Keeping different species together

Hi There,

I've been thinking about adding something to my zoo, but was curious if there is anything I could keep together...

I have 2 large enclosures, each are 72" x 24" x 24". One houses a male red tail boa, and the other a male Ball Python. Is there anything else that I could cohabitate with either of the snakes? Maybe a type of lizard or arachnid? I'm sure there are animals in the wild that live in the same habitat as both the snakes - but what exactly?

Different species are hard when you start hitting medium/larger sized animals. With smaller stuff it's much easier to pull off and really fun to observe in a naturalistic setup. One of my most successful terrariums had a rough green snake, green tree frogs, gray tree frogs, barking tree frogs, anoles(1 male and several females), five lined skinks, a couple toads, and a tiger salamander. It's really about having animals that inhabit different niches and providing said niches while also making sure the cohabitants aren't on each other's menu.

I think your best bet would be with the ball python and you'll need to find something 100% arboreal and provide a microhabitat that only it would frequent. Even better would be a habitat that the ball python is unable to enter at all. If you go lizard I have a feeling it'll eventually end up in your snake's belly. If you go larger lizard you'll probably end up with a snake in your lizard's belly.. The inverts that immediately come to mind are tailless whip scorpions(amblypygi). They almost always stay on vertical perches so you could set up a nice habitat on the walls of your enclosure. That said, they're also very secretive so you probably won't see them often. Feeding might pose a problem, doubt your snakes would appreciate insects crawling all over them. The positive is that they like the same temperature and humidity ranges as ball pythons.

In the wild - they have miles of space to get away with each other. So yes, snakes live with other snakes and lizards. But it doesn't work well when you confine them to a 2-ft x 6-ft space. It may seem like they have room to stay away from each other, but it's not that much in comparison to the wild. Even if they don't physically harm each other, there's a chance that the presence of another animal would stress them out, potentially cause them to stop eating, etc.

The smaller stuff may not be a problem, but it wouldn't really add much to the terrarium and seems would be more hassle than it's worth.

My $0.02.

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Originally Posted by Fireproof

In the wild - they have miles of space to get away with each other. So yes, snakes live with other snakes and lizards. But it doesn't work well when you confine them to a 2-ft x 6-ft space. It may seem like they have room to stay away from each other, but it's not that much in comparison to the wild. Even if they don't physically harm each other, there's a chance that the presence of another animal would stress them out, potentially cause them to stop eating, etc.

The smaller stuff may not be a problem, but it wouldn't really add much to the terrarium and seems would be more hassle than it's worth.

My $0.02.

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You can find different species under the same log, in the same tree, the same den, termite mound, etc. Heck, we have gopher tortoises around here and hundreds of animals utilize their burrows - many harmoniously.

Hundreds of animals utilize a single burrow? At the same time?

Anyway - I wasn't thinking of things like different small critters. I was thinking of more PET type animals like bearded dragons and a snake in the same cage. Or two different snakes in the same cage.

That's why I said "The smaller stuff may not be a problem..."

But I've known snakes to kill frogs, lizards, and other snakes, in the same terrarium. I wouldn't recommend those being kept together.

Nope, it's a keystone species because they're such prolific diggers they create microhabitats all over their range. When more than 300 species use these burrows it's inevitable that they share, probably more often than not, and I'm sure meals are to be had depending on who bunks down where. The point is the OP is researching and trying to find species that can exist together peacefully and this does happen in nature all the time. Even with the big wide yonder available many different species share habitat types without any predatory inclination.

Many frogs will also eat anything they can shove in their mouth, or anything they think they can. In my experience they need to be the smallest habitants in a communal setup or very well fed but neither is a guarantee. One reason it works with smaller species is it's easier to find specialized feeders in the snake category while still keeping the others open due to relative sizes.

The specific snakes are the crutch in the OPs idea which is why I suggested a 100% arboreal invert. Won't be much for viewing but hey, he seems to be just brainstorming anyway so it's a thought.

Got it. That makes sense.... I like the idea a lot. I just haven't found any "interesting" animals to make it like a mini wild kingdom, lol. To your point - anything I came up with (and I'm not as nearly knowledgeable as you, it sounds like :) ), I wasn't really interested in or it didn't make for a very interesting viewing experience. :)

But if there is a good set up, my Brother-in-Law was just asking about this over Thanksgiving. (Of course, he was asking about several snakes, etc, so that's probably where my head was as I read the thread).

Thanks for the dialog.