Can you mix different reptiles in the same cage?

Heres' a first hand acct of a petstore screwup.

A pacman frog that had been in the shop for a couple months was overlooked and 3 firebelly toads were dumped in his tank.

1/2 a day later I see a firebelly toad sitting on the pacmans' head. 15 minutes later the pacman is dead.

Firebelly toads and newts are EXTREMELY toxic to other animals. I've seen feeder guppies keel over in firebelly water. I've seen garter snakes spit them out and then later the garter snake doesn't look so good (ever see a snake on an acid trip? INTERESTING!)

They contaminate the water dishes, the soil and leave poisonous slime on the plants they've been sitting on.

The store I used to work for had a BAD habit of mixing green tree frogs and firebelly toads. On top of all the frogs dying within a week or two, I pointed out that at some point we should be seeing them sitting in the water dishes WITH the toads if things are so perfect. I convinced my boss to seperate them. Sure enough. The green tree frogs hardly EVERY left the water dishes, now that their dishes were clean, they were more active and we had far fewer deaths.

Sharon

 

That's a myth about the mealies. No evidence that I've heard of from the medical community.

 

Had I known that I'd never have mixed them. When the pet store sold the fire bellies to me, they said that was just the name for the markings. It was a Clarks pet store, and they are alll defunct now. We have a Petsmart and one Petco, and that's the type of store Clarks was. They had one or two books and lots of animals they didn't know how to care for, so I never got the knowledge I needed.

The reptile specialist shop here sells books, the staff are knowledgable and they specialize in reptiles and rodents (more or less for food items, rather than pets). The second owner has a bird section on the other side of the reptiles, and there is a fish and pond/aqaurium inbetween the two. I thought I saw a mixed terrarium, but it only has a few same species of grass lizards. Everything is seperate too. They have been worried that cheap stores like Petco and Petsmart will force them to close, cause they are a lot cheaper and uh, dont seem to really care about the animals.

About mealies - my dragon ate little ones when she was smaller, but we've never had an issue. It looked like she didnt chew some of them all the way, but they never caused any problems. She munches down on superworms now, problem free.

 

i know, sparkpug - i was referring to KR3LL's post.

 

can anoles be kept with anything else? I have another random question as well... Are Eastern Painted Box Turtles dangerous to anoles? I have a 50 gallon tank that I am setting up, and I was wondering if I could have both anoles and a small painted turtle.

 

i wouldn't do it. those turtles could definately eat the little anoles should one fall into the water or even just go down to get a drink. plus the painted turtles need an all-water setup with a small basking area where they get out onto dry land to bask under a uv light. anoles need a totally different setup; completely land except for a water dish and lots of climbing and hiding places with plants and limbs. totally different habitats plus danger of pet-consumption by other pets.

and sparkpug - :wink:

 

Well, he does call it a "box turtle." I was thinking of the aquatic turtle too. which I'm familiar with. But I do think there is a box TORTOISE called "painted" as well.

Irregardless, no it is not a good idea to mix the two. The anole will be terrified of the tort and if it should get to close to the tort, it WILL snap at him. My box turtles frequently snap at beetles, cat food and the errant lizard now and again.

Good luck! I'm busy trying to prove to my husband that he CAN NOT put the oscar in the same tank with my silver dollars! I really think he wants to watch his oscar beat up my fish! Butt head.

Sharon

 

at a local petstore *cough*petland*cough* i recently saw them house golden geckos with zebra tail lizards, water dragons with some toad that had HUGE poison glands on its head, and firebelly toads with all different kinds of tree frogs :shock:

 

If the silver dollars are big enough where the oscar can not eat them it will be perfectly safe. They are both agressive fish and should not bother each other. Just make sure the tank is big enough. For a oscar and 2 silver dollars I would recommend nothing less then a 55gal tank.

