What reptile to get?

I've finally convinced the girlfriend to get me a lizard for xmas. She was dead against the idea because of the insects/crickets that would be kept for feeding.

Trouble is, I'd given up on the hope of turning her round, but now that she has finally agreed to get me one, I've not done a whole load of research and would value psters' opinions on what type to opt for. Basically, i'm a total noob when it comes to reptiles, so want help picking something thats fun and easy to look after.

Preferably, I'd like something that won't get too big too quickly as the viv i have lined up is about 1 cubic metre in volume. I got it from my friend who has a 2 year old chameleon and he bought the bigger viv, not out of necessity, but rather that he had the money so he splashed out on the bigger one while he had the spare cash. It was probably a bit premature, but that's his perogative.

I'd also like something that's not too lively. I don't want to be scurrying around trying to catch the thing if it gets out, but I also don't want anything too docile that will just sit around doing nothing.

From looking around the forum here, I see that Reptile Heaven is the place to go. Should I just pop in there and have a look ?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Hellrazer

Deleted User wrote: »

, I've not done a whole load of research and would value psters' opinions on what type to opt for. Basically, i'm a total noob when it comes to reptiles, so want help picking something thats fun and easy to look after.

The bold bit is your number one mistake.
My advice--decide on a reptile and read every bit of info on it before buying it.
Too many reptiles die due to owners not knowing how to keep them properly.

Failing that-geckos are a good first reptile, or have you considered a snake??
Corns are esy to care for and you viv should be ok for a couple of years.
Im sure there will be more replies so keep an eye on this thread.
Richie.

Duzzie

Just a few tips for you. The best thing you can do is Research, Research. Research...

Read up as much as you can even before you look seriously in the shops. That way you will know what you are looking at at the shops. Reptile Haven is a great place to go, Ben will give you a good run down of what your animal needs.

Select the type of animal based on the amount of effort and time you are able to put into it. For example, lizards generally require more time than snakes. Lizards are generally more handlable too.

Once you plump for the animal you want, dont buy it then and there, go home and read up on that animal to make sure you know everything that you need to know.

When you do buy it, make sure you have everything it needs. Again Ben would give you a good stear on what you need. Listen to what Ben tells you, he knows his stuff and you wont go far wrong doing as he says.

Join a good reptile forum and ask lots of questions. There is a lot of knowledge on these forums and ppl are generally glad to help out. There is no such thing as a stupid question. By asking your question, you are showing that you are serious about learning what you need to know, thats a good start.

Last piece of advice is dont impulse buy. Think carefully before buying keeping a reptile (or any pet) is a big commitment. If you are unable to make the commitment, dont get one.

Good starter reptiles include:

Corn snakes,
Leopard Geckos
Bearded Dragons.

They are the normal starter reps

Yeah you really should go to the shop and see if somthing takes your fancy. Then go home and google it as much as you can. Ask questions on forums and so on. I would actually reccomend a water dragon. Also since its your first , get a male.

Vinnie K

Defo talk to Ben, If i was you id start by having a look around a few pet shops today and see what you want, then go home and do your research. What ever you end up getting make sure that you have your viv set up a few days before you get it to make sure that the temps and everything is ok.
As already mentioned Bearded dragons or corn snakes are great for beginners. Im gonna post 2 links, one for the uk reptile forums and one for the irish forums, loads of great care sheets and everything else you need to know is onthose sites.
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/
http://www.forumsvibe.com/reptiles/

2qk4u

We have a chameleon and they are really easy to look after.Great with the kids because it moves very slowly.No sudden movements makes even visitors quite comfortable with it.

Our man in Havana

I would always say start with a leopard gecko or a bearded dragon - a blue tongue might be good too.

but please RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH! A good pet shop is one where you will not be pressured & can ask loads of questions & can handle different species as well.

Ben is FABO in Reptile Haven.

