Lizzard for my son

[Anonymous]

Hi,

My son and I are looking into getting him a lizzard soon. I was thinking that a bearded dragon or a water dragon may be good for him. Can you folks that may have terrariums and meybe one of these lizzards point me in a good direction for info on them?

TIA

 

[Rikko]

I'd avoid dragons unless you have some serious space available. Beardies will grow to over a foot (including tail) and water dragons can clear 2 feet (again I include tail).
If you can provide the room, sure! Go for it! Dragons, imo, have the most personality of any pet reptile (some might say iguanas are affectionate but they're also often very bitchy). They also have a very mild temperament and are great for handling.

Few questions to ask yourself with reptile selection:
Nocturnal or diurnal?
Handleable or display?
Big or small?

It also depends a lot on how old your son is. I love beardies but you really need to supply them with fresh veggies every day and juicy bugs as well. It can get to be a bit of a hassle if you aren't deadset on it (and bear in mind that unless your son is over 15, *you* end up taking care of the lizard )

I'm sure googling for a caresheet will yield more results than you care to read... It's all pretty standard so you ought to be able to trust what you find. When you've decided on the species and go to pick up a book, get one by Philippe DeVosjoli - he writes "the book" on pretty well every common captive reptile species and is among the most respected authors.

Very good beginner lizzies:
Beardies
Water dragons
Leopard geckos (nocturnal)
Anoles (not really handleable but simple and cheap)
Veiled chameleons (can be crabby, but sturdy as a rock if you can provide them the large amounts of calcium and water that they need)
Blue Tongued Skink (We've had one in the store for almost a year now.. No takers, but it's probably the most amusing lizard I've ever seen. He likes to be hand fed grapes)

Bad choices, imo:
Day geckos (too jumpy.. I have one)
Tokay geckos (they would try to eat your cat)
Green iguanas (too large and temperamental)
Monitors (get quite large and many species are aggressive - I think the Savannahs are kind of sweet though)

HTH - let me know if there's anything else I might be able to tell you

 

[Anonymous]

I've been keeping reptiles most of my life, so I can be of some help as well.

I would suggest:
Beardies (need at least a 70 gallon terrarium eventually.)
leopard geckos, and indeed, many other species of "eyelid" geckos such as fat tails, banded, etc. Nocturnal but great pets.
Collared lizards ( I have a group of captive bred juveniles, great lizards)
Monitors - There are MANY small species. I've been keeping them for years including the larger species, but several of the smaller ones make good beginner lizards. The cheapest and most appropriate for you would be V. acanthurus, or the ackie. They are very small, (no larger than a beardie)and available captive bred.
Chuckawalla. A type of desert iguanid. Available captive bred if you know where to look.
There are many other choices, but I'd suggest you start with something above.

Although I'm a lizard fan at heart, I keep snakes as well and you might want to consider a snake such as a corn snake, king snake, milk snake or gopher snake. They take less space than a lizard, and are lower maintenence. Even such snakes as carpet pythons are hardy and make good first snakes.

Jim

Cheers
Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input. The reason I thought A bearded Dragon would be good for him (he is 8 ) is that I know alot of the care will be provided by me, until he is old enough to be trusted to be do it on his. ATM there is a HUGE terrarium for $100 at the pet store. It will require a little silicone, but should be plenty big enough. From what I read of thier diet so far, I can prety much shop for them at the grocery store.

The Pet shop provided a care sheet, but there must be more to know than just 2 pages of the basics somewhere (like a site like RDO for lizzards).

Unfortunately, we cant keep snakes, my wife would freak out.

Thanks again guys

 

[reefann]

www.herpview.com
is a decent site as is
www.redtailboa.net

IMO beardies should be fed a decent amount of crickets every day for long term health. If you go with leopards be sure to provide a calcium supplement.
HTH
BTW Be sure to gutload your crickets and dust them before feedings.
_________________
Honda CB900F

 

[Anonymous]

gutload and dust?

This was nowhere in the care sheet we got. I will check out those sites, thanks

 

[reefann]

Gutload- Feed the crickets a lot of food before you feed the dragon to pass nutrition down.
Dust-coat them in a vitamin before feeding them
_________________
Indian Creek Designs BKO

 

[Anonymous]

leopard geckos are very easy, very tame, and readily available captive bred in quite a few different morphs

 

[Anonymous]

I higly recommend the Bearded Dragons if you can provide the needs. This is a very fun lizard to keep and can easily be hand held.

 

[reefann]

Only drawback with leopards is they are nocturnal.....

 

[Anonymous]

leopard geckos are very easy, very tame, and readily available captive bred in quite a few different morphs

I have to second that recommendationg STRONGLY. We have a leopard gecko and this guy is supah-smooth COOL. Extremely tame, VERY easily handleable, VERY easy to feed, does just fine up here in Tahoe with the cooler temps. Our guy's kept in a rather small terrarium (owned by the beau's son), but I swear I have never seen a fatter gecko. He's about 6-7 yo, IIRC, going strong, and hit his hand-size a while ago.

Don't ever consider a Tokay gecko, gorgeous, but a rather painful bite (which it distributes generously). 8O (No, I haven't, but I saw someone get nailed by an escapee.)

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, very cool little lizards. There are number of lesser known realatives that fall into the same category. Attractive, hardy and easy to care for. "Eyelid" geckos as they are sometimes called. There are some pretty obscure ones too that are just amazing looking.

Jim