I have my 6 Leopard Geckos in a 55 gallon tank. the 3 smallest are on one end, and the bigger 3 on the other, with a cardboard piece seperating them. The dominant, biggest female has been known to pick fights with the other big ones, and then I spray her with water to stop her and punish her. But I came home tonight to find that not only had the big meanie jumped the cardboard to the small ones' side, but one of the small ones had jumped to the bigger side. But here's the weird thing. I fed them that way, and the big 2 didn't pick on the smaller one, and the biggest one actually licked the smaller two on their side, instead of biting them, like she would do to the other big ones...anyone understand why all this is happening? I'm going to fix the problem tomorrow morning, by putting up higher cardboard. The little ones are growing incredibly fast, but still need to catch up a little more. The big one didn't even try to get into the good hide...she went for the smaller, moist hide. Let me know what you think.

so was it trying to get to to the smaller hide for any particular reason.
if it was, u should build a similar hide on the other side
hope it works out

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MY PALS
0.1.0 BALL PYTHON-JERRI
0.1.0 AMEL. CORN-BAYBE
1.0.0 GHOST CORN-BOSS
0.0.1 BLUE TONGUED SKINK-DOUGLAS
2.1.0 CATS-POJO, CHEDDAR, SAMMIE

Well, although many animals are capable of learning, and there may be no exception for reptiles, you have to take into consideration that the misting of water to "punish her" will probably not teach her that she is being bad, and she will continue to bully the others.

My first thought would be to consider separating her from the others - bullying can cause the lizards a lot of stress and they may not get enough food because of it, or may simply become ill from the stress.

The larger lizard may have been "nice" to the smaller ones because she was in new territory - their territory, and her attempts to get in the smaller hide may have been due to her fear of being in the new place with new geckos.

Have you anywhere you can put her for a week? Perhaps separate her into her own enclosure, keep the larger and smaller ones in their own enclosures, and after a week, clean the tank that the larger ones are in, change the furniture around, and reintroduce her. This may prevent the bullying because she will be in new territory, while allowing the others to establish a firmer footing in their home.

At the same time though this may not be the best solution - animals will establish a dominance when in groups, and what you are experiencing may simply be the natural hierarchy developed in the tank.

Just out of interest, have you pictures of the geckos? I'm curious as to exactly how much of a size difference there is between the smaller and larger lizards. Also, although they may all do well together, be prepared that when you do put them together, 6 lizards may be a little too much, and stress from overcrowding may become a factor, or you may experience more bullying, so be well prepared to separate if problems do occur. The overcrowding however may not be a factor - what size is your tank in measurements (feet/inches)?

Hope this helps

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

i agree with gaboon viper about misting it
reptiles arent "dumb", but most lack the capacity to understand that getting misted was a consiquence of bullying the others
unfortuneately I cant be much of help, as im a snake keeper, so I wouldnt deal with territorial situations.
but if it was trying to get to something on the other end of the tank, build something similar on her end

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MY PALS
0.1.0 BALL PYTHON-JERRI
0.1.0 AMEL. CORN-BAYBE
1.0.0 GHOST CORN-BOSS
0.0.1 BLUE TONGUED SKINK-DOUGLAS
2.1.0 CATS-POJO, CHEDDAR, SAMMIE

Ryan, just curious with your statement - you own snakes so you don't deal with territorial situations. Do you keep all of your snakes singly? As snakes can be territorial too, but often snakes are less easy to understand than lizards.

As Ryan suggested you may also want to consider more or different hides, what hides do you have in both enclosures at present?

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

well I learned somethin
the only snakes I knew to be territorial were black mambas(which are very territorial from what I understand)
and yes, i do keep them seperate

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MY PALS
0.1.0 BALL PYTHON-JERRI
0.1.0 AMEL. CORN-BAYBE
1.0.0 GHOST CORN-BOSS
0.0.1 BLUE TONGUED SKINK-DOUGLAS
2.1.0 CATS-POJO, CHEDDAR, SAMMIE

Well any snake will be territorial if it feels the need to be - if two male corns are placed with one female (adults) for example, the males will "wrestle" to fight for the female. Territorial behaviour is largely a male thing in nature, and male animals often fight for the females, and for land. If you go into a snake's enclosure you risk the chance of being bitten, in its defence of itself and of its territory.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

oh..i thought males only fought when it was mating season.
so theyll fight at any time of the year?

__________________

MY PALS
0.1.0 BALL PYTHON-JERRI
0.1.0 AMEL. CORN-BAYBE
1.0.0 GHOST CORN-BOSS
0.0.1 BLUE TONGUED SKINK-DOUGLAS
2.1.0 CATS-POJO, CHEDDAR, SAMMIE

Rachel a 55 gal tank is 48x12x 20 tall (inches).

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Leo pics

Here are some pics of them...all except for the biggest. In each, if you look, there is at least one little one. In the first pic, the littler one is in with the big ones...peeking out over a big one's back. The second picture is a closer shot. The third picture is the smaller one's hide, where two little ones are. The biggest one is in the moist hide. Merlin, you just stated in a last post what my 55 gallon tank are. The 4' X 20"Tall X 12" wide. I'm going to go ahead and do that...move the biggest out and by herself, and leave her out. I'll clean the 55 quickly after, and rearrange everything. Then give the other 5 that week to get used to it, and become familiar with it, and then reintroduce the biggest.

If anyone else has a reason why this is a bad idea...let me know. I know Merlin knows his stuff, but he didn't seem 100% confident in the post, so I'm sure he could use some reinforcement/support from someone else. We can all look at Zok and tell that Merlin knows what he is doing, but I don't think he has any Leopard Geckos. Thanks again everyone for advice/help, and keep it coming.