Jimkel

Only problem with a bearded dragon is they require allot of floor space, water dragons require a large tall enclosure. Leopard Gecko's are a good option if space is an issue but remember they are nocturnal and therefore you wont see much of their interesting behaviours during the day. Anoles, Horned mountain dragons and Basilisks are other options you should consider. then You also have Uromastyx, Skinks, Desert Iguana's to name but a few. Each has there own special needs and requirements so my advice is go to as many petshops as possible, talk to the reptile guys and get all the info you can get. Bare in mind that some supposed "reptile experts" in certain petshops may not be giving you the whole truth in order to make a sale, or simply because they dont actually know much about the animal themselves. Talk, read books, ask to handle some of the reptiles (Ones which dont mind being handled like beardys and water dragons)

If you are determined and serious about this then there is no need to limit yourself to a "novice" reptile, I know plenty of people who started with Chameleons or other tricky reptiles and are doing just fine. It's all about commitment to learn. Personnally I think a bearded Dragon is the best option as far as a good pet goes, regardless of knowledge and experience. they are social, intellegent and very very tame if you handle regularly, Most beardys will never bite you and if you want the Girlfriend to get comfortable with you keeping a lizard then a cute beardy will really help open her mind. I'd steer clear of monitors, like Boscs or Tegus however, and certain snakes like the desert king snake. These can be a bit of a handfull. Oh and finally dont fall for those cute little turtles either, they grow into big nasty eating machines.

As everyone else here says Reptile havan is a great place for advice, Its always very very busy though thats they only drawback. If your on the Northside why not try the new Petmania in Santry hey have a nice Vivarium set up and are very friendly and helpfull,and are happy to answer any questions you have and handle the reptiles. They got my vote when I saw them pushing books and research on reptiles to potential buyers rather then just trying to make a quick sale.

tallus

Bond-007 wrote: »

I would always say start with a leopard gecko or a bearded dragon - a blue tongue might be good too.

but please RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH! A good pet shop is one where you will not be pressured & can ask loads of questions & can handle different species as well.

Ben is FABO in Reptile Haven.

Defintely Leopard gecko, they are easy to care for and easily housed, adults grow now larger than around 8 - 10 inches. Ideal starter gecko.

Hellrazer

Hellrazer wrote: »

The bold bit is your number one mistake.
My advice--decide on a reptile and read every bit of info on it before buying it.

Yeah basically, I had decided to get something about 6 months ago but before I got anywhere with the idea, herself told me in no uncertain terms would she put up with a box of 'creepy crawlies' in the house. For this reason, i never looked into it too much after that but trust me, I won't be doing this unprepared.

Duzzie wrote: »

long post with good advice

Cheers for the info, this is exactly the type of thing I wanted before i started to seriously look into it. I didn't leave the entire post there to keep this reply short-ish.

Deleted User wrote: »

Also since its your first , get a male.

Why? Are they generally easier to look after?

Vinnie K wrote: »

Im gonna post 2 links, one for the uk reptile forums and one for the irish forums, loads of great care sheets and everything else you need to know is onthose sites.
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/
http://www.forumsvibe.com/reptiles/

I actually joined the irish one the other day, but have yet to post on it. A lot of really good info there, i was having a look through it last night.

Jimkel wrote: »

Personnally I think a bearded Dragon is the best option as far as a good pet goes, regardless of knowledge and experience. they are social, intellegent and very very tame if you handle regularly, Most beardys will never bite you and if you want the Girlfriend to get comfortable with you keeping a lizard then a cute beardy will really help open her mind.

As everyone else here says Reptile havan is a great place for advice, Its always very very busy though thats they only drawback. If your on the Northside why not try the new Petmania in Santry hey have a nice Vivarium set up and are very friendly and helpfull,and are happy to answer any questions you have and handle the reptiles. They got my vote when I saw them pushing books and research on reptiles to potential buyers rather then just trying to make a quick sale.

Cheers. I've kinda settled on either a water dragon or a beardy. Also, i live about 3 mins away from Petmania so I'll have a gander there later. Never would have thought of going there, so many thanks. Would I be better off buying one from a breeder?

Just to give you a quick update. The girlfriend has changed her mind again and said she does not want one in the house but seeing as she's rekindled my interest again, I'm gonna forge ahead and get one anyway. Hopefully she'll be a bit more interested and a bit less wary once she actually sees what they're like in the flesh. Now all i have to do is convince her to come to a pet shop with me.

