Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a baby nile monitor and i am going to the hamburg show and was thinking of getting a water monitor can they be housed together if they are about the same size?

Short answer- you can do whatever you want.

Long answer- No. Theres no reason for it; mixing species is just bad joo-joo.

Somebody will eat somebody. Years ago when I first got my nile I had a habit of letting him run loose in my room while I cleaned his cage. After he ate an iguana that was more than3/4 his size I stopped that. I once got the bright idea to put a grandis day gecko in a water's cage for bug control(I breed Grandis not that big a deal) figuring the water would never catch it...WRONG. Basically if a monitor can fit it in it's mouth they will eat it. I also once new a guy who had a monitor(don't remember what kind but i think it was a Dumeril's)that broke into a cage and ate a gila monster...ouch.

I agree, you'll wind up with at lest one dead monitor.

A dumerils ate a GILA monster??????? That's takin' your life in your hands isn't it?

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

thats kinda the reaction i thought i would get i just wasnt sure because i have seen lots of pics with babies housed together i used to have a baby beaded monster and i couldnt imagine a 100 dollar monitor eating it thanks guys

what is a 'beaded moster?' i know what a gila monster is. i also know what a beaded lizard is. shouldn't someone who owned one of the aforementioned know what it's common name is...

if you cant afford to house a water, dont get it. it is easy.

I'll never forget that story I heard it, years ago at the first Herp society meeting I ever went to. It was Upstate herp society in N.Y. (many yrs ago I've been in Fla for 12yrs now)The guy was doing a talk on monitors so of course I went. Iremember he brought this 5-6ft water with him in a wooden box that he used a makita cordless drill (choice drill of bonehead herp keepers everywhere) to open and close the box. Any way during his talk he told us about how he was babysitting his friends gila monster and his Dumerils(I think) monitor escapes it's enclosure and got into the gila's enclosure and ate it,and he mentioned they were still friends afterward.He was a nice guy but over the years I have found that people who design cages that require drills to open/close them(and they almost ALWAYS prefer Makita cordless drills) are usually boneheads so the gila thing doesn't surprise me.

I have never had a dumerils attack a smaller monitor. but I guess if it doesn't recognize a gila scent then it would percieve it as food. but it must have been real hungry.

It might be okay, it might not. I currently have 3 adult croc monitors wth an adult blackthroat, and two baby waters with an argus. And I use to have 2 adult blackroughnecks with 2 argus and a sand/argus cross.

It depends on the individuals, not the species. I have two peachies with a gouldi cross.