly, creating a buzzing noise- it’s a tighter and much louder movement than the female) when exposed to a female during the breeding season, whether she’s receptive or not. So it’s weird that your male didn’t display upon catching the smell of the female.
Aside from checking for ovulation (I am terrible at that), here are some ideas:
- Introduce both geckos in an otherwise empty container (or in the male’s enclosure). Be careful to monitor them, and look for the signs that the female is either irritated or receptive (raising her tail and standing still).
- When you introduce them, have a small piece of substrate or a rock or something from another male leopard gecko’s enclosure, if you have one. Alternatively, you could try introducing a small bit of substrate from the female’s cage into your breeding male’s cage a short while before you pair them, to try and get him into ‘the zone.’
- This is unlikely to be the culprit but possible- I have had it happen before that a male had trouble extruding his hemi-penes. I put him in a quite humid (but not sopping wet and definitely adequately heated) enclosure for a few hours and tried again. That wasn’t successful, but after staying in overnight (again- properly heated, I used a tub in a rack of mine), he was able to do his business.
- I have had one male that was too afraid to mate. It was hilarious, since he was always so aggro with me.