Mixing species experiment- don't worry it's going good

[Experiment397]

So about a month ago I put my whiptail in with my new desert iguana to see how they would react to eachother. The whiptail is about 10" long, only 2" is body, and the ig is around 16" long with a 6" body. Do not worry they both are doing great, this is just a report on a success story with this. I only decided to put them both in together because I had seen them together in the wild, now that being said I also had seen a red racer and an extremely large female leopard lizard in the area I caught the ig and a collard lizard and night-snake in the spot I caught the whiptail, so that is not always a good way to go off of if they will get along or not. I figured that since my carnivore was the smaller of the two I should have no problems with one getting eaten. So I put them both in a nice southwest themed natural viv, 20 long for now. Eventually a 30 hopefully or an outdoor enclosure.
They have been getting along just fine and even use eachother for certain things. The whiptail will sleep on top of the iguana and they will bask together every morning. The iguana can't dig very well because he is missing a bunch of toes (I caught him that way) but the whiptail has a habit of diggging a burrow system then collapsing it and digging a new one. The iguana found one of his collapsed burrows under a sand stone slab I have in the tank and he fits perfectly in the little hole.
So with out further adieu here is the happy duo. The darker pics are from in the morning when the lights come on or at night when they are going off. Sorry about the mess, the sand is sifted and spot cleaned every other day, desert igaunas are professional mess makers and having high speed cricket chases through the tank doesnt help with cleanup at all. Also since the whiptail spends about 75% of his time underground digging he is not the easiest lizard to get a picture of so most of the pics where taken in the morning or evening. Enjoy!


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[aquaculture]

Sweet I love the whiptail. I've always wanted to keep one as a pet.

 

[Experiment397]

Keeping a whiptail is definitely something Id recommend to anyone looking for a challenging species. Mine only eats crickets and mealworms. They are a great display species if you can meet their needs though. I'm trying to get a front open enclosure so I can build up a clay mix back wall or a faux rock wall with holes and cracks for him to hide in since they spend at least 75% of their time sleeping and that would be a perfect place for him to sleep while still being where I could get to him


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[FishFreak95]

Awesome! I kept a new mexico whiptail for a little while but she wouldn't accept anything I gave her.

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[Experiment397]

He ate a earwig today so he's adjusting to more foods. Id like to get a sideblotch to add in with them If I can get them in a 40 gallon. To add a little liveliness to the tank during the day. Since the whiptail hides and the iguana sleeps unless you put food in


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[Oddballfanatic]

I don't like the idea of mixing reptiles.

 

[Experiment397]

Until someone can give me a 100% guaranteed reason on why not to mix species that naturally coexist. I see nothing wrong with it. Now if someone was trying to mix a leopard gecko and say a uromastyx that would be another story. They have vastly different habitat requirements and do not naturally coexist. I based my mix off of naturally coexisting species. Down in arizona and out on the mojave we see iguanas and whiptails together all the time. You'll see a rock pile with iguanas or chuckwallas in the creosote bush growing out of the rocks, side blotches, scalys and whiptails on/in the rocks. Horned lizards in the sand at the base and occasionally a leopard or collard lizard on the top of the pile watching everyone else. I also went off of the San Diego zoos mixed species enclosures they have, and my local hogle zoos mixed enclosure. The San Diego zoo has a sw European based enclosure with ocellated lizards, sheltopusik, tortoises and occasionally a Mediterranean gecko or two can be spotted. They also have an African one with tortoises, 2 species of agamas, and water turtles. The hogle zoo has a southwest us one with 2 desert tortoises, birds, side blotches, desert iguanas, whiptails, zebra tails a giant chuckwalla, and supposedly a few banded geckos are in it too. I have a 4'x4'x3' plywood enclosure that I am hoping to set up for them to live in for as much of the year as possibly outside. Since our summer conditions here are almost identical to those found where I got my little buddies. The only issue is the enclosure needs to be refinished so it doesn't rot and it needs a new screen topper. I am hoping to finish it up this winter and have them in it next summer.


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[Fly River]

I think if you have the room and the time, mix species exhibits are great. They do have there challenges but most of the time the challenge is with the same specie not getting along.

I keep turtles with tropical fish. How do I do it? You make sure the fish are a lot larger than the turtle or when you keep baby turtles you constantly keep them with fish. I no some people look down to this but sometimes using non threatened fish or cheap fish is a good way to start.


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[crayfishguy]

Until someone can give me a 100% guaranteed reason on why not to mix species that naturally coexist. I see nothing wrong with it. Now if someone was trying to mix a leopard gecko and say a uromastyx that would be another story. They have vastly different habitat requirements and do not naturally coexist. I based my mix off of naturally coexisting species. Down in arizona and out on the mojave we see iguanas and whiptails together all the time. You'll see a rock pile with iguanas or chuckwallas in the creosote bush growing out of the rocks, side blotches, scalys and whiptails on/in the rocks. Horned lizards in the sand at the base and occasionally a leopard or collard lizard on the top of the pile watching everyone else. I also went off of the San Diego zoos mixed species enclosures they have, and my local hogle zoos mixed enclosure. The San Diego zoo has a sw European based enclosure with ocellated lizards, sheltopusik, tortoises and occasionally a Mediterranean gecko or two can be spotted. They also have an African one with tortoises, 2 species of agamas, and water turtles. The hogle zoo has a southwest us one with 2 desert tortoises, birds, side blotches, desert iguanas, whiptails, zebra tails a giant chuckwalla, and supposedly a few banded geckos are in it too. I have a 4'x4'x3' plywood enclosure that I am hoping to set up for them to live in for as much of the year as possibly outside. Since our summer conditions here are almost identical to those found where I got my little buddies. The only issue is the enclosure needs to be refinished so it doesn't rot and it needs a new screen topper. I am hoping to finish it up this winter and have them in it next summer.


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i agree completely, i have actually seen lizards that resemble whiptails in the same area (a few feet away) from a desert iguana. And once even one was sitting on top of one