MisterMister
New member
Hello, I am wondering if it would be possible to temporarily cohab a caiman lizard(~14 month old male) and a Sudan plated lizard(full grown female). This all started a few months ago when my caiman lizard’s heat lamp bulb went out and I needed him to be able to bask because it was somewhat chilly outside, so i moved him into my plated lizard’s tank to warm up for the day, while closely monitoring the two of them and their interactions, which seemed quite normal. The plated lizard doesn’t seem to mind the caiman lizard’s company, and even enjoys him by crawling next to/on top of him while basking. He did seem to bring her out more, as when he was in her tank, she was out basking and exploring more than usual. The caiman lizard loved it in there. They have not shown even the slightest signs of aggression or being territorial to eachother that day, and i have had to put the caiman lizard into her tank on some other occasions, such as when I am cleaning/redoing his tank, or sometimes just for a playdate, sometimes those occasions have lasted any time between a couple of hours to a couple of days, and in none of those times have they ever acted aggressive towards eachother, with the closest thing being when one comes down from a branch and scares the other one. All information that I have seen online states that caiman lizards are arboreal/aquatic and plated lizards are terrestrial/fosorrial, which would theoretically mean they would not spend time together, but when the caiman lizard is in with her, they spend nearly every moment next to eachother, and even sleep snuggled up to eachother at night. The main reason for the cohab is that when the caiman lizard is in his own tank by himself, he is very defensive, and will hiss or run away if I try to pet him, but will willingly let me pet him and pick him up if he is in the plated lizard tank. Also in his own tank, he will sometimes go two or three days without eating, and I have to place the food somewhere in his tank because when I try to tong feed him, he will hiss, run away, and tail whip at the tongs, but when I do it in the plated lizard’s tank, he will enthusiastically chase after the food from the tongs. The substrate in the plated lizard’s tank as of now is sand mixed with reptile-soil, which would be completely unsuitable for the caiman lizard, so in the new tank, the substrate will be coconut fiber. This is because the caiman lizard naturally occurs in humid areas, and the coco fiber retains humidity well. The reason I think this would work for the plated lizard is because although they live in arid parts of Africa, similar to the Gila monster of North America, they spend the vast majority of their lives in humid burrows, so my idea is the coconut fiber could mimic the humidity of her burrow, and encourage her to come out more. Now unlike the caiman lizard, the plated lizard seems to be doing fine by herself, but she doesn’t come out to bask even half as much as she does with the caiman lizard in there, and is not as active either. I will move the caiman lizard out of that tank and into his permanent enclosure when he gets a bit larger, but right now he is slightly smaller than the plated lizard. Please leave constructive feedback, thank you!
