My experience with multi-species cohabitation.

[dakski]

I think this an example of something either not working and the OP not realizing it yet, or an outlier at best.

Not even sure where to start.

1. Most reptiles are solitary and do not like to share space unless breeding.

2. Feeding multiple animals in the same enclosure is asking for trouble. One can hurt or swallow another one going after the same prey item.

3. Wild caught anything shouldn't be in the same room, let alone tank, without proper testing, deworming, etc. AND proper quarantine. Different room, different utensils, and for 90 days with captive bred, probably 2X that for a wild caught specimen.

4. Temp and humidity requirements differ with region and species. Swifts needs a hot spot of 95F to digest properly, UVB lighting, etc. A temp that high would hurt or without proper management, if it got a few degrees hotter, could kill a BP and potentially a garter.

5. A 50G is okay for one adult BP or swift. Not a swift, a BP, and a garter.

6. Mixing snakes and lizards and different food types is not considered a good practice. Insects, what swifts eat, will annoy (at best) a BP and can carry parasites that a lizard might be able to handle, but a BP wouldn't be exposed to in captivity.

7. Any untreated substrate, from Idaho or anywhere else is probably asking for trouble on many levels.

8. Bioactive enclosures are difficult at best, but probably just hasn't been run long enough to collapse in this instance, or the OP just doesn't know what a mess the situation is bacterially and fungus wise, etc.

WOW. I don't think I've ever seen so many approaches and missteps in one tank.

This "experiment" seems ill informed and is an example of things holding together just long enough to confuse success with catastrophe. At the worst, it's given the OP the idea that this is a good thing and encouraged them.

I would encourage other readers to use this as a case of what NOT to do. For that, I thank the OP for sharing the story so more experienced keepers can point out his/her mistakes.

Having said that, I am giving the OP the benefit of the doubt here and assuming they are just misinformed and don't know better. OP, PLEASE separate your species and give them proper care. I would also return wild caught specimens to the wild quickly after acquisition, in general, I wouldn't take one home to begin with.

I would also add that the BP eating regularly is probably a) a miracle and b) an example of coincidence rather than causation. I know many BP's that wouldn't have overcome this situation, even to this point.

Again, readers, please take this as an example of WHAT NOT TO DO and please do not cohabitate species in captivity. We have the option as keepers to leave the wild alone, get captive bred and healthy specimens, and control our animals environments so they are ideal. In this case, OP may be lucky so far (or again, doesn't know the damage that's been done), but in general, with reptile keeping, it's better to be GOOD than LUCKY.