Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello!
I have a bearded dragon and Im considering to cage a other species lizard with him, maybe a uromastyx or a chuckwalla of similar size.
Is it possible? Of course, given a big and suitable cage to recreate a desert habitat, previous quarantine and check up for parasites, etc..
Thanks for any coments!!
Happy New Year for all!

I wouldn't recommend it. I'm pretty sure they're from different countries/areas, and there's always the potential for diseases. One species might carry something that doesn't bother them, but could kill the other. Something like Marecks disease in turkeys and chickens - turkeys carry it with no problems but it causes neurological damage in chickens, or IBD with boas and pythons, where boas can be carriers of the disease and not show symptoms but they can still infect pythons if they're housed together.
You might be able to do it, but you'd have to do a lot of research into finding a species/subspecies of uromastyx or chuckwalla that's from the same region as a beardie, so that they'd have almost identical requirements, temps wise.

Good luck, and Happy New Year to you too

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
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"The problem with America is stupidity. Now, I'm not saying we use capital punishment, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?"

I would'nt do it. I guess if the cage is big enough to have multiple temperature zones and basking sites (BD basking 105 degrees while Uromastx is 120) it could be done. I just feel that one or both of the animals will be stressed by this unnatural condition.

It requires a lot of research and consideration to properly house different species in the same cage. For one, the cage should be much larger than a cage would need to be for an individual of either species, second, the husbandry requirements should be very similar for both species. The animals themselves would need to be able to tolerate other species in their 'territories' or have little actual contact with each other. Or have different activity times or 'levels' thus contact is minimized. It is also good if both species have different diets as well.

Then of course, there are the problems that could arise as described by the other posters who responded to your question.

Uros require much higher temps than bearded dragons. Depending on the species of Uromastyx, can get about the same size or much bigger (ie Egyptian Uromastyx). Both bearded dragons and uro's eat mostly vegetation (adult dragons eat about 90% of their diet in vegetation, Uros are 100% vegetarian though some species may add a bit of insect 'meat' into their diets but compared to dragons, this is a very low percentage). Uros require much higher basking temperatures and I believe, ambient temperatures than dragons. This presents a difficulty in ensuring both animals are housed comfortably. One thing both have in common though, is neither requires a high humidity.

In a large enough cage, a better choice of cage mate for bearded dragons, would be another type of semi-arid Australian lizard. Frilled dragons, though growing larger than dragons, may be compatable in a sufficiently large cage. As Frilled dragons are more arboreal than bearded dragons, a large tall cage may work for both. Something along the lines of 6'x3'x4 (LxWxH) for a single bearded dragon and a single frilled lizard. You would need to create both low and high basking areas and multiple feeding areas (frilled dragons, if I recall correctly, eat insects and occasional small mouse pinkies) as well as good sources of UVB lights (mercury vapor bulbs may work best in a setup like this).

All in all, for the amount of extra work, larger cage, constant observation to ensure neither animal is stressed by other cage mates, it will be much simpler to house different species of lizards in single cages, instead of putting them into one large cage.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks!!
A better answer wouldnt be possible!!!
You see, I think its normal to want the most natural habitat and of course there is more than one lizard species living together.
But although it can be done its very difficult and maybe simply dont worth the risks...