Can Turtles Live Together with Other Reptiles ?

A lot of people wonder if turtles can live together with other reptiles. It’s easy to believe that since they are both reptiles the answer would be yes, but that’s not true. Actually, it’s because they are both reptiles that they shouldn’t share one tank.

Can turtles live together with other reptiles? No, turtles shouldn’t live in the same tank as other reptiles. Turtles will end up fighting with snakes, lizards, and other reptiles if they live in the same tank. And at some point, one of them will get hurt.

The fact that both animals can get hurt is one of the main reasons why you shouldn’t place them in the same tank. But there are many more reasons why placing another reptile in the same tank with a turtle is a bad idea. In this article I am going to focus on snakes and lizards and why they shouldn’t live in the same tank with a turtle. I chose to talk about those two reptiles because they are some of the most popular choices as pet reptiles, along with turtles. I am going to go over a few basic facts about each of them, their habitats, diets and why they don’t mix well with those of other reptiles, and things that can go wrong.

Short Species Description

Let’s start by going over a few basic facts about each animal and see why it would be a bad idea to put them together.

Turtles

All turtles have some characteristics in common that everybody knows they are reptiles, which means that they can’t regulate their body temperature, this is why they are called cold-blooded animals. They are very slow compared to most animals, and of course, they have a shell in which most of them can retract. What most people don’t know is that even if they seem like sweet, tiny, and innocent creatures they can actually be really mean sometimes and they also have a very mean and powerful bite, and they are also able to scratch. If you combine this with their ability to hide in the shell you have a very dangerous reptile.

Most turtles that we see in our lives are usually not very big, but in some remote places of the world, some turtle species can reach huge sizes, like the well known Galapagos tortoise who can reach lengths of 5 feet ( 1.5 meters ) and weights that are close to 600 pounds ( 275 kilograms ).

Most turtles live near big masses of water, like lakes, rivers, and ponds. There are also 7 species that live in the oceans of the world, and there are also some turtle species that live in the desert. Turtles live almost in every habitat possible, with the exception of Antarctica.

Snakes

By most people, snakes are known as dangerous predators that should be avoided if possible, but in reality that is not the case with all snakes. Even if there are a lot of dangerous snakes out there, a big portion of them are harmless if you don’t try to interact with them.

Snakes have a very unique appearance that makes it impossible to mistake them with another reptile. They have a very long and slender body that has no limbs, and they are covered in scales. Depending on the species those scales can be colored with bright colors that stand out or dull colors that help them mix with the surroundings.

They also live in a lot of environments, but unlike turtles most snake species prefer to live on land instead of water. They can also be found on most continents, but the biggest concentration of snakes is in the tropic areas.

Lizards

Lizards are a very diverse group of reptiles, there are a lot of species out there that, unlike snakes and turtles, resemble very little with one another. There are about 6.000 species of lizards in the world, with some of the most known lizard species being: the Gecko, the Iguana, the Komodo dragon, and the Chameleons.

Most lizards have four legs and a tail, some species have a very weak tail that can break of very easily, and after a while, it will grow back. A lot of lizard species especially the smaller ones have very prominent, and we’ll define eyes. They are covered in scales that usually have the color of the environment where they live, and there are a few lizard-like chameleons that is able to change their color.

Like the snakes and turtles, that we described earlier, lizards also live in almost every part of the world with the exception of Antarctica. They generally prefer deserts, marshes, rocky areas, and areas with a lot of heat.

The Best Habitats

Now let’s look at what kind of habitat is the best for them when they are pets.

Turtle Habitats

Most pet turtles require a tank that is filled with water. There are some species that live mostly on land but they are not that common as pets. As a general rule of thumb, the tank should be filled with 10 gallons of water for every inch of the shell. As the turtles grow bigger this rule starts to apply less and less and more water is required.

The water can get messy really fast, sometimes it takes the turtle just a couple of days to make a mess of the tank after you’ve just cleaned it. Turtles can be affected by the dirty water, but only if they spend extremely long periods of time in it. So spending a couple of weeks in dirty water won’t affect the turtle’s health, even if it’s not recommended. Other reptiles are not so tolerant to dirty water as turtles are, so this will be a problem if you try to put them together in the same tank.

Turtles also need to have a water filter in their tank, this will ensure that the water doesn’t get dirty too fast. The problem with a filter is that it will usually be pretty loud, and a lot of lizards rely on sound to avoid predators. Having a constant loud noise near them can make them feel tense and alert all the time.

The temperature of the water can differ from species to species but it’s usually somewhere around 80 degrees Fahrenheit ( 27 degrees Celsius ).

