Reptile & Amphibian Forums

as of yesterday i had one rhino about 18- 19 inches long with tail. today i recieved a rhino from robert erhig. when i spoke to him he said as soon as i get the rhino i should put them both together so they can grow and like each other.

the rhino i recieved though was quite smaller than the one i have. when i put them together the one i had smelled it over and then nipped about 2 or 3 times. it might have just been an introduction dominance thing but i had to go to work and didnt want any problems so i seperated them.

any body ever had this?
any thoguhts?

thanks

yeah I had this with cayman hybrids. Keeping them seperate till you can be there was a good idea. Maybe tomorrow if you are off you can put them together and watch them. They will establish a hyerarchy that maybe involve biting. It may go fine forever and it may turn bad in 9 days, you never know. Do they have enough room to get away from each other. or more than one hide so the bitten can get away. Visual barriers also help. None of it helped in my case. Rhinos have a better rep for living together than other cyclura. good luck

yeah, i made sure i had two of everything ( hiding, basking etc.). i'm just worried about the size factor but i guess i'll just have to wait it out.
thanks

is the male or the femele the big one. that might effect the compatability. I dont have rhino experience as far as cage mates, I keep my male solo, but "Jif" does and "cycluracornuta" do on this forum
Its kinda a crap shoot.

the larger one is unsexed and the smaller is the female. the size differance i would have to say is about 3 1/2 four inches, thats a rough guess. and the larger one is also large bodied. i was thinking of housing the small one alone for a while so it can gain a little weight and body mass then trying it again. what do you think?

thansk

it would help to know the sex of the new one. I think you are right to let it settle in, get eating and so on and then let them meet on neutral ground a few times. I dont think there is one way to do this. they live a long time there is no hurry really. Better slow and safe like what you are doing,imo.

Very typical,

You did the right thing by keeping them separate if you cannot monitor the situation.
Same age rhinos from bob have always been way smaller than the ones that I was raising. If you focus on frequent feeding, they can often catch-up within a year. In the mean time it is best to keep separate eating,basking, and hide boxes. Good luck.