Her main issue is with the insects that will be used as food. She's not into them at all. Has anyone had any luck convincing people who were not into it otherwise? I'm gonna send her a link to this thread so try to let her know how harmless both they and their food is.

Vinnie K

Ya, its something that people do get used to after a while. I was having war with my GF over having dead mice in the freezer so i had to buy a a seperate freezer for my snakes food. So i can understand how you feel man. But you gotta respect what she wants in the house aswell(:D put that there incase my GF reads this. lol.) but on the other hand its only a small box of crickets that you can leave in the corner of a room or a drawer of a press where she wont have to even see them. When your feeding the beardies you can put the crix in the fridge for a few mins first, this slows them down and makes it alot easier for the beardies to catch them, the point of that would be that you almost gaurenteed that the beardies will catch all of them so there wont be any left in the tank that could escape, once your careful with the box of crix you defo wont have any escapees in the house. And get the brown crix they dont make hardly any noise compared to the black ones. Its only when the beardies are yung that you feed them crix everyday, as they grow older you give them more veg and less crix.

Shelli

Where is Petmania in Santry?

Duzzie

Shelli wrote: »

Where is Petmania in Santry?

Turn off M50 towards Ballymun, take first left at traffic lights just befor the petrol station, straight on into the northwood bussines park. It is on the left near homebase.

Duzzie

Duzzie

Vinnie K wrote: »

Im gonna post 2 links, one for the uk reptile forums and one for the irish forums, loads of great care sheets and everything else you need to know is onthose sites.
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/
http://www.forumsvibe.com/reptiles/

I'm on both of those but personally I prefer http://z4.invisionfree.com/Exotic_Enthusiasts.

Duzzie

BanzaiBk

The brother has a bearded dragon since Jan 05' and he adores the little guy. At first a lot of us in the house were dead against it mainly because of the cricket issue but he had done piles of research prior to getting him and planned and prepp'd everything out so everyone was happy. He's on a diet of veg now mainly, and he's a great pet. Very easily to handle, placid etc.

Demonique

Deleted User wrote: »

Why? Are they generally easier to look after?

Females will ovulate and can produce eggs regardless of whether or not a male is present. Sometimes they can't lay their eggs and become eggbound which can kill them, I lost a female leopard gecko to eggbinding

SCI

I'm on both forums too I like this one.

http://www.forumsvibe.com/reptiles/

Jimkel

As for the crickets why not try a cricket keeper, they make feeding easy for the squemish, bring your gf with ya to petmania so she can see the beardies, ask if you can hold it etc, im sure she will fall for them as they are incredibly cute! Personnaly I prefer just picking the crickets up by hand but thats something that comes with time.

LovelyTom

why not keep the crickets in a bin out in the shed or something? thats what i do to keep the mammy happy

Demonique

I live in a bedsit so the crickets have to live in the room with me. I use the black ones because they last longer than the browns, unfortunately they chrip a frell of a lot more.

Good news is that only male crickets chrip and its easy to tell male from female crickets, the females have long egg-laying tubes sticking out from under their backsides. Also only the adult males seem to chirp

just_stevo

yo. ya should get a snake man... they are really cool easy to handle (mainly because they dont have legs lol) ya should get a burmese or reticilated python

Demonique

Don't listen to just_stevo, burmese and reticulated pythons along with anacondas are NOT suitable for a first snake. Your best bet for a snake is a corn snake, milk snake, rat snake, kingsnake or one of the smaller python species such as a royal python

Vinnie K

just_stevo wrote: »

yo. ya should get a snake man... they are really cool easy to handle (mainly because they dont have legs lol) ya should get a burmese or reticilated python

Ya and while your at it you might as well get a iggy ad a tegu as well, they dont take up much space. dont take that serious. Anyway, did you end up getting a beardie??

