# Co-housing Blueys



## Buggster (Mar 30, 2017)

I was considering getting a few baby blueys (from different clutches) and co-housing them if possible?
I've seen people with some of the most amazing outdoor setups with multiple lizards, and wonder how they manage so many lizards!
Although I won't be able to have a large outdoor pit, I was thinking about getting a raised garden bed put in my reptile room and making that my indoor pit. I think I'd manage to put in a 1.5x1.5m bed, possibly a 2x2.
How many adults do you reckon could comfortably fit in that? I'm thinking getting 3 babies + integrating my older girl when they're bigger. Will be housed in a smaller area until they've grown a bit (probably a tub of some sort...).
How high do you think the walls would have to be to prevent escape? Obviously they're inside and the room I'm planning on having them is 'lizard proof' so an escape isn't a disaster, but I'd prefer to avoid it if possible!


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## kingofnobbys (Mar 30, 2017)

Safer to avoid any territorial issues and dominance issues and house THEM ALL SEPARATELY unless the enclosure is very large and has lots of hides.


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## Buggster (Mar 30, 2017)

kingofnobbys said:


> Safer to avoid any territorial issues and dominance issues and house THEM ALL SEPARATELY unless the enclosure is very large and has lots of hides.


Like I said, at the least it will be 1.5x1.5m.
Obviously done up with plenty of natural hides/logs/brush.
Pretty much bringing an outdoor pit inside


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## pinefamily (Mar 31, 2017)

Having actually read your first post, I'd only house 2 in 1.5 x 1.5, maybe a FFM trio in a 2 x 2. You would still need multiple basking spots either way.
This sounds interesting; I can't wait to see photos.


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## Nero Egernia (Mar 31, 2017)

When I had blue-tongues I housed one Centralian with two other Centralians from a different clutch, along with a Western and they all got along fine. Although at feeding time you had to keep a close eye on them as they would sometimes get a bit enthusiastic, especially for protein based food such as insects. They shared the basking site and hides peacefully. I found that even though I provided enough hides for all four of them they would always prefer to sleep together. I suspect they did this to conserve heat once the lights went out. 

What species of blue-tongue were you planning? I heard that Eastern and Northern blue-tongues are more territorial and temperamental than the other species.


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## pinefamily (Mar 31, 2017)

What size enclosure did you keep them in, Oshkii?


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## Nero Egernia (Mar 31, 2017)

If my memory serves me correctly it was 150cm (or 120cm?) x 60cm. But keep in mind they were all juveniles when first acquired and by the time I moved them on they were close to sub adult size.


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## kingofnobbys (Mar 31, 2017)

Oshkii said:


> When I had blue-tongues I housed one Centralian with two other Centralians from a different clutch, along with a Western and they all got along fine. Although at feeding time you had to keep a close eye on them as they would sometimes get a bit enthusiastic, especially for protein based food such as insects. They shared the basking site and hides peacefully. I found that even though I provided enough hides for all four of them they would always prefer to sleep together. I suspect they did this to conserve heat once the lights went out.
> 
> What species of blue-tongue were you planning? I heard that Eastern and Northern blue-tongues are more territorial and temperamental than the other species.



Was a long time ago, but I had a few siblings from the same clutch, and I had them all in a very large 1.2m diameter x 0.5m tall round plastic tub with a hide for each (can't remember where I bought it - think it was a laboratory supply place , but was originally bought by me back in the early 80s to use as livebait tank in the garage (which it was also perfect for)) .

One day I caught one of my boys attacking the other boy (didn't know I had 2 boys and a girl when I bought them) and it gave the victim a good solid head bite (enough to take scales off across the crown of the head and draw lots of blood), the attacker went out of his way to follow the victim into a hide where the attack happened, I think I had 2 boys and a girl, and the two boys hated each other and this was some kind of dominance issue. Off cause it may just have been a that aggressive sibling may have very hormonal at the time and had nothing to do with territorialism or dominance behaviours - I just didn't want to risk further attacks and the potential of much more serious injuries or even a deadly attack.

All juveniles (8 months old) and easterns I'd bought from a breeder. I chose after that to separate mine into 3 big 130L tubs and then when adult to 3 x 4ft x 2ft x 1ft (tall) tanks that I built as DIYS project one weekend.

Oshkii - were your gang of bluetongues all females or mixed boys and girls ?
.... I think it makes a difference in how they'll get on as I suspect a group of female bluetongues are more likely to be much more mellow and harmonious when housed together.


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## Nero Egernia (Apr 2, 2017)

kingofnobbys said:


> Oshkii - were your gang of bluetongues all females or mixed boys and girls ?
> .... I think it makes a difference in how they'll get on as I suspect a group of female bluetongues are more likely to be much more mellow and harmonious when housed together.



They were young animals, so sex was largely unknown. Although I believe I had at least two males as I was fortunate enough to see their hemipenes while they were defecating. Reaching sexual maturity may have effected their demeanor towards one another, or it may not. I no longer have them anymore so the question remains unanswered.

What species of Blue-tongue were you keeping, kingofnobbys?

EDIT: Going off topic.


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## kingofnobbys (Apr 2, 2017)

Oshkii said:


> They were young animals, so sex was largely unknown. Although I believe I had at least two males as I was fortunate enough to see their hemipenes while they were defecating. Reaching sexual maturity may have effected their demeanor towards one another, or it may not. I no longer have them anymore so the question remains unanswered.
> 
> What species of Blue-tongue were you keeping, kingofnobbys?
> 
> EDIT: Going off topic.


easterns


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## varanophile (Apr 6, 2017)

Whilst co-housing can be done it is not without its risks as mentioned above. If co-housing is what you want to do I would suggest going for shinglebacks as they show much less territorial aggression than other species.


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## kankryb (Apr 6, 2017)

My northern bluetongue pair is housed together always and breeds every year and they have 125x60x60 same for my pairs of rugosa rugosa and aspera, I have plenty of hides for them to be alone


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## Wally (Apr 7, 2017)

varanophile said:


> Whilst co-housing can be done it is not without its risks as mentioned above. If co-housing is what you want to do I would suggest going for shinglebacks as they show much less territorial aggression than other species.



I couldn't agree more.


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