Co-housing with other species

[Mrwaylay]

Ok, so this is more a general curiosity than a serious considerations, but; has anyone had any experience co-housing chameleons with other species of reptiles / amphibians? Today in a zoo reptile house, I saw different species from similar habitats being housed together. I thought that looked really... interesting.
So I got thinking, would it be possible to house imy male Ambilobe, with say, a species of tree frog? Or another kind of frog? Something that needed the same kind of climate and habitat?
Has anyone ever attempted this, and if so, how successful was it?? Cheers.

 

[fluxlizard]

I tried it when I was much younger and not so wise for a short while. I tried it with white lipped tree frogs. Smaller species (like red-eyes) would probably end up as food for the chameleon.

Two problems.

The first is that while the chameleon sleeps, the treefrogs are active. And I do mean active- they climb and hop all over the place at night. So the cham ends up with frogs climbing on him and shaking his plant while he's trying to sleep.

The second problem is that when it comes down to it, treefrogs are a little bit nasty. They leave mucus on stuff they come in contact with and crap on stuff. Because your chameleon at some point may want to drink off of the same stuff they are sliming, it is not a good idea.

It's funny, when I was young, I wanted "community" vivaria with mixed species. Now, I can't imagine what the appeal was.

 

[Carlton]

Ok, so this is more a general curiosity than a serious considerations, but; has anyone had any experience co-housing chameleons with other species of reptiles / amphibians? Today in a zoo reptile house, I saw different species from similar habitats being housed together. I thought that looked really... interesting.
So I got thinking, would it be possible to house imy male Ambilobe, with say, a species of tree frog? Or another kind of frog? Something that needed the same kind of climate and habitat?
Has anyone ever attempted this, and if so, how successful was it?? Cheers.

There are so many reasons this just doesn't work in the size enclosure the majority of us have in our homes. The animals may carry a completely different set of gut flora and fauna, parasites (non symptomatic levels), can expose each other to pathogens the other species may have no resistance to, have different daily activity cycles and nutritional needs, are either large enough to be viewed as threats by the other species or are small enough to be eaten, etc. Even if the climatic conditions seem similar, these creatures never shared habitats and weren't meant to. Our chams are already in a pretty compromised situation on their own so why complicate it?

 

[Carlton]

I tried it when I was much younger and not so wise for a short while. I tried it with white lipped tree frogs. Smaller species (like red-eyes) would probably end up as food for the chameleon.

Two problems.

The first is that while the chameleon sleeps, the treefrogs are active. And I do mean active- they climb and hop all over the place at night. So the cham ends up with frogs climbing on him and shaking his plant while he's trying to sleep.

The second problem is that when it comes down to it, treefrogs are a little bit nasty. They leave mucus on stuff they come in contact with and crap on stuff. Because your chameleon at some point may want to drink off of the same stuff they are sliming, it is not a good idea.

It's funny, when I was young, I wanted "community" vivaria with mixed species. Now, I can't imagine what the appeal was.

I think some of us hoped we could simply have more animals to enjoy without needing to use more space to do it.

 

[fluxlizard]

I think some of us hoped we could simply have more animals to enjoy without needing to use more space to do it.

I think for me it was more going on within the space itself- kind of like a community fish tank. Lizards aren't fish though.

 

[junglefries]

I could come up with 50 pros and 50 cons. But fluxgizzards hit the nail on the head, diurnal vs nocturnal. My chams as well as myself, go from June Cleaver nice during the day, to Freddy Krueger if awakened at night.

 

[maya2]

Wow, my girlfriend and I were talking about this last night and I was going to post the same question today.


We were thinking about fish though. Not doing it, neither of us have the experience, space, or money for a viv even half that ambitious.

But in theory, would it be possible to set up a naturalistic viv that was partly aquatic? I hear that chams are attracted to defecating in standing water, is this true? Does this include captive bred? I have to assume it would happen, and wonder how it would affect the fish. Although I already scoop the poops bi-daily so I wonder if manual cleaning in addition to filtration would help at all.

