07/15/2025
Let’s talk ✨cohabitation✨
Cohabitation in the reptile world is the act of housing two or more reptiles and/or amphibians in the same enclosure.
At the shelter, we often see animals come in that have been cohabbed, and a majority of them arrive with problems, some visible some not.
Today, we wanted to bring awareness to the problem that cohabitation is. Because no matter how many graphic pictures and horror stories people see and hear, they still cohab their animals together.
1. Stress and competition
99% of reptile and amphibian species are solitary, meaning they will only tolerate each other during mating season, and go their seperate ways afterwards.
Bringing two solitary animals together brings a lot of stress on both parties. Your reptile goes from living a quiet, peaceful life, not worrying about food, water and heat, to all of a sudden having a competitor for everything.
Even though you might feed your reptiles seperately, they don’t understand that. They will still think the other reptile is competing with them, and that can lead to aggression.
Not only is there competition for food, your reptiles will also compete for heat and hides. To you, it might seem like they’re cuddling, but in reality, they’re trying to get the upper hand and get the best spots for themselves.
After a while, one of the reptiles will become weaker, and miss crucial elements to his life like security, heat, water and food.
Not only that, but when cohabiting a male and a female, you run a high risk of the male overbreeding the female, leading to open wounds, exhaustion and possible egg retention, which require veterinary care.
Imagine this: you’re watching TV at home and a complete stranger walks in, cooks himself a meal with your own food, snatches the remote, and sleeps in your bed at night. Tell me you won’t feel stressed, irritated or downright scared to live with this stranger. It’s the same for reptiles.
2. Aggression
When reptiles become stressed, they’re more likely to defend themselves by biting, whipping and clawing. This means that fighting often occurs when you’re not watching them 24/7. Reptiles can do a lot of damage, especially when biting each other. We’re seen severed limbs, missing eyes, open guts and decapitation in cohab situations from customers.
Even if your reptiles have been together since they were hatched, it doesn’t mean the situation can’t change in a heartbeat. Think of it like this: you never put your seatbelt in a car because you’ve never been in an accident. Your friends and family report having been in accidents, you see it on the news, but because it never happened to you, so you don’t think putting a seatbelt on is important. It only takes one accident for you to lose a limb, or maybe die. It’s the same with cohabitation with reptiles.
3. Different needs
Just because two reptiles are from the same species, doesn’t mean they need the exact same things. After having kept over 100 different animals at the shelter, we can attest some of them from the same species like different things. For example, we had a tegu that would love digging, being full of dirt and exploring. And we have Sisu, also a Tegu, who was diagnosed allergic to dust and who would much prefer a dog bed to some filthy dirt.
Now imagine we tried making it work for both animals, where one or the two of them would suffer by living in diametrically opposite optimal conditions. Would that be fair to them? Or would it only be serving our own selfish desires?
This also goes for interspecies cohabitation, where two animals from different parts of the world can never live together due to temperatures, humidity and environment type.
4. When is it okay?
Cohabitation can be done under very specific conditions. It should always be left to intermediates and experts, and under the supervision of someone who’s already cohabited successfully.
Some examples include:
- Anoles and dart frogs
- Isopods and reptiles(can be done by a beginner)
- Garter snakes
- Tortoises and turtles
- Breeders
Cohabitation is a very tricky game that can result in more harm than good when one thing goes sideways. We recommend you never cohabitate your reptiles, as it is much easier to keep them separate than risking their lives.
It is in their nature to be solitary, and as keepers, we must do all in our power to respect them and offer them the best possible environment, not give in to our personal desires and biases.
We hope this message reaches the right people, for the good of all reptiles and amphibians.
✨🐍🦎🐸✨
