My boyfriend and I own a beardie that is about 3 years old. I am about to adopt an ornate box turtle that has been living in a house with a bearded dragon for the past 4 years. We are concerned about the risk of spreading salmonella/diseases between the two animals...they will obviously live in separate tanks and they will not come into contact with each other. We intend to be extremely careful about thoroughly washing hands and disinfecting surfaces between handling the animals...that being said, is it safe for us to own both of those reptiles at the same time? Any info would be appreciated - thank you all very much
I keep a few different species of reptiles aside from my beardies (a ball python, a leopard gecko, and a crested gecko) and I've never encountered any problems.
Just make sure to sanitize your hands before holding one of them if you already handled the other, keep items that you'd use for the both of them clean before switching from animal to animal, and all that.
Otherwise it'd be perfectly fine and neither of them will really care about the existence of the other, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Also, I bet you know this already if you're getting the turtle, but just be ready to keep it for an extremely long time. Box turtles live anywhere from 40-60 years to even 80-100 years old, and their care is a bit difficult; so just be prepared to have it for a LONG time.
I also have a multi reptile household, besides the dragons I have a couple aquatic turtles and some fire bellied toads. It's not recommended but I've let one of the dragons and turtles roam around my deck together.
I also have a multi reptile household, besides the dragons I have a couple aquatic turtles and some fire bellied toads. It's not recommended but I've let one of the dragons and turtles roam around my deck together.
I also have a multi reptile household, besides the dragons I have a couple aquatic turtles and some fire bellied toads. It's not recommended but I've let one of the dragons and turtles roam around my deck together.