New

[roadrunnermalwi]

Hi all new here and just getting started into the hobby of terrariums and stuff along that line to keep in them i want to use a fish tank that is very large in the hobby any help would be nice and thanks in advanced

John

[John]

Welcome to the forum, John. How you use the fish tank will depend on what you intend to put in the terrarium. So what do you have in mind?

[roadrunnermalwi]

right now i have a eyelash crested gecko
and the temp he likes is 80 and 60-80 percent humidty so alot of the frogs like the same range i was also thinking about putting a chameleon in there to by the way the size of the tank is 220 gal i have a way to have air circulation in the tank to along with hooking up a humidifier to be a mist the tank as needed to

[Paul Rust]

Welcome to the forum.

[John]

Am I correct in thinking that you want to keep lizards with frogs?

[roadrunnermalwi]

pretty much but it might be only the one i have with frogs/toads is that going to be a problem let me know what you think

[John]

We recommend not keeping frogs with other species, be they amphibian or otherwise.

[roadrunnermalwi]

I dont really understand why you cant keep them together even if the cage is large enough for it

[Jazzy B Bunny]

Because some frogs excrete a toxin which will poison your geckos or if the frogs are large enough your geckos will become lunch..

[roadrunnermalwi]

i guess that makes sense but from what i have read that dart frogs get there poisin from the food they eat in the wild if there tank raised they no longer have poisin being excreted from there skin and the frogs i was looking at wont get big enough to eat the gecko but if i am wrong in that please share with me so i dont make any mistakes that can cost me alot on either side

[scribbles]

Mixing any species is never a good idea. They can spread pathogens, parasites to each other. Frogs can produce toxins, and even if they don't come in contact with one another, by the two species sharing a water dish the gecko would ingest these. The Crested Gecko may think the frog is prey, or vice versa. With that large of a tank, you should just consider getting more Cresteds.

[Paul Rust]

Mixing species is not something that is acceptable. If someone was to mix species they would have to be very experienced in the husbandry of each species. Zoos for example mix dart frogs, but they also have staff members that are extremely qualified to attempt it and they are monitored very closely for signs of trouble. I recommend that you start with something a little easier to keep than dart frogs for a little while and then go for the darts. Every new dart keeper wants to mix all the pretty colors and put reptiles or newts in with them right away. Please listen to the advice that you already have been given and avoid a disaster that others have experienced and are trying to keep you from having. And dart frogs still have some toxins in their skin even when captive bred.

[roadrunnermalwi]

i didnt plan on startin with dart frogs right a way i havent done enough research on them i was thinkin about putting a pacman frog in with him first and maybe a redbelled toad to start or a tree frog or two but not total sure

[Ebony]

Hi there John, Welcome. Please take everyone's advise..It's a recipe for disaster if you mix species.

[Paul Rust]

i didnt plan on startin with dart frogs right a way i havent done enough research on them i was thinkin about putting a pacman frog in with him first and maybe a redbelled toad to start or a tree frog or two but not total sure

That's good to hear. If I was going to build a viv that big I would find a species that I liked and make the best most natural habitat that I could and put a bunch of them in there and enjoy it.

[Kurt]

i didnt plan on startin with dart frogs right a way i havent done enough research on them i was thinkin about putting a pacman frog in with him first and maybe a redbelled toad to start or a tree frog or two but not total sure

Pac-mans can't be kept with their own kind, never mind other things. They will eat anything they can get in their mouths and choke to death on the things they can't swallow.

Fire-bellied toads are quite toxic, hence the bright colours. Even though most CB darts don't have skin toxins, the same cannot be said of a lot of other species.

Anyway, welcome aboard.

[roadrunnermalwi]

what about some tree frogs think they would be alright in there im still not sure about any dart frogs like i said need to do more reading on them and get alot more info about them and the types that there are but the clown tree frog has cought my eye and was thinking about one of them or a redeyed tree frog thanks for all info

[Kurt]

Clowns are on the small side and they would not be a good roommate for the lizards you mention. If I were to mix them with any lizard it would have to be something really small, like a dwarf gecko, Lygodactylus sp., but then again I would not mix them to begin with. Now the problem with mixing is two fold. First, both would be wild caught from two totally different parts of the world. They would be carrying pathogens that the other would have no immunity to. Second, most frogs secret toxins and the clown treefrog, Dendropsophus leucophyllatus is no exception. To keep the two together would most likely cause the lizard to die from the frog's toxins.
If you were to get red-eyes you would want captive bred stock. The problem with that is that CB red-eyes that would be available for sale will be too small to be safely housed with your lizards. You could get wild caught red-eyes of appropriate size, however they will be carrying pathogens that the lizards will have no immunity to.
To be truthful, I wouldn't mix the lizards with each other either. The chameleon will need to be housed a mesh cage. To keep it in a tank is to condemn it to death. Chameleons also aren't the easiest animal to care for.