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I just wanted to know if anyone has had any luck with letting there Geckos share a cage with any other lizards? I mainly want to know if i could introduce an anole to the cage, and if so what kinds of geckos would be best for living with anoles?

>>I just wanted to know if anyone has had any luck with letting there Geckos share a cage with any other lizards? I mainly want to know if i could introduce an anole to the cage, and if so what kinds of geckos would be best for living with anoles?

When my house was repainted I captured as many of my Mediterranean geckos and anoles as I could so they didn't get pressure-washed and spray-painted. I kept them all together satisfactorily. The anoles were out during the day, and the geckos were out at night, so they didn't have to interact too much. Keep in mind, though, that this was only for a few weeks.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

We keep house/peacock/gold dust/lined geckos green anoles bahaman anoles vine lizards mantella frogs florida vine snakes all together and they have 0 problems. We've been doing this for quite some time. They eat pretty much the same size crickets and have around 65% humidity. Just try to keep the sizes similar. Dont put in like a giant anole or something.

n/p

Nothing has happened yet.......and its been at least 2 years since we set it up. Infact, I have yet to pull a single dead reptile from that tank (which in my opinion pretty good for a pet shop). Not to insult disrespect you or anything, but community tanks work just fine if you know what you're doing. Its not like were experimenting here.....its got 3 Blue morph Green Anoles in there which arnt exactly a common test reptile.

Typically, mixing species is not a good idea, for several reasons:

1- Even if all of the animals are roughly the same size, larger lizards will take dominance over smaller ones, or even may consider the smaller lizards prey (you'd be surprised how large a meal some lizards might go after, especially if they're in a stressful, cramped cage situation). Also, when you first acquire the lizards, they may be the same size, but if you are not familiar with the species, you might end up with one lizard that grows to be twice the size of another. Also, what if one species is more agressive than another? The mellower animals would again end up being picked on, and eventually become ill and die if not eaten.

2- Any "community" terrarium (a term used by fish keepers, any enclosure containing more than one species) must be BIG. Every species must be allowed its own space, its own basking spot, its own hiding spots and its own feeding areas. You'll need at least double the space.

3- Any animals you mix must come from the same habitat. Aside from the absolutely ludicrous idea of mixing desert species with forest species (which, and this should go without saying, NOT be done), even if two animals come from the same place, it does not necessarily mean that their needs are similar. Microhabitats within larger ecosystems are home to tons of species, and the conditions in microhabitats can be drastically different from the rest of the area the animal comes from. Imagine this example: You have two lizards that live in the Amazon. However, one is a ground-dwelling skink, one is a tree-dwelling gecko. Although they both live in the same forest, the skink needs slightly cooler temperatures, higher humidity, places to burrow... A totally different habitat than the gecko, who lives in the forest canopy, would need different food than the skink, an arboreal set up, different temperatures and humidity, etc... Two very different needs from two animals that come from the same place.

4- Disease is common among many reptile and amphibian species because so many of them are still wild-caught. Bacteria and other microorganisms are a guarantee, and even if they happen to not make one lizard ill, if the other species comes from the other side of the world, their immunity to this particular organism is likely non-existant, resulting in one or more sick animals who will need to be separated and get veterinary attention.

With all of this in mind... I myself have one mixed-species enclosure in my home. It is a 33-gallon, forest-jungle terrarium, that houses one green anole, Anolis carolinensis, and one Asian flat-tailed house gecko, Cosymbotus platyurus. Both species have similar needs and temperaments, both have been quarantined before being introduced to each other, and as an added bonus: The anole is diurnal, the gecko is nocturnal.

So, even though it's not advisable because there's so many things that can be wrong with a community enclosure, it's still possible to do. Like my terrarium, small house gecko species and green anoles seem to be fine together if allowed their own space. I've also been told that green anoles and American green tree frogs, Hyla cinera, can co-exist in a properly set up habitat. Although lizards and treefrogs can sometimes co-exist, putting snakes, chelonians (turtles, tortoises and terrapins) and salamanders together with lizards is not a good idea. The vast majority of these animals have care requirements that are too different, and many recognize the other as food.

Also, if you want to mix species, each animal must be properly quarantined for at *least* 60 days (90 is better), and tested for sickness by a vet. For more information on quarantining reptiles and amphibians, see my article: http://www.acc50.attcanada.net/jinx/herps/quarantine.html

For a bit more info, see my site, link is below.

Christina Miller
Herptiles.org