Co-Habbing Beardies and Other Species

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ComicBookMama

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My best friend noticed a small reptile place newly opened in our state, so last weekend we popped by for a visit. On the one hand, Riverside Reptiles Education Center had spacious, appropriate enclosures for its critters... very attractive. On the other hand, the Beardie enclosure was... odd.

It was huge, built on the floor for viewing from above, and the staffer said that all the enclosures were bioactive... it was about 10' x 8', and housed one male and two female beardies along with a Leopard tortoise and a blue-tongued skink. That struck me as odd. When we went, all but two of the animals were clustered under one of the two basking bulbs... one bright white standard bulb, one (ugh) red. One Beardie was hanging out in a dark corner, one under the red bulb, one with the skink and tortoise under the white bulb. Might have been a MVB, since I saw no UV anywhere.

The food dish was a considerable distance from the basking area, containing the remains of what looked a lot like romaine lettuce. The major part of the enclosure was dark, meant to be lit by the window it was built next to, I think; it was a rainy day and the building interior didn't have much lighting. It was sparsely planted with an aloe plant and a couple other plants I couldn't identify.

It left me nonplussed... I didn't really consider it a very appropriate home for the Beardies, with no climbing branches and that red bulb, and I wondered about meeting the needs of all three species. I thought BTSs needed a humid environment, though I could be wrong; I don't know diddly about leopard tortoises. Clearly the staff loved all the animals on display; we talked a good bit about them, but I was hesitant to question the care as I don't know about bioactive enclosures. I just don't think cohabbing these three species in this particular enclosure is such a great thing...?

And yes, I've got pics, but for some reason the image uploader will no longer let me upload from my iPad. It says "unsupported file type."

Thoughts on cohabbing different species like this?
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Multiple basking spots
multiple open ended hides ( that no-one can be cornered / trapped inside by an aggressive enclosu be re mate - must have ability to get away from each other )
multiple food dishes
communal very wide very shallow water dish


My experience is bearded dragons and skinks ( of similar sizes ) cohabit well, my eastern bluetongues live in their own tanks , as do my bearded dragons , and I regularly have a bearded dragon and BT on the floor simultaneously and I've never seen any aggression displayed.

That said : multiple central bearded dragons ( no more than one male in the mix ) can work IFF they have a large enough shared enclosure meeting the above conditions . BUT the moment you observe any physical dominance behaviours ( other than mating ) is the moment the aggressor must be separated and rehoused , else as already stated , things will fast become violent and bloody and one or both will end up at best mauled / maimed , or dead.
 

Cazz

Member
This has the potential for disaster written all over it. Either physical attack or stress to the point of killing an animal is possible. In the wild, even if these animals live in the same type of environment, they have the ability to break line of sight, evade, escape. I have never agreed with people keeping different species in the same enclosure. We're generally not smarter than nature and create a bad situation ignorantly
 
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