A Mixed Experience

As a child I was always fascinated by nature always catching insects and trying to mimic their natural surroundings. During the summers my family use to drive to the south and it was on my first ride down south I caught my first tree frogs at my aunts house in South Carolina I was probably 7 at the time. They were all over the house all different colors we spent the night there and continued to drive to Florida where I caught my first lizard. It was that moment I picked up my favorite interest the husbandry of my herps and naturalistic vivariums(vivs). For those who do not know herp stands for it is derived from the word herpetology which is a branch of zoology that focuses on reptiles and amphibians. In short herps are reptiles and amphibians and vivariums are enclosed areas for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research.

While in college I became interested in mixed vivariums. So being the student I was I researched the topic. This did nothing for me because apparently in the herp hobby mixed species terrariums are frowned upon and for good reason in some cases. Very rarely did I come across a web site that had an EDUCATED or EXPERIENCED point of view on the topic. This is what inspired my blog. So while I was doing my research I looked up different herps and decided that I will start simple and small. So I researched animals that where docile, have the same temperature range, humidity, diet etcetera to determine compatibility and came up with my first mixed viv list.

Green Tree Frog
Green Anole
Bahamian or Brown Anole
Long Tailed Grass Lizard
House Gecko

By this time I had a lot of experience with these herps and had an idea of how each one would interact. I had them all in a 30 gallon planted vivarium without a problem for a few years. I achieved this by not catering to just one species but all of them. I later started reading up on principles of Ecology and applied that knowledge in my vivarium by adding decomposers like springtails and isopods which reproduced like crazy. This was my first mixed vivarium not my last.

This blog will explore species that I feel are compatible in THEORY, combinations that have worked with personally or that others have done and other areas of herp husbandry. I hope this can be used as a tool in order to educate people who want to take up the challenge and have a mixed species experience.