 

Like i said, it wasnt my mixed tank. It was my ex-roomate's. All im telling you is from what i seen the 2 years he had the setup(and still does to my knowledge) I seen somebody post that green tree frogs wouldnt go into the water with the firebelly. His tree frogs always went down in the water. Like I said he changes the water often. Next time i see him I will recommend that he seperates the fire belly from them. This is his setup and not mine. I personally would never own a firebelly, I find them rather boring and the toxic thing does not help either. I really would see no trouble in mixing a few tree frogs in the same tank giving that there is enough room and not cramping them. Also that the temp/humidity/feeding requirements are about the same.

 

Petstores with little knowledge will often just throw them together for one reaosn, to save costs and such. It's much easier to heat and light one cage, vs the many each one requires. Petco has Beardeis in a tank, with just a UV bulb. Try to tell them it's not what they need and they get mad, the sort of "get the heck out of MY store" mad.

 

Well, the silver dollars are definitely to big to eat, but my DH did this once before (tossed them together) and one of th dollars nearly lost an eye. I may let him put the three fish into a 70 or larger tank though, lots of plants.....

 

I'll just stick to getting the anoles or geckos and see how well I do from there. If there are any kinds of geckos that are positively known to do alright with anoles, or if there are any other animals known to go well with anoles, could somebody inform me? if there is anybody from the Boston area, could you suggest a petstore to me because I feel that I get bad advice, (or no advice at all on a few occasions) from the large chain pet stores like petsmart and petco. (to put it bluntly, they sucked).

As far as putting oscars with silver dollars, it's not the best idea because the silver dollars are simply not aggressive enough to live with an oscar. they are a bit skiddish and are best put with big barbs or large gouramis and that sort of thing. ... a full grown oscar is a brute. (I hate oscars). There are much better things to put with an oscar, such as other large south american cichlids. i suggest green terrors because they're alot like little dogs in their behavior, and will eat right out of your hand.

 

i wouldnt mix reptiles!!! i agree, however i do mix my amphibians under the right circomestances. i have a tree frog ,abull frog or a green frog {very similar}, and a toad, and a new frog or toad not sure yet that just reached maturity. man is it cute,....oops off topic:}. i mix them ONLY because it is impossible for them to eat eachother due that they are almost all the same size, except for the treefrog but it is still to big for them to eat. and i set up my aquarium very well i think, i made a part for the toad, a part for the bullfrog, and a part for the tree frog.; the toad has damp humid land, the bullfrog has a moss rock and water, and the tree frog has limbs to climb on. i just set it up today and wasnt sure if it would work out, so forgive me if i am bragging;}.

i do however have a question, the toad and treefrog eat the same but what sorts of things should i feed the bullfrog? so far ive loaded them with moths, flies, spiders, and wondr will a treefrog eat a normal cricket? or just tree crickets?

the petstore here isnt to bad there is a friend of mine who works there and he is a major herp keeper, he is setting up his house for his herps to be able to roam, the ones that will be safe. we had an iguana we let roam the house and my step dad potty trained him. but i have been to petstores that are horrid and should be shut down, due to the conditions there animals are kept in. thats why i dont like to support petstores very much, this one is the first one that is very good, clean, and their animals all get played with .

 

coldbloodedkeeper - just because it is impossible for them to eat each other does NOT mean they should be housed together! have you read *any* of this thread, coldbloodedkeeper? housing different species together is VERY dangerous - *especially* amphibians! all amphibians secrete mucous and many secrete toxins. these can be stressful and dangerous (if not deadly) to other animals - especially other amphibians. i'd really like you to go back and read all the posts in this thread so you will learn how dangerous housing different species together can be, because i really don't feel like re-typing all the info that i (and others) have spent time typing out already in this thread.

 

LMAO! I'm with you Cynthia. This board and a couple of others, I feel like I'm repeating myself over and over and over again. And yet, I still do it.

The oscar is STILL seperate from the silver dollars. LMAO! I think one of us has let go of their fish. Probably me. The silverdollars are nice to look at but really don't have a personality, especially when compared to the lid banging, one eye staring, water spitting oscar who is begging for another meal!

Sharon

 

what do you feed your oscar
my dad had oscars when he was young and he fed them goldfish