sulcatas and leopards

[jasso2]

hi confused just read someone has the sulcatas and leopards together. well i have babies that are no bigger than 2 inches. i would like to put them together to combine their outdoor enclosures. good or bad idea?

 

[jlyoncc1]

Bad idea. Species should never be combined. The carry different "bugs" that may not be harmful to themselves but can be deadly to a different species. I would keep them separate if I were you.

 

[purpod]

I would agree with ya, Dee; altho combining would be nice, perhaps for health reasons, not such a good idea.

Bestest luck with your lil' boogers
Purpod

 

[Yvonne G]

There's also the size issue. The sulcata would quickly be too large to be kept in the same pen as the leopard. And the bigger tortoise would be the bully. Incidentally, bullying isn't always noticeable. There is "mental" bullying.

Yvonne

 

[Lil' Tortie]

What sort of health problems would result from this?

 

[jasso2]

yea i agree with the bully comment, sometimes i see my sulcatas lookin mean at my leopards and the leos run away. man that sucks why cant they be like dogs and be able to mix them together! ... i think ill mix them in together for a month or so and see what happens. ive known of a couple of ppl (breeders) that mix them up. anyways thanks guys!

 

[mrspio82]

hi confused just read someone has the sulcatas and leopards together. well i have babies that are no bigger than 2 inches. i would like to put them together to combine their outdoor enclosures. good or bad idea?

The "bullying" even happens with dogs and cats. I have 2 cats and a dog - and my smallest cat is the bully - or at least she is when one of the other one's bother her. I read an article once about "mental bullying" among animals - sometimes the same species of animal will live together and hate eachother - which casuses a LOT of stress, but show no physical signs of not getting along.
I got my Sulcata and Water Dragon on the same day - from the same place - and weirdly enough, they had them in the same cage. They have totally different environments - the dragon is from rain forest and the tort is desert - I seperated them as soom as we got them home and they are both fine... I would do A LOT of research before combining two different types of animals. There are several different types of animals that make eachother sick - rabbit and guinie pig, for example, can't be kept near eachother without risk of one getting sick!
Be careful!!!

 

[Crazy1]

Sometimes mixing species will cause one or the other to get sick sometimes even resulting in death. Different species carry different bacteria and parasites. That perhaps the others can't handle. So it is preferred not to mix species.

 

[Lil' Tortie]

Well, so far so good. Besides the nippy-bite, they seem to get along fine. They eat together and sleep together. It's like one big multicultural family, or like 'Mama's family'...

 

[K9KidsLove]

I agree that different species should NOT be put together, even if they get along. The most important reason for not putting them together is that each carries their own kinds of natural bacteria that will never make them ill. However, that same bacteria can cause death in another species. You won't know that this has happened until it is too late to do something about it.
Also, as said above, the sulcata will get much bigger, faster, and will hurt the leopard...maybe not even on purpose. A 75 lb sulcata climbing over the top of a sleeping 15 lb leopard is likely to cause damage!!

So... the concensus is that you should keep them separate.
Patsy

 

[Lil' Tortie]

They all seem to be very active, but thanks, I'll keep a close eye on them.