Turtles also need a separate area where they can gather heat and UV rays, this is known as a basking area. The temperature of the basking area also varies from species to species but it’s usually around 90 degrees Fahrenheit ( 32 degrees Celsius ). The heat will come from a heating light and the UV rays will come from a UV light bulb. Both of them are required for the well-being of the turtle.

And then there are plants, turtles love them, but not as decorations, they love them as food. No plant can share the space with a turtle for too long before it gets eaten. And this can be a problem for a lot of lizards since they require to have some plants in their tank.

Snakes Habitats

Now let’s talk about the snakes’ habitat as a pet. Snakes can live in two kinds of enclosures, a terrarium or a cage.

Terrariums are very similar to tanks, they both have 4 glass walls with and a bottom part, and they also have an open-top, or an easily accessible one. Cages usually maintain the same aspect as a terrarium, but instead of glass walls, they are made out of wood and metallic nets. The size of the cage or terrarium is determined by the snake species and its size. Here are a couple of examples of the most popular snakes and the enclosure size they need:

Garter snakes – between 10 and 20 gallons

Kingsnakes, rat snakes, milk snakes, gopher snakes – between 35 and 50 gallons

Boa constrictor and pythons – custom sizes

Snakes also need a certain level of humidity, more common snakes like the garter snake won’t need too much humidity. But species that live in the more tropical area will require more humidity. There are a lot of ways in which you can maintain a good humidity level inside the enclosure, you can use a store-bought device, you can use a wet towel, or you can occasionally spray it with water, there are a lot of methods with different degrees of success.

Snakes require somewhat similar temperatures as the turtles, the ambient temperature should be around 80 degrees Fahrenheit ( 27 degrees Celsius ), but depending on the species this number can change a lot. And the temperature of the basking area is also around 90 degrees Fahrenheit ( 32 degrees Celsius ). For the basking area, they also require a heat bulb and a UV bulb.

Plants can be both good and bad in a snake habitat, but they are not really a necessity, so they can live without them.

So the requirements for snakes and turtles are not really that different, they both need about the same temperatures and neither of them really requires any plants. The biggest difference is that turtles spend most of their time in water and snakes on land. So this makes it nearly impossible to keep them in the same tank. To keep a snake and a turtle in the same enclosure, you are going to need a really big one, one that can be half-filled with water and one that is half-filled with the land. This can be done if you are building an enclosure outside, but if you want to do it inside you are going to have a very hard time. So the biggest problem with having a snake and a turtle live together in the same enclosure is providing them with the best habitat. There are turtles that live exclusively on land, and snakes that live in water, but those species are not very common as house pets.

Lizards Habitats

Lizards usually live in tanks, just like mos turtles do. The big difference is that those tanks are not filled with water, instead, they have a layer of substrate, dirt, sand, or something similar. And they also have some kind of high ground, usually made with some rooks or a piece of wood.

In the wild lizards like to spend a lot of time on higher ground basking. So the basking area should be as high as possible, to make the lizard feel as comfortable as possible. The temperature of the basking areas differs from species to species, but it’s usually around the same temperature turtles need to bask, around 90 degrees Fahrenheit ( 32 degrees Celsius ).

The temperature of the surrounding area is also similar to the temperature that turtles need for their water, 80 degrees Fahrenheit ( 27 degrees Celsius ). As always this temperature can change drastically from species to species.

They also require high humidity, which can be achieved in different ways, placing a bowl of water in the tank, using a wet towel, spraying them with water, etc. There are a lot of ways in which you can achieve the needed humidity level. Different lizard species will require different humidity levels. The humidity level that the lizard requires won’t matter for a turtle since they spend most of their time in the water.

The size of the tank will vary greatly from species to species, medium-sized species will require smaller tanks, sometimes even 10 gallons can be enough, medium species will generally require a tank that is around 40 gallons, and most big lizards require custom made tanks.

A lot of lizard species also need to have some kind of plant on their tank. Plants play a very important role in the lives of most lizards when they are in the wild, and having them in the tank is usually a very good idea.

The temperature requirements for lizards and turtles are very similar so this won’t be a problem if you try to keep them together. But there are a lot of differences that make it very hard to offer them both the best habitat to live in. Turtles will eat the plants that a lot of lizards need to have in their tank, and this is one big problem, but there is another problem that is even bigger, the fact that lizards live on land and turtles spend most of their time in the water. The fact that they spend their time in very different mediums makes it very hard for them to live in the same tank, unless you have a huge tank that takes up half of the room you will need to build a special enclosure outside of your home.

