# Putting 2 Blue tongue lizards together



## Reptiles101 (Nov 27, 2012)

I have at the moment an 7 to 8 month old Eastern Blue tongue that's a male.

My questions are, is it beneficial to have to blue tongue lizards together?.
Is an 3 foot tank to small for 2 blue tongues? what size tank would you's recommend?
How easy are they to breed? and when is the breeding season? 
How old do blue tongues need to be to start breeding? 
Do I keep the adults and babies together?
Is there any specific food to feed the female if she is pregnant?
Do the same species of blue tongue get along with each other?

Whats a good substrate to have for blue tongues?

Thanks in advance


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## smileysnake (Nov 27, 2012)

gday mate good luck getting answers about your blue tongues on here i asked a question about them a while ago no help no comments so i gave up....i am trying to find somewhere else to get info from........i have a male and female that i bought recently that have lived together their whole lives they are in a 4 foot tank but i think its a bit small but i get them out as often as i can....i have my two on aspen bedding they seem to like it .....


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## BIGBANG (Nov 27, 2012)

hey mate i cant really help with any of ya questions except as a kid i had a pretty big outdoor pit and i have severa blue tongues in it of different species as well as shinglebacks and never had a problem with them all living together


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## Sel (Nov 27, 2012)

My 2 lived fine together, id use newspaper as its just easier to clean the tank out, they Poo alot..
Haven't bred bluetongues so cannot comment on that part.


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## glassless_mind (Nov 27, 2012)

Hey,

My knowledge is fairly generalised, not species specific for blue-tongues in particular, but maybe I can help with a few questions?

- I don't know if it's "beneficial" to keep them together. When they get along, I've seen them curled up together asleep. It's very cute. This couldn't be bad for them, but whether or not they need this, I don't know. I have seen people who appear to keep them together happily, all year round.
- Tank size really depends on floor space, and what you provide. Blue-tongues don't really climb, but will use hides in logs and things. It's the surface area of the floor space that is really important, as well as the tank setup.
- I've never tried breeding blue tongues myself, but I have known lots of people who have. They just seem to put them together and it happens. All the people I know who have done it have been in victoria, and keeping them outside in runs/hutches. They will need to be cooled down over winter, and warmed up in summer in order to breed. I think from memory they mate towards the end of summer, and give birth in the spring.
- Blue tongues would need to be adults or near adults to start breeding. i wouldn't bank on getting babies before 2 years old, but I really don't know on that one!!!
- I see no problem with keeping adults and babies together until the young are fully grown. Once they're approaching full size though, you risk in-breeding if you keep them together longer.
- I don't think there's a specific food for a pregnant female. Just make sure you have a balanced diet, with enough calcium, and she gets enough exposure to sunlight to utilise the nutrients you are providing her. It should consist of crickets, woodies, other insects (e.g. snails), fruit and vegies, and a supplement powder (wombaroo make good ones). I've also known people to feed them eukanuba dog pellets softened in water. Reading on other websites suggests giving low fat dog food. I'd go with something of a reasonable quality, and only a small amount. Diet should be 60% greens, 40% meat, insects, etc
- I've seen various locales of blue tongues kept together, as well as those of the same species. I think the important thing would be that they are of similar sizes, so that one does not bully the other. If you're looking to breed, I'd go with the same locales.
- As to substrate, nothing that is so small they can swallow it and get impacted. Bluetongues normally live in leaf litter. There's nothing wrong with newspaper, wtih bark and leaves over the top. It's probably the cheapest option. Don't use sand.

Hopefully that helps a bit. As I said, I've never kept them myself. I've spent quite a bit of time looking after them in a hospital setting, and I've seen other people keep them. There's just been a great series of books released about keeping all of the various reptile species. It might be worth purchasing one of these. I can't find the title right now, I know they were advertised on here a while ago...