Hellrazer

just_stevo wrote: »

yo. ya should get a snake man... they are really cool easy to handle (mainly because they dont have legs lol) ya should get a burmese or reticilated python

Are you serious??
In 5 posts youve managed to advise a first time reptile keeper to get one of the most dangerous snakes available and drag up a 1 year old thread.
Consider this a warning.

Vinnie K

Hellrazer wrote: »

Are you serious??
In 5 posts youve managed to advise a first time reptile keeper to get one of the most dangerous snakes available and drag up a 1 year old thread.
Consider this a warning.

Not trying to start a arguement or anything but why do you say there the most dangerous snakes available?? Obviously there big but that doesnt make them the most dangerous!!

Hellrazer

Vinnie K wrote: »

Not trying to start a arguement or anything but why do you say there the most dangerous snakes available?? Obviously there big but that doesnt make them the most dangerous!!

Talk about picky!!!!Maybe I should rephrase myself here.They are probably the most dangerous snake available in the pet trade in Ireland

Im my opinion they are the most dangerous.And any decent snake keeper will tell you that.
These animals cannot be trusted and advising to a newbie to reptiles to buy one of these is just idiocy.

Vinnie K

Your picking me up wrong, i wasnt imploying that a newbie should get one, i was asking why do you think they'd be one off the most dangerous snakes even in ireland, no snake should ever be 100% trusted.

Hellrazer

Vinnie K wrote: »

Your picking me up wrong, i wasnt imploying that a newbie should get one, i was asking why do you think they'd be one off the most dangerous snakes even in ireland, no snake should ever be 100% trusted.

There are well documented cases of deaths from large constrictors.

http://home.att.net/~crinaustin/Snake1.htm

As for whether any snake should be trusted--A corn snake,royal python,king snake,red tail boa etc is hardly going to kill you not like a 10 foot + constrictor.The worst you`ll get is a nasty bite and be picking teeth out of the wound for a while.

Vinnie K

Hellrazer wrote: »

There are well documented cases of deaths from large constrictors.

http://home.att.net/~crinaustin/Snake1.htm

As for whether any snake should be trusted--A corn snake,royal python,king snake,red tail boa etc is hardly going to kill you not like a 10 foot + constrictor.The worst you`ll get is a nasty bite and be picking teeth out of the wound for a while.

Am, sorry dude but a red tail boa is a constrictor and a female could reach 12+ feet, The first pic in the link doesnt really look like the shape of a human, but i suppose it could be, the second pic with the guys legs hanging out has been disproved, 2 mates cut the snake open and one climbed in while the other took pics, the next pic does look real though weather it is or isnt. But anyway there all wild animals. There differant to captive bred. I dont have any burms or retics but i will be getting a burm once i have my house next year, i do have a good few friends though that have burms and retics and most will sware by them that there the most placid snake to handle. Anyway as i said i aint looking for an arguement i was just wondering why you think there the most dangerous snake and you've answered my question so ill leave it at that.
Thanks, Vinnie.

Hellrazer

Vinnie K wrote: »

Am, sorry dude but a red tail boa is a constrictor and a female could reach 12+ feet, The first pic in the link doesnt really look like the shape of a human, but i suppose it could be, the second pic with the guys legs hanging out has been disproved, 2 mates cut the snake open and one climbed in while the other took pics, the next pic does look real though weather it is or isnt. But anyway there all wild animals. There differant to captive bred. I dont have any burms or retics but i will be getting a burm once i have my house next year, i do have a good few friends though that have burms and retics and most will sware by them that there the most placid snake to handle. Anyway as i said i aint looking for an arguement i was just wondering why you think there the most dangerous snake and you've answered my question so ill leave it at that.
Thanks, Vinnie.

Youre looking athe scond page which are all "myths"--The first page are documented cases.

Probably shouldve left the boa out of it.Anyway nothing like a healthy debate.Personally if I didnt have kids Id have a load of big constrictors in the house--I just wouldnt take any chances whatsoever with any large snake.Burms are one of the most docile snakes, but its all well and good till theyre s**ting like a horse and eating you out of house and home and you cant find a home for it which is a all too true a scenario.
This started over someone being told to buy a large constrictor as their first snake which is madness.
Post up a few pics of your snakes when you get a chance.