The Diet

Now that we’ve seen what kind of enclosures they need, and why they don’t go too well together, let’s see what their diet is and how this can influence them if they live together in the same enclosure.

The Diet of a Turtle

Most turtles are omnivorous, which means that they will eat both fruits and vegetables as well as meat. In general, the diet of a pet turtle consists of pellets, dried insects, worms, fish, various fruits and vegetables. There are a lot of things that a turtle should eat and should not eat and its diet will change as it grows older, but in general, this is what they eat.

More information about what turtles eat can be found here: What do Turtles Eat?

The Diet of a Snake

We’ve all seen photos of snakes eating crazy things that are more than two times bigger than them, but that is not the way you should feed a pet snake. Snakes are usually carnivorous, and a few species are ovo-vegetarian, meaning that they only eat eggs, but most pet snakes are carnivorous and they should be fed mostly rats and mice. Some people say that it’s better to feed them prey that is no longer alive, otherwise, the prey can scratch them when they are trying to eat them, but generally, this isn’t a concern. The only thing thing that is important is not to give them prey that is more than half of the diameter of the snake.

The diet of a snake is not as varied as the diet of a turtle, and most snakes won’t show any interest it the turtle’s food, but the same thing cannot be said about the turtle. Turtles will try to eat anything that they can, so there is a good chance that they will try to steal the food of the snake, especially if it’s already no longer alive. And this can lead to a serious conflict between the turtle and the snake

The Diet of a Lizard

The diet of most lizards consists of insects and small bugs. The bigger lizard species, like the komodo dragon, are ferocious predators that are known to go after bigger prey, like deers and pigs. But not all lizards are carnivorous, the iguana for example is herbivorous ( vegetarian ) and will eat mostly leaves, fruits, and berries. As pets, the diet of a lizard doesn’t change too much, they are usually fed small live insects, and if the lizard is herbivorous, they are seed leaves, fruits, and berries.

The diet of a lizard is very similar to that of a turtle, and this can lead to a lot of problems. Bot the turtle and the lizard will end up trying to steal each other’s food, and this will naturally lead to conflict between the two of them if they are kept in the same enclosure.

What Can Go Wrong

Now that we’ve covered the basic facts about each species, as well as what kind of food and habitat they need, and how all this can lead to serious problems, let’s talk about other ways things can go wrong if you keep them in the same enclosure.

First I want to point out that each of those animals is a reptile and one thing that makes it impossible for them to live peacefully together is the fact that all reptiles are loners, with almost no reptile in the world enjoying the company of any other reptile. There are very few occasions when they have to socialize with other reptiles, but even on those occasions, they do it because they have to not because they enjoy it.

Turtles can very easily mistake the tail of a snake with something else and bite it, this will make the snake angry and it will attack the turtle. After a conflict like this, both of them can get seriously injured or they can become food for the other. And if the snake ends up eating the turtle this can also be fatal for him because of the shell that if very hard to swallow.

If a turtle bites the tail of a lizard things won’t necessarily be as bad if the lizard had a detachable tail. But if the tail of the lizard wasn’t detachable then this will also lead to a fight between them.

If a snake or a lizard is considerably smaller than the turtle then the turtle will not hesitate to eat it every chance that it gets. In the wild, the smaller animal would have avoided the turtle without too much effort, but in enclosed spaces things will be a lot harder, even if the turtle is not very fast.

Fights over food will inevitably happen even if there is enough for everybody, this is almost unavoidable unless you put one of the reptiles in a separate place for feeding.

There will also be fights over the basking area because each reptile will try to get the best spot possible.

Diseases can appear a lot more easily when you have different types of reptiles in the same enclosure.

There are countless ways things can go wrong, and all of them end up with the reptiles fighting, and probably one of them will end up being a meal for the other.

Conclusion

Reptiles shouldn’t be kept in the same enclosure, they are loners and don’t like to share their space with others. If you want to have more types of reptiles the best way you can keep them is in separate enclosures.

It is possible to keep turtles in the same enclosure with snakes and lizards, but the enclosure will have to be really big so that they don’t have to meet with each other too often. But an enclosure like that should be bigger than most houses, so this is not the best option for most people. Still, there are certain turtles out there that might like the idea of sharing their enclosure with a snake or a lizard, after all each animal has its own personality, and some of them might like to share things.

It’s not impossible for a turtle to live in the same place with a snake or a lizard, but it’s definitely not easy. And in my opinion you are also going to need some luck if you want to make things work out.

I hope this article all your questions about turtles living together with other reptiles, but if you have any questions that haven’t been answered in in the article, feel free to ask them in the comment section, I will try to answer them as soon as possible.