Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, I was just wondering if any of you do keep, or have kept, collared lizards(specifically Great Basin's) with other predatory lizards such as Long nosed Leopards or Desert Spiny's.
I know these 3 species are predatory, and do not play well with others, but was wondering if adults of the 3 species(like a pair of each) can be housed together in a large enclosure.
I have seen Collards with Desert Spiny's before (Ca. Living Mueseum, San Bernardino), but their leopard was kept separate.
Any experience you could share would be appreciated.

I've seen one collared and one leopard housed together in a 55 gallon tank. The leopard was bleeding from several bite wounds.
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0.1 Coastal Carpet Python (Boots)
0.1 Western Hognose Snake (Bebe)
0.1 Cane Toad (Hengo)
0.1 White-Banded Sheen Skink (Minerva)
1.0 Northern Diamondback Terrapin (Queequeg)

Usually the leopards will try and eat a smaller collared, but there are some collareds that will stand their ground and fight one off. Not a good idea to house them together.

I suppose the spinys and collareds could, but they may stress each other out unless in a large enclosure. Spinys are more flighty/ nervous than the collareds.
I have many collareds and some granite spinys, if it were an emergency and I had to toss them together for some reason for a few hours, or so, I would do it and not worry, but I think they each deserve their own home
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PHEve / Eve

I have read on more than one occasion of collareds and leopard lizards fighting viciously... apparently their territories do not overlap in the wild for this very reason, though I couldnt confirm how much truth there is in that
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Kel

www.collaredlizards.co.uk

1:1:0 Common Collared Lizards
1:1:0 Auriceps
1:2:0 Desert Collared Lizards
0:1:0 New Mexico Collared Lizard

NEVER put leopards and collareds together. They are natural enemies in the wild and will aggressively fight.

Their ranges overlap extensively (esp. in Nevada), but leopards have the run of the sand and scrub while collareds have the rocks. I've caught leopards and collareds within 100 yards of each other but in totally different terrain. You will likely not ever see a collared in the sandy hardpan or a leopard in a rocky gulley.

I've caught, kept and released scores of both lizards over the past 30 years and my experiences -- invariably -- are this: they will fight and it is violent. I've only seen contact once (the first time) and that was enough to realize my error. Since then, the mere sight of one another through glass is enough to stress them into displays of lateral flattening, posturing, gaping maws and charging.

Example: I have a little male c. bicinctores yearling who is healthy, tame and adorable. I brought an adult female g. wislizenii (also healthy, tame as a lapdog and adorable) into his midst and he proceeded to bob, flatten and charged her. She was two-three times his mass and could easily defend -- and kill -- the collared. But collareds are hard-wired to fight leopards and that's what he did with no hesitation (they were separated by the glass of the terrarium).

btw the leopard showed no real reaction to the collared's attack. Like I said, she's very tame and also probably wasn't too concerned by the size difference.

Leopards and collareds must be housed separately. And, of course, you'll need to keep young collareds and old collareds separate until there's no danger of one eating the other.

It sounds like you're already in good shape; I just wanted to offer some first-hand experiences.

Thank you very much for the replies. I will play it safe and leave them apart then.