Keeping blue tongues togther

[msbee]

I was reading a care sheet on keeping blue tongues and it stated very clearly that they were not to be housed togther or they might fight and injure each other.
I am new to herps and just got my first lizards. Two 8 week old eastern blue tongues.
I just made a 6 x 3 foot out door pit for them and was wondering if others have had success with more than one bluey togther.
Thank you in advance

Mark

 

[Aslan]

Again, it has been a very long time but we had absolutely no poblem housing a number of blueys together and from what I understand it is reasonably common...?

 

[msbee]

Thanks Aslan

 

[mitchdiamond]

I have both my Bluey's in seperate enclosures as they are different sizes so I didn't want to risk anything.
Mitch

 

[PhilK]

At my pet shop I go to, they have a number of bluies in an enclosure together, and instead of fighting thy seem to curl up with eachother in a big bundle..

 

[zulu]

re Keeping

I was reading a care sheet on keeping blue tongues and it stated very clearly that they were not to be housed togther or they might fight and injure each other.
I am new to herps and just got my first lizards. Two 8 week old eastern blue tongues.
I just made a 6 x 3 foot out door pit for them and was wondering if others have had success with more than one bluey togther.
Thank you in advance

Mark

They can be kept together,ile often have several juveniles together,its helpful with cleaning and feeding etc,best kept indoors in a small enclosure with a light or heat mat,easier to observe and clean and they can be kept active if desired through winter.

 

[mecoop]

i keep 3 together in an inside enclosure 900x600x600 and they are fine

 

[cuddlykylie]

i had 5 bluies and kept them all together, without a problem, they were all different sizes too
kylie

 

[msbee]

Thank you for all the replys
There's so much conflicting information arround i guess you just learn as you go.

 

[Aslan]

I wouldn't be worried about keeping them together - next time you go to a zoo or smilar check it out, there are usually a handful of blueys, some shinglebacks, some cunninghams skinks and a land mullet or two all living together - no problems...

 

[gaz]

I have 8 outside in a bird aviary, they do fight in mating season, but seem to survive and breed.but I also have 2 inside that seem pretty agressive to each other! (dont know sexes of any of them) I also have 5 juves in a plastic tub for a month, so far so good!

 

[RevDaniel]

i have over 60 blueys. 5 adults living together and three enclosure with the babies divided up inside the enclosures. Come spring time you will find that males are naturally aggressive towards each other. Other than that they all on fine

 

[Davo66]

I had four in the one enclosure and they were fine but the big female was chomping on her partner and the smaller ones so I put her in another enclosure and everything is happy again. The big male actually curls up with his two offspring, no more bite marks.

Davo

 

[Chimera]

Probably a good idea before you house them together to make sure you can separate them on a moments notice. The reason you are getting conflicting information is that there are many cases that blue tongues can be housed together without too much of an issue.

There are however cases where the aggression between individuals can be dangerous. A recent edition of Herpetofauna (not sure which one exactly) showed a sever case of intra specific aggression between bluetongues involving a broken skull. Providing a large amount of space for 2 adults could help avoid this as both have the opportunity to avoid each other.

 

[-Peter]

Males in a large enough enclosure do not fight. What tends to happen is the main males breed and the inferior ones go into decline due to stress. I used to remove them to a separate enclosure where they were ok, no girls.
Most of the fighting is misread mating where males try to grab the females. This is a very brutal part of the courtship.
American caresheets recommend 1 animal per enclosure. Most of theres come from PNG/IJ.

Now northern bluetongues are another kettle of skinks. They are agressive and should not be in confined enclosures in any numbers. You may be able to keep a couple together but dont be complacent. They need plenty of space.
A lot of Eastern X Notherns are starting to appear now and the offspring of these may be more likely to be agressive to each other

 

[liasis]

i have 2 in the same inclosure if they are the sam esize it willbe fine to keep them together if you put an adult and a juvi in together the large one may bully the small one and may cause injury and it will also hog all the food