New Tank Setup

[Wolfx]

So some quick pics of a new tank i set up 2 weeks ago. First attempt at a Terrarium build.
Zero my Green an Black Dart-frog
Bumble my, darkblue/green/yellow bumble bee dart-frog
Rango my dwarf Chameleon
The Littles, Mr an Mrs. my Dwarf Geckos ( not pictured)

[Iratus ranunculus]

You know, most people here would advise against species mixing. I wont go that far, as I have community setups for north american ranids and a few salamanders I caught in the same area. However:

Mixing things from different continents is ALWAYS a bad idea.

[Wolfx]

Why? please do tell.

[Iratus ranunculus]

Why? please do tell.

Disease. Different diseases live in different areas. A species from one area will not have evolved an efficient immune response to a disease that normally lives in another. So if you expose them to that disease, it could easily kill them. So, a disease that will not hurt a chameleon, or a frog from madagascar, may well kill a frog from central america. This is why Chytrid Fungus is so nasty. Huge swaths of the Americas and Australasia have frogs with little to no natural resistance. Chytrid is to non-african frogs what smallpox was to native americans.

[Wolfx]

ok so then i ask this, if they use condoms an ...no no im kidding.. But if they are disease free now, can they get a disease later on? then pass it on say from there native land ? An is it possible to have them together, just ill advised? i just nerver heard of this, so trying to understand it better. ty for taking your time

[Iratus ranunculus]

ok so then i ask this, if they use condoms an ...no no im kidding.. But if they are disease free now, can they get a disease later on? then pass it on say from there native land ? An is it possible to have them together, just ill advised? i just nerver heard of this, so trying to understand it better. ty for taking your time

I can guarantee they are not disease free. They may just not have anything that is always pathogenic. Take red leg, the number one killer of captive frogs. They always have it (kind of like how we always have e coli), a strain depending on where they are from. Their immune system keeps it in check. Their native strain is already established, and outcompetes anything coming in from the other frogs, and their immune system never has to deal with it.

Now, lets say something happens. Say your power goes out and causes a temperature upset in the tank. This causes stress hormones to spike, which depresses the immune system. Congrats, the native strain explodes and becomes pathogenic. You treat with anti-biotics, frog recovers. Well, it gets reinfected with a strain its immune system does not know how to handle, and you have a dead frog.

Parasites are another problem. I guarantee you, your animals have parasites. You have parasites (yes, you), everything has parasites. It is the same deal with them. A lizard parasite can still infect frogs, but the frogs from the new world dont have an immune system competent to handle the african lizards parasites. So, if it ever sheds enough of them in its fecal material to infect your frogs, the frogs are screwed.