4' x 2 1/2' wood cage with plenty o' heat/water...not concerned about space so much as compatibility/"lizard violence" during short-term co-habitation...Any experience housing different monitor breeds together?
Thanx in advance for input!
Todd
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any issues with 18" Sav and 18" golden tegu being cage "buddies" for awhile?
neoscosmos
Jun 22, 2003 09:36 PM
Replies (3)
SHvar
Jun 23, 2003 09:21 AM
They are 2 different species, they are not both monitors. Tegus are related to fence swifts and ameivas they are new world lizards which do not resemble monitors which are long slender old world lizards.
Keeping the 2 together seems to be the topic of question every few weeks on this forum, as a matter of fact look from a week ago someone asked this. Keep them separate even if the monitor doesnt eat the tegu, they stress each other out being housed together.
madeleine
Jun 23, 2003 10:37 AM
Well, to begin with, they're different species from completely different environments. Savannah monitors come from an Old World semi-arid environment and need relatively low humidity. Golden tegus (which are not monitors) come from the tropics (Amazon basin) in the New World and need at least 40% humidity. They also require different basking temps. I do know of people who allow their B&W tegus and Savs to hang out together (one will free roam into the other's open cage and join it in the basking spot, for example), but the animals are not sharing a cage. Since Golden Tegus have a reputation for aggression, I would be cautious about putting the two lizards in an environment in which they cannot escape each other. It would likely also be quite stressful for them. I don't think it's worth the risk for you to keep them together. You can't simultaneously meet both of their environmental requirements, and the damage either of them could do to the other in the space of a few seconds should they get stressed is significant.
Pauly
Jun 24, 2003 12:31 PM
Its probably not a good idea. For starters, and 18in savannah is going to have quite a bit more mass than an 18in Tegu (which are all teeth and tail), not to mention that these two types of lizards differ quite a bit in attitude.
And as everyone else mentioned, tegus are not monitors, they are teiids, and not closely related. And not to nitpick even more, but fence swifts are not teiids, at least not the sceloporus usually referred to as swifts. Just thought I would add my two cents.