Another issue would be water depth, right? A cham could fall in and drown. Has anyone seen something like this? I assume there would be a slope, with water only on one side, so the viv would have to be huge.

 

[junglefries]

There was a user on here maybe 6-12 months ago who had a huge aquarium / cham cage he made. Claimed it all tied together nicely and to be quite frank, it was pretty. Chams can sometimes poop in the same area. If you limit the water to the front and make a bottom ledge 1/2 way to the front, you could get the cham to poop in the back with a barrier between them.

 

[StreetMoggy]

I remember seeing a YouTube video of a veiled chameleon swimming. So they can do it, they would just need access to climb back to land

 

[Mrwaylay]

I did see a post on a forum (possibly even this one) about someone who housed a giant millipede with their Panther. Kind of as a vivarium janitor. Any thoughts on that?..

 

[happy]

I do believe most of us are of the same opinion. Its never a good idea.
here is the why Click Here. I have seen chameleons eat mice(dont do this!).... if its hungry enough a chameleon will try to eat it....

seems to me you would want your chameleons to thrive. when you house another animal, you introduce too many variables in an already complex system.
want to do frogs? fish tanks cost next to nothing.... want to house something else? do another enclosure..... Personaly, im scared to put even plants in their enclosures.... feel like its going to stress them to death....

 

[fluxlizard]

I did see a post on a forum (possibly even this one) about someone who housed a giant millipede with their Panther. Kind of as a vivarium janitor. Any thoughts on that?..

Most millipedes have toxic defenses. I think this is a bad idea, but I don't know for sure- Maybe I remember that savannah monitors eat them so maybe they are not toxic for lizards.

 

[maya2]

There was a user on here maybe 6-12 months ago who had a huge aquarium / cham cage he made. Claimed it all tied together nicely and to be quite frank, it was pretty. Chams can sometimes poop in the same area. If you limit the water to the front and make a bottom ledge 1/2 way to the front, you could get the cham to poop in the back with a barrier between them.

Whoa, that's super interesting. I'd like to see something like that one day. One of my chameleons poops in the same area, the other doesn't. I wonder if this would be easier to do with a smaller cham.

 

[maya2]

I do believe most of us are of the same opinion. Its never a good idea.
here is the why Click Here. I have seen chameleons eat mice(dont do this!).... if its hungry enough a chameleon will try to eat it....

seems to me you would want your chameleons to thrive. when you house another animal, you introduce too many variables in an already complex system.
want to do frogs? fish tanks cost next to nothing.... want to house something else? do another enclosure..... Personaly, im scared to put even plants in their enclosures.... feel like its going to stress them to death....

I'v seen that video, it's one of my favorites. Gah, so brutal.
There's a local pet shop here and the guy who owns it sometimes feeds his cham pinkies. I think his days are numbered though because many people in the community disapprove of his animals living conditions.

 

[Carlton]

I remember seeing a YouTube video of a veiled chameleon swimming. So they can do it, they would just need access to climb back to land

Sure they "can" swim a bit, but I'm sure its not something they enjoy or do voluntarily. Probably pretty frightening.

 

[leedragon]

short answer no, water in the chameleon enclosure is a breeding ground for bacteria ( aquarium filters dont kill bacteria that make a good habitat for them to live in) and ends usually in mouth rot

 

[Nehemiah]

I also wanted to keep more than just a Cham, so I mounted a shelf on the window sill above our turtle pond. It drains into the pond, but solid waste has to be removed by hand. Isaac loves watching the turtles and all the fish. But I let him climb on the outside of the cage and his clumsy butt fell into the pond. He belly flopped with limbs spread out, he was in shock and didn't really start swimming right away. I picked him up and he was fine, but I don't trust chams around water anymore. But if there's a barrier, they will appreciate something to look at

 

[maya2]

That's such a neat idea!