Melbourne Zoo community enclosures.

[Jaws07]

Hey guys, I have been to the zoo today and they all sorts of interesting combination community tanks. In the fist enclosure they had a mixture of western blue tongues, ackies and central bearded dragons. In the next enclosure I saw they had a boa with some iguanas. In another tank they had pink tongue skinks with angle headed dragons. Just wondering if anyone had seen these enclosures and what their thoughts on them are?

 

[Frozenmouse]

At the berlin zoo they had frillies in with beardies. Ackies i would not put with blueys but i am guessing they know more than me about it.

 

[Trench]

I have a few plans on doing this sort of thing myself.
But I don't think that a boa and iguanas are a good idea even if the boa is to small to eat the iguanas and the iguanas only eat veg and fruit (not sure on this?) the snake would still scare the lizards and they might go on hunger strike, I am not sure how they (the zoo) does it.
My angle headed dragons get all upset when I show them my pink tongue so I have kept them separate for now but do have some thoughts on possible combinations.

 

[Jaws07]

At the berlin zoo they had frillies in with beardies. Ackies i would not put with blueys but i am guessing they know more than me about it.

Yeah at the zoo they had their frillies in with blueys and another skink species that the name escapes me.

I have a few plans on doing this sort of thing myself.
But I don't think that a boa and iguanas are a good idea even if the boa is to small to eat the iguanas and the iguanas only eat veg and fruit (not sure on this?) the snake would still scare the lizards and they might go on hunger strike, I am not sure how they (the zoo) does it.
My angle headed dragons get all upset when I show them my pink tongue so I have kept them separate for now but do have some thoughts on possible combinations.

Yeah at the zoo the boa looked to be big enough to eat the iguanas, but they also didn't have much climbing space so the iguanas were just sitting with an around the boa. I have angle headed dragons and never heard of the pink tongue combination, only angle heads and frogs.

 

[ozziepythons]

Working in the industry for a while I have been expected to work with animals in mixed species exhibits and have seen them work and not work. I've had exhibits of this type that work for quite a long period of time then one day it all goes wrong. Some attempts at multiple species or occupant housing should never have been tried and I'm sorry to have seen the end result and have to be the one treating the animals injured. The problem is its often those sitting behind desks are the ones that dream up these type of mixed exhibits or have an agenda to house as much as possible with limited housing space.

 

[HerpAddict]

i also saw this at melb zoo..... and took pictures.....

 

[Pilbarensis]

Haha. Looks like they get along just fine. Great picture InsaneHerpFreak.

 

[Frozenmouse]

if the basking spot is cool enough for a blue tongue and beardy it is not warm enough for an ackie ! No wonder they get along ok the Ackie is too lethargic to cause any trouble.

 

[HerpAddict]

cheers man.

what sort of temp does an ackie need? i think that was the only basking spot too.

 

[Jaws07]

cheers man.

what sort of temp does an ackie need? i think that was the only basking spot too.

Yeah same I only saw the 1 basking spot.

 

[Frozenmouse]

ackie 60-70 oC

 

[Tristan]

Perth zoo, has a filly, blues, shingles, and i thing 1 other all intogether

 

[HerpAddict]

wow thats hot!
would of had roast bluey and beardy.

 

[eipper]

Arm chair experts guys.... This is insanity. I am sure you all have a much better understanding of how to keep these reptiles. While I agree that some pairings are not without risk, most will be fine and remain incident free. Btw Pogona and tiliqua can take higher basking spot temps than normal. it is the length of time exposed is the main difference. Eg blue tongues and bearded dragon will still cross bitumen roads on hot days in full sun exposing themselves to temps in the mid sixties but they are not cooking.

 

[HerpAddict]

im no expert, but im sure the zoo people know what they are doing

 

[Skelhorn]

i also saw this at melb zoo..... and took pictures.....
View attachment 258011

They is cuddling

 

[Frozenmouse]

my ackies would rip a bluey or beardy to pieces but they have a correct basking temp.

 

[serpenttongue]

Taronga once had a mangrove monitor, frillies and baby saltwater crocodiles in the one enclosure.

 

[Jaws07]

Yeah they would have to know what they are doing, I would think that blueys wouldn't be able to withstand that heat. I've seen plenty of blueys where I lived that have cooked on the road and died.

 

[Ramsayi]

They is competing for the basking site

fixed