# Do Community Lizards Exist?



## Danny200 (Aug 8, 2008)

Hello my lizard recently died of old age had it since i was 14 am now 26

and i now have a very large (6ft tall and 2ft deep) wooden vivarium all cleaned from the last lizard and is setup for a climbing arboreal/jungle lizard species

what i want to do is get some small community lizards in there and watch them work together or interact together hunt together maybe but in short just have multiple lizards together

do any exist at all? like community lizards? or any small lizards that can live together in peace with 0 risks? thanks 

now... i know these are not real... or maybe was but extinct now... but these are a form of lizard... i think... that live together 

Jurassic Park (6/10) Movie CLIP - They're Flocking This Way! (1993) HD - YouTube

also i think crocodiles and i think i seen on tv dragon monitor lizards eat together and live together....

so maybe there is possible for a small pet lizard that live and co exist together?

thanks


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## Danny200 (Aug 8, 2008)

i have been reading that crested geckos can live together (female ones) if your viv is large enough.... if so is that true? since they are small and the viv i have is 6ft should be ok?


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## Bradley (Aug 26, 2009)

Personally I would go with something like anoles or long tailed lizards if you want things that will get along together. They are active in the day and are quite good to watch.


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## Creed (Apr 2, 2014)

There is a big difference between co-existing and living communial. 

Longtailed lizards tolerate each other, that means that they are less likely to fight. But they don't form groups nor have complecated social behaivor. (atleast according to everything I've read about them)

Anoles are very intolerant of each other, even two females have a chance to fight. It's recommended to just keep a pair in an enclosure.

There communal skinks in de genus _Egernia_, they form family groups with a social structure. (But they aren't really suited for a tall enclosure) _Corucia zebrata_ (Solomon island skink) is arboreal skink that form family groups. These grow fairly large and need a very spacious enclosure though.

_Ouroboros cataphractus_ (used to be _Cordylus cataphractus_) is reported to have a social hierarchy, with even parental care. Females supposedly caught insects and feed them to their young. Don't know if this is completely true though. These are also kept in ground enclosures. 

The species that is mostly sold under _Cordylus tropidosternum_ looks somewhat similar. Though these aren't known for complex social behavior they seem to at least tolerate each other. I've heard from a specialist that they live on tree trunks in the wild. Most people keep these in lower tanks, but they might be an option.

Arciadia referred to _Eremias arguta_ in his new book. He wrote that keepers reported that this species works together in taking down larger prey (http://www.arcadia-reptile.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/bk02.pdf). This is a more terrestrial dwelling species though.

And because I'm a dino nut to: : victory:

Dinosaurs are much more related to birds then to lizards. Specially the species show in the vid. This species is roughly grouped under the bird hipped (Ornithischia) order, meaning they have hips more similar to birds. Nowadays it's theorized that T-rex had a small coat of feathers covering is body and scientist even found a protein which had more in common with the proteins in chickens then those in modern lizards. (T. rex was 'chicken' -- ancestor, that is - USATODAY.com) 

Like he said: "Birds will never be the same again." Something to think about while eaten chicken nugguts at McDonalds :Na_Na_Na_Na:

Good luck


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## Liamwilko (May 20, 2014)

Mourning geckos live in families its advised to keep 6\7 together to get the best of them. They are all female though and reproduce independent of males


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## mitsi (Feb 1, 2012)

Id go with the anoles, can easily keep a few together as long as there's only one male, lots of people keep these together with no problems at all.


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

I have tried this over the years with many species.

Asian Long tailed lizards I find do very well on the whole and seem to thrive in a low and long viv with a live grassed section, high humidity and they provision of a vast array or foods. They will live a breed quite well,

Anoles have been kept in groups for years and live in quite close groups in the wild but males become dominant and vigorously defend territories, as such if the enclosure isn't big enough you do get fighting and we should factor in negative stress issues and that effect on gut flora etc. 

The steppes runner does seem very social, early days with the species yet but maybe that is an option

some skinks live well together, I had a small collection of "sun skinks" (never did drill down the actual species) tiny little skinks from Africa, and they did well

The Egyptian wall lizards that come over about now, and when settled and de-parasitized live in groups and can be very lively.

Some of the crepuscular ground geckos also do well, 

but if you want a very easy group of active lizards that just get o with it I am going to suggest mourning geckos! they really are the best and easiest to maintain communal species. 

John


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

It all depends on what you want. I have had some community vivs running for many years included some mixed community species too. 

In a viv that size i would got for a group of anoles or long tailed lizards. They do great kept in large planted vivs. My anole colony has been running for nearly 10 years now and i still have my origional WC adults (keeping in mind average life span is 6 years). Just remeber to only ever have one male and use multiple basking spots with lots of cover.

If you can plan the viv well you can actually keep green anoles with asian long tailed lizards too. I did this for 7-8 years until i separated them into seperate vivs. Again thought you would need to great differnt necihs and have different basking spots in the viv. 

But for single species cohabitation which is easier, fence lizards and house geckos do well in aboral community vivs and can look great as well. 

However out of all of the choices i would go for a community of anoles. These are under rated and are a great species to keep. 

Jay


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

All I can add to this is, the ones I have kept together and do keep together, doesn't speak for the species as a whole, it's all individual with the ones I keep  some I h e of the same species on the other hand I seriously wouldn't even attempt to try housing with another, they just have no toleration for anything or anyone for that matter.


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## harry136 (Aug 2, 2012)

Look into day geckos, i believe the smaler ones can be kept in big communities


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## Khonsu (May 20, 2009)

I can't speak for others but I have kept community groups of various lizards together, Cuban Knight Anole, Bibron Skinks, Leopard Gecko's & Oscillated Skinks plus a number others as trio's, in all cases however I have tended to keep such groups as only a single male with a harem of females. I also know somebody that keeps a communal group of Egernia striolata without any issue.


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## Big Red One (Oct 17, 2007)

Takydromus species will happily live in a group, as had already been said a large long setup with a lot of cover and climbing cork bark etc will be great.

They certainly do interact and display 'social' behaviour, arm waving is certainly in their repertoire......

Cracking and massively underrated animals!

:2thumb:


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