Reptile & Amphibian Forums

anyone had luck w / mixing veileds w/ any other species like day geckos, provided the cage is big enough ? I know it's not normally a good idea but it would look so nice.

Not unless you want dead day geckos in your cage.
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1.0 Ambilobe Panther Chameleon - (Seppi) - (12/28/03)
1.0 Ghost Phase Leopard Gecko - (12/15/02)
0.1 High Yellow Leopard Gecko - (06/17/02)
0.1 Blizzard Leopard Gecko - (4/14/04)

I've had some good results.

I kept a female veiled with a large, CB indonesian blue tongue
skink. They got along remarkably well.
The female veiled simply did not recognize the skink as a threat at
all, and the skink was not bothered by her either.

The two would actually stand side by side and eat from the same
bowl - I'm not kidding.

I'd put cat food, fruit and superworms in a bowl on th efloor of the
cage,a nd she'd climb down, right next to him, and they'd eat, at
the same time. She'd eat the cat food and fruit like a dog, biting it
without shooting her tongue - her head an inch or two from his.
Absolutly no threat posturing, puffing up, color change - nothing.
When she was done, she'd climb back up. Kept them together
for a few years, until she died at about 4 years old.

Also kept a large pardalis with two BIG standingi. They too
would take turn at the food bowl. He'd wait for them to grab a
bug, and then he'd shoot. They never climbed on him, he never
tried to shoot a bug out of their mouths. Phelsuma are smart -
especially these two - and they really got along well.
Of course, this same pardalis pulled one of those plastic critter
carrier cages off a shelf with his tongue trying to eat the baby
madagasgarensis that was inside. Size matters.

To illustrate the point that this is NOT reccomended, I'll describe
my male veiled's actions as of last week. I had my melleri out.
He's 9 months old, and about 13 or 14" long. The veiled was
streatchign out on his hind legs and tail and about to shoot his
tongue at the melleri. He's a monster veiled, but not going to eat
this melleri. He'd sure chew him to death though.

You can't trust most animals. When I was young, I was more
willing to take chances with mixing species. We were lucky for
the most part (not counting that incedent with the leopard lizard
and the "community tank".

Unless you have a natural sized area - where the animals will be
able to live as if they were free (greenhouse, BIG room sized
cages,etc.), I wouldnt' do it. Especially with phelsuma and
veileds. Veileds and phelsuma have two incompatible tendancies
- phelsuma grab prey and shake it before swallowing and veileds
shoot their tongues at moving prey. This has the potential to result
in a eiled shooting it's tongue at prey that's in the mouth of a
phelsuma, resulting in either a strained tongue, or a crushed
phelsuma head... or a eaten phelsuma. Chameleons will grab,
chew and SWALLOW things larger than their heads - I've seen
it. They will surprise you.

Every once in a while it can work, but the key tends to be a huge cage and that the animals were not necessarily using the exact same space, could maintain their own territory with food, basking, water and privacy, they had the same temp and humidity requirements, have both been quarrantined and de-parasitized, were active at the same times (one active while the other is trying to sleep...not good), and are both too big to tempt the other. You have to watch really carefully, keep it extra clean, and be ready to separate them into 2 cages.

I had a huge 5'x6'x4' cage shared by a deremensis and a fischeri. It was not deliberate, at first the cage was divided. The fischeri was really active in the upper warmer parts of the cage and kept finding ways to squeeze past the barrier into the deremensis' space. I returned him every time, but finally noticed that the deremensis didn't seen to care if the fischeri was around or not. He spent most of his time in the lower area. I took out the barrier and watched them like a hawk (both males). They usually spent time in different parts of the cage. Every once in a while one would flare up at the other, but not very often. I even have pics (sorry, not electronic) of them sleeping on the same branch toes touching. They shared the cage for about 3 years. It was more work to keep track of them and keep the space clean though, so unless you know the individual animals really well and have time to spend, its best NOT to share space.

Thank you very much for the time you put into your posts. I think at this point I will wait until I have my greenhou$e built.