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## bohdi13 (Nov 27, 2012)

Reptiles101 said:


> I have at the moment an 7 to 8 month old Eastern Blue tongue that's a male.
> 
> My questions are, is it beneficial to have to blue tongue lizards together?. i don't believe it is somewhat beneficial only for you . you will mainly find tiliqua sp. solitary but you can find them in pairs but that is mainly to do with breeding .
> Is an 3 foot tank to small for 2 blue tongues? what size tank would you's recommend? 3 foot is good for one IMO i would go for something like a 4 foot with a 2 foot depth.
> ...


hope that this information is helpful and if i have got something wrong can someone correct me .

bohdi.


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## Helikaon (Nov 27, 2012)

Hey excellent to see you are getting into blueys they are awesome pets and very cool to keep and breed. I havnt read the otehr answers but ill give you my two cents worth.

I have at the moment an 7 to 8 month old Eastern Blue tongue that's a male. How do you know its male?

My questions are, is it beneficial to have to blue tongue lizards together?. Its not really beneficial at all to keep them together but thats not saying it cant or shouldnt be done as it is quite easy, some easterns have aggressive tendencies i actually find most of my adult females are the worst and then the boys get roudy in breeding season. Much more conveniant to group house just make sure they all get plenty of basking space and enough food, if one is being dominated you will find it wont grow as fast as the other. 

Is an 3 foot tank to small for 2 blue tongues? what size tank would you's recommend? depending on the floor space 3 foot is probabfly a bit small, i like to keep mine in 4 footers and althoough most of mine are housed on their own when inside i have kept 2 in that sized enclosure with no problems, most of the year they live in outdoor pits.

How easy are they to breed? and when is the breeding season? very broad question, breeding season fro easterns all depends where you live, i had blueys mating in august last year where as down south they might not be mating till october. but spring is the easy answer, they need a good 5 weeks brumation and then the males wake start roaming around and then the girls wake about 2 weeks later and they get into it i usually then get bubs about 3 months later. Breeding them certainly isnt hard as long as you give them a good brumation period and know what sex they are and have enough condition on. 

How old do blue tongues need to be to start breeding? All depends on their size, i have heard of people growing them to size in a year, but i find on average they will begin to breed at the spring just before they turn 3 years old. 

Do I keep the adults and babies together? i remove my gravid females and put them in a birthing enclosure, when they give birth they are quite protective of their bubs so watch your fingers when you take them out. i remove the bubs and set them up in their own tank and start feeding them, I would rec not keeping then in your typic tanks as they like to climb the wall and kink their backs, make sure they have plenty of places to hide.

Is there any specific food to feed the female if she is pregnant? you dont have to feed anything different while they are gravid, just make sure they have plenty of food and make sure its a balanced diet. if your worried there is plenty of balanced bluey food in a pellet form, like vetafarnm and rep-cal
Do the same species of blue tongue get along with each other? not always but i find once they have lived together for a while there seems to be little problems at all. 

Whats a good substrate to have for blue tongues? anythign that is easy to clean, i use newspaper, but i know plenty of people that use paper kitty litter, sugar cane mulch, bark, obviously they loved to bury themselves so which ever you choose i would give them that opportunity, i shred some newspaper up and give them an area to bury themselves.

Thanks in advance

hope that helps!


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## jinjajoe (Nov 27, 2012)

smileysnake said:


> gday mate good luck getting answers about your blue tongues on here i asked a question about them a while ago no help no comments so i gave up....i am trying to find somewhere else to get info from........i have a male and female that i bought recently that have lived together their whole lives they are in a 4 foot tank but i think its a bit small but i get them out as often as i can....i have my two on aspen bedding they seem to like it .....



These questions have been answered countless times on this forum (by myself a few times & by others I couldn't count ??) 

Good answers Helikaon...

Regards

Joe


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## Reptiles101 (Nov 27, 2012)

Thanks everyone all your information has been very very helpful, learnt a heap on keeping blue tongue lizards together and breeding care.
hopefully can get a female and start a family of blue tongues.


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## smileysnake (Nov 28, 2012)

Thank you very much and sorry I will look better next time


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