Reptile & Amphibian Forums

can a baby ackie and two month old beardie be brought up together in the same cage? thanks for reading

-Math
Ekobialka@aol.com

Nope...very different temperature needs, slightly different substrate needs (ackies need a burrowable substrate, beardies don't...they might do well with it, but they impact easily so you have to exercise caution such as not feeding them on the substrate). Also, they are different species from different places in the world, what makes you think they are compatable? The only species I could see making sense living together are species that live together in the wild and are not prone to territorialism/fighting. There's other reasons not to keep different species together involving parasites that one species may be able to tolerate and the other may not.

Generally, different species in different enclosures.

Don't ackies and beardies both live in Australia? So how do they come from different parts of the earth? Also, I know people who have kept their ackies on sand(althoug I prefer dirt), and you can also keep beardies on sand. Since they both live in the outback, I would geuss with the abundance of beardies there, their habitat overlaps so I'm sure beardies could handle monitor temps. I know beardies and ackies can be kept communially, so it is possible to house one with a beardie, but I personally wouldn't do it. I have seen pretty aggressive beardies tear up their fellow beardies, so I wouldn't take the chance of ending up with a dead ackie or beardie.

oops, sorry, forgot about that. I don't know what I was thinking. But then the main things to look at are that ackies require a temperature that is much higher than a bearded dragon does, and I would think that keeping both in close proximity would cause a dominance war? Then again, I'm obviously not thinking right tonight anyways, so I might as well go get some rest and rethink it tomorrow.

The bottom line is that species mixing should be avoided. Only those that are basically experts on the reptiles at hand and that can offer a HUGE enclosure should attempt to mix species. This is just my personal thoughts right now. I have heard of success with mixing different species with bearded dragons, but I don't think it is truely a good idea, at least not for what I would consider beginner and intermediate reptile keepers. I still can't figure out what i was thinking earlier though...something is telling me that I was thinking about uros or something (I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have), which have similar requirements, but who knows. It's not like it matters as long as we have it cleared up.