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Has this happened to anyone else?

Necoco

Necoco

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A couple days ago I had set up a small breeder colony with some new Leopard geckos I'd gotten in a trade and some that I already had;1.4 was the group. Three of the females were former breeders I got in a trade and the 1.1 were virgins I'd bought from two different breeders (The three from the trade had already gone through quarantine). Now,a couple hours after putting them all together I heard some knocking around but didn't think anything of it. However,the day after when I went to check waters and feed I was met with bloody massacre and a very angry female (The virgin) with a big chunk ripped out of her back. She was the only one alive,the others were stone cold dead with similar chunks taken from their bodies and all but the angry female and one other were missing their tails. I have no idea what the heck caused this and I've been rather reluctant to put anymore groups together after this.

The temps were perfect (I even checked them with a temp gun from Lowes),the tub was plenty big enough,there was water and food,plenty of hides,and everyone was roughly the same size. I knew I wouldn't be able to put the surviving female with any other geckos even if she recovered from her injury (It was pretty bad),so I put her down. Does anyone know what could've caused such a violent event?
 
I've never heard of or seen this before. I acquired a 1.3 group and did the same as you, quarantine and reintroduction, and didn't have a problem. Hopefully someone with more experience can chime in.
 
Focal said:
I've never heard of or seen this before. I acquired a 1.3 group and did the same as you, quarantine and reintroduction, and didn't have a problem. Hopefully someone with more experience can chime in.
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Yeah,that was something I wasn't expecting to find. Torn up tub,yes,but not four dead geckos and one crazed one. XP The smell wasn't the greatest either.
 
Necoco said:
Yeah,that was something I wasn't expecting to find. Torn up tub,yes,but not four dead geckos and one crazed one. XP The smell wasn't the greatest either.
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Last year I had a pair of ball pythons try to do the same thing right after an introduction. Didn't see it coming at all and def not the normal.
 
I have breeding groups of many species of geckos, and I've never had anything like that happen. I've heard of 2 animals taking a dislike to one another, like Nick said, but nothing like this. My first instinct would be to think another animal had gotten into the tank, since the aggressor was torn up, too. The smell was most likely from the mass defecation that took place during the attacks. So sorry this happened!

Noelle
 
rcarichter said:
I have breeding groups of many species of geckos, and I've never had anything like that happen. I've heard of 2 animals taking a dislike to one another, like Nick said, but nothing like this. My first instinct would be to think another animal had gotten into the tank, since the aggressor was torn up, too. The smell was most likely from the mass defecation that took place during the attacks. So sorry this happened!

Noelle
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That's what I had thought too since I do have two rats in the same room with my gecko racks,but both were still locked in tight in their cage and there was no sign that the tub the geckos were in was opened or chewed through. I did text a buddy of mine and I got an answer back a couple minutes ago that maybe it was a hot female? Could this have possibly been the cause?
I can honestly say that for the first two days afterwards I didn't want anything to do with breeding Leos,but I've moved passed that for the most part. XP
 
I'm honestly not sure what your friend means by 'hot'. Normally, with reptiles, that means venomous. So, no, not possible. Is it possible a mouse got in and out through a tiny opening in the screen? It has all the markings of a rodent attack, but if that wasn't the cause, there's really no other 'normal' reason for it.

Noelle
 
rcarichter said:
I'm honestly not sure what your friend means by 'hot'. Normally, with reptiles, that means venomous. So, no, not possible. Is it possible a mouse got in and out through a tiny opening in the screen? It has all the markings of a rodent attack, but if that wasn't the cause, there's really no other 'normal' reason for it.

Noelle
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I think he means a female that hatched at what would normally be temps for hatching males. Something about them being more aggressive and infertile?

None of my tubs have screens,they're in a rack system like snakes. It's home made,so the tubs fit pretty tightly and the only holes are ones I drilled for air. I'll keep an eye out for mice though,while I don't have any live ones one might have gotten into the house.
 
Wow, sounds like the female that survived was a mean son of a gun. I have never heard of anything like this happening before but have seen some pictures of serious injuries caused by another gecko. The most I have had in my experience of breeding leopard geckos was a few smaller bite marks that bled very little. I am really not a firm believer of females being hatched at male temperatures being more aggressive than ones hatched at female temps.

I would almost bet that the surviving female was really aggressive and didn't like to be around with any other geckos. The male could of tried to breed the virgin and she wasn't ready for him. She probably got really aggressive after that and let loose on everyone. There doesn't seem to be any other plausible explanation since the tub couldn't get accessed by anything out side of the enclosure.

Leopard geckos aren't really a social species but can be housed together if they are watched closely at first. This really reiterates the importance of keeping a eye on any geckos that are introduced to each other. If you hear or see anything out of the norm then you should investigate it further. Just a really tough learning experience. Sorry for the loss of all your geckos.
 
justindh1 said:
Wow, sounds like the female that survived was a mean son of a gun. I have never heard of anything like this happening before but have seen some pictures of serious injuries caused by another gecko. The most I have had in my experience of breeding leopard geckos was a few smaller bite marks that bled very little. I am really not a firm believer of females being hatched at male temperatures being more aggressive than ones hatched at female temps.

I would almost bet that the surviving female was really aggressive and didn't like to be around with any other geckos. The male could of tried to breed the virgin and she wasn't ready for him. She probably got really aggressive after that and let loose on everyone. There doesn't seem to be any other plausible explanation since the tub couldn't get accessed by anything out side of the enclosure.

Leopard geckos aren't really a social species but can be housed together if they are watched closely at first. This really reiterates the importance of keeping a eye on any geckos that are introduced to each other. If you hear or see anything out of the norm then you should investigate it further. Just a really tough learning experience. Sorry for the loss of all your geckos.
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That's probable more possible. Although it wasn't real close since I'd put two other groups together at the time,I had checked on that group 4 times within the first hour of putting them together and as of then nothing had really happened other then some hides had been moved. The reason I never checked when I heard the thrashing is that it was quite common for the hides and stuff to get knocked around quite a lot so it really didn't dawn on me to check at the time,though I'll certainly be checking from now on. XP
 
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