Vinnie K

I can see what you mean about the burm and retics having more of an ability to kill then say a royal, i think we're both kinda making the same arguement only in diff ways, kinda:), I just look at it in the way that a royal could stiil kill a baby as easy as a burm could kill an adult but the chances of any off that happening with captive bread well cared for reps is unlikely, dont get me wrong even with it being unlikely the proper precautions have to be taken with most all snakes. A snake is a snake is a snake and will never change.

I only have a red tail at the moment its a surinam cross columbian, waiting till March to get a few more, going over to the Hamm show in Germany to get a few bargains, not getting too much though as i don't really have the room in the apt I'm in now but once i get a house next year ill have a room full:D. The GF cant wait:cool: Ya I've had the unfortunate pleasure of smelling a fresh burm poo, god it is terrible, what ever it is about reps they have some awful smelling ****es, even the little bearded dragons I've got have the potential to clear a room once i open the viv. Do you keep much yourself? I can see where your coming from about the kids, if i had kids in the house i be very wary about what reps i had as well just in case.

Hellrazer

At the minute Im down to 2 corns (1 is MIA in the house somewhere) and 1 Beardie.
Royal python died last November and last week I lost my Sudanese plated lizard so Im getting "empty cage syndrome"

Toying with the idea of a Hog Island Boa(Ben had one last week)or maybe a Cali King---just cant make my mind up.

Would really love to convert the shed/garage converted to a herp room but just havent got the time (or the money) to carry it out yet and my wife wouldnt be too impressed (Not with one missing at the minute)

luckat

All those posts and nobody's yet said "My ex"...

Vinnie K

Hellrazer wrote: »

At the minute Im down to 2 corns (1 is MIA in the house somewhere) and 1 Beardie.
Royal python died last November and last week I lost my Sudanese plated lizard so Im getting "empty cage syndrome"

Toying with the idea of a Hog Island Boa(Ben had one last week)or maybe a Cali King---just cant make my mind up.

Would really love to convert the shed/garage converted to a herp room but just havent got the time (or the money) to carry it out yet and my wife wouldnt be too impressed (Not with one missing at the minute)

Sorry to hear about the loses dude. Ya i was actually just talking to Ben a few days ago about getting me a hog island or crawl cay but im just gonna wait till i get it in march. Try this for the missing corn, suppose to be good, http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/snakes/73850-lost-snake-wanna-know-how.html

Demonique

Hellrazer wrote: »

Youre looking athe scond page which are all "myths"--The first page are documented cases.

No, they're not. The first four pics are fake

Quoted from the site:

The four pictures below allegedly document a recent incident of a snake eating a person. The accompanying stories vary as to victim (local child, camper, or oil rig crew member) and location (South America with the snake an anaconda, Borneo, and Singapore). The snake is a reticulated python.

Notice the words allegedly and the phrase vary as to victim and location. These pics have been used in various stories about man eating snakes.

Also another quote regarding the first two pictures:

The lump appears to be of a stocky animal such as a pig rather than of a person


As regards the pictures of the guy sticking out of the snake:

The person’s body has very little mucus on it for having been inside a snake. Those who keep snakes well know how slimy food items get, especially when a snake regurgitates

It’s difficult to ascertain where his arms are; one of them should be lying right along his side, since they would have to fold that way during the snake’s feeding. His arms may be extending up into the snake to open a path for his head and chest.

The upper torso appears to be within a bag inside the snake. The python’s stomach and/or intestine also seem to have disappeared

Most herpers suspect that these were staged photographs, though I have to give the man credit for crawling that far into the snake.

In any event, no news service has ever carried a story relating to these photographs … and it would have made a great story.

Their fakes, well at least the two with the guy inside the snake are, the first two are of a retic that's after swallowing a large animal. Why couldnt they just have left it alone to digest its meal in peace? But no, they had to capture it and annoy it just like that poor anaconda who was forced to regurgitate its tapir dinner



Here's another dumb urban legend regarding snakes:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/ballpit.asp