# Turtles & Lizzard... can they live together???



## Allyoop (Apr 15, 2012)

I have a 2 year old Eastern Long necked turtle 'Shelly' that lives in an outdoor enclosure and was looking at getting an a Blue tongue lizard... does anyone know if they are ok together???


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## disintegratus (Apr 15, 2012)

I'm no expert, but I thought blueys can't swim?


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## snakehandler (Apr 15, 2012)

Our outdoor pit has blue tongues, beardies, turtles, water dragons, stumpies and short and long neck turtle......just make sure there are plenty of hides, easy surfaces for the animals to climb out of the water and a few little islands....it's easily done!!


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## dragonlover1 (Apr 15, 2012)

Allyoop said:


> I have a 2 year old Eastern Long necked turtle 'Shelly' that lives in an outdoor enclosure and was looking at getting an a Blue tongue lizard... does anyone know if they are ok together???



I tried this once,they can live together peacefully but blueys can't swim.I put lots of rocks around the edge plus chicken wire to help them climb out but unfortunately Rex drowned,so NO DON'T DO IT



disintegratus said:


> I'm no expert, but I thought blueys can't swim?



they swim like a rock


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## Allyoop (Apr 15, 2012)

disintegratus said:


> I'm no expert, but I thought blueys can't swim?


 lol.... its a enclosed area with a pond in it..... i wasnt gonna make the poor thing live in the water



snakehandler said:


> Our outdoor pit has blue tongues, beardies, turtles, water dragons, stumpies and short and long neck turtle......just make sure there are plenty of hides, easy surfaces for the animals to climb out of the water and a few little islands....it's easily done



Wow that an active pit.... sounds awesome, i love to see a pic if you have one 

Thanks for your help.... i quess a blueys on the way


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## dragonlover1 (Apr 15, 2012)

Allyoop said:


> lol.... its a enclosed area with a pond in it..... i wasnt gonna make the poor thing live in the water



mine was too I had an area of about 12 foot x 15 foot with a 3 foot pond in it but the bluey still drowned:|


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## Lizzy90 (Apr 16, 2012)

Yep they can live quite happily together as its not like they are going to eat each other (well the turtles might eat the lizard if it was small enough), but of course it would be better to have a lizard that can swim since their will be a large amount of water for the turtles, and drowning is quite a possibility.
If you really want to keep them together I would suggest to make it as safe for a bluie as possible, such as the slope of the pond to not be steep and very gradual in case it decides to get too close to the water, as well as have some logs coming out. If you could have a barrier around the pond, that would be even better to keep out the lizard.
But again, consider it very carefully since drowning is quite a possibility if the set up isn't friendly for the lizard.


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## Ricochet (Apr 16, 2012)

What........... blue tongues in the wild can't live in an environment where theres water:shock::shock::shock: . Crikey - I didn't realise what danger the poor critters were in..........wonder why they aren't extinct with all the Lakes, rivers etc. I'd suggest strap some floaties on....just in case


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## -Peter (Apr 16, 2012)

Bluetongues, if they cannot get out of the water will continue to swim or float until they take in enough water to sink. Upon which they will continue to walk around the bottom of the pond until they die. They cannot climb out of thge water, they need to be able to walk out.


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## JAS101 (Apr 16, 2012)

Ricochet said:


> What........... blue tongues in the wild can't live in an environment where theres water:shock::shock::shock: . Crikey - I didn't realise what danger the poor critters were in..........wonder why they aren't extinct with all the Lakes, rivers etc. I'd suggest strap some floaties on....just in case


why do pepole continue to bring up "the wild " factor - we arnt talking about the wild are we  , and yup i wouldnt mind betting that in the " wild " the odd blue duznt drown ..


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## snakehandler (Apr 16, 2012)

Our ponds have a gentle slope and the pond is rough concrete so the animals that attempt to swim can easily get out.....we had drownings only when steep sides or plastic ponds were used!!!


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## Brock102 (Apr 16, 2012)

try it and watch for about ten minutes because blue tongs don t like water


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## Ricochet (Apr 16, 2012)

Yep - If you put a pond in that the blueys can't climb out of then theres a fair chance if it falls in - it drowns. Geeze - that was a No **** Sherlock moment. If you put a human or basically any other non aquatic species in deep water and they cant get out..................................Doh - you probably have the same sinking feeling. Maybe humans shouldn't go to public swimming pools cos they are in an enclosure with water.

The question really begs - Is it a problem keeping blueys and turtles together (ie. blueys near water) or is it a problem installing a pond that the blueys can't crawl out of when they go for a swim.


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## Allyoop (Apr 20, 2012)

****UPDATE****
They are living together and all is going well. I watched the turtle when she seen the bluey for the first time... lol, if a turtles eyes could pop out!!!!! funny as 
The lizzard does walk up to the water and licks the damp sides, but keeps as far away as possible!!
So, so far so good 
Thanks for your comments


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## Origamislice (Apr 20, 2012)

JAS101 said:


> why do pepole continue to bring up "the wild " factor - we arnt talking about the wild are we  , and yup i wouldnt mind betting that in the " wild " the odd blue duznt drown ..



i 100% agree with this. they are pets not wild animals people! it is our responsibility as pet owners to provide as safe happy enviroment for our pets. i'm sure in the wild blue's can escape/avoid preditors, doesn't mean i'm going to stick a wedge tail eagle in their enclosure..

as for the qeustion at hand i'm sure that the blue will be fine... this is irrelevent to what happens in the wild though.


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## Jason.s (May 7, 2012)

You could choose a lizard that lives near water like a water dragon or some water skinks it looks more naural and
you dont have to wory about them drowning.


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## K3nny (May 7, 2012)

interesting fact, the Indonesian counterpart of blueys can "sort of" swim (well, swim snake style if you will)
i've personally observed mine doing so several years ago back home, but in a tub with shallow water under supervision


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## jacks-pythons (May 8, 2012)

no problem we do the same at the zoo. they wont do anything to eachother. its like they dont exsist.


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## Kareeves (May 8, 2012)

few years back i had a nice outdoor pit that i kept a mix of reptiles in. Water dragons, blues, beardes, cunninghams, giggies and some turtles. Never lost any animals to drownings. The pond was concret with shalow eges. The pit was large and lots of places for every one to live and hide. But also want to ad that these captive braed animals we keep are still some what wild. So they do come with very high instink so if a lizzaed ends up in the drink it will get out as long as we have made the ponds so they can. If a lizzard drounds in a pit it is not because he can not swim but because we ****ed up with the making of the pond. Simple


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