alisoncooks Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 When oldest Dd was a wee thing, I promised her that she could get a much-wanted pet lizard when she turned 10. The HOPE was that she would change her mind over the years or forget. Well, this kiddo turned 9 in June, and she is making plans for this lizard, reading research guides and Petsmart brochures all the time. Despite her reading, we just don't know what sort of reptile to get -- she loves all sorts! We'd like: Low maintenance: easy habitat set up, easy to care for, easy to feed Stays smallish: we don't have much room, so something that stays pretty small and can stay in a smaller habitat. Friendly - something that doesn't mind being handled, is interactive Food - I don't mind live food, like mealworms. I'd rather not deal with crickets. Also would love suggestions for: Good place to buy this reptile, as well as habitat supplies, food, etc. We have several PetSmarts nearby, but would love other options (especially if we have to buy live food). Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 well, we have had a couple leopard geckos here, but they did prefer the live crickets, which were a pain to have to fetch from the pet store once a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Bearded Dragons :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamajag Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Bearded dragons. When you do go buy that little lizard, don't buy one that seems "tame" or "calm". Tame most of the time in a young lizard means they are sick. They have to be handled lots to become truly tame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Another vote for a bearded dragon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RKWAcademy Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 We don't have one (yet), but my dd really wants a chameleon. They don't like to be handled, so it doesn't fit your criteria. We also have kids who really want a frog or twelve. No one around here wants to deal with crickets, either. I've never ordered from either LLL Reptile or Backwater Reptile but both have a lot of options on their webpages. And LLL has youtube videos of different setups. Or you could try to visit a Reptile Show. It might be too tempting to take a baby of some sort home even if we are ill-prepared for it. I could see us at a show oohing and aahhing over a teeny tiny tortoise only to find out after we bought it that it will outlive me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted August 2, 2015 Author Share Posted August 2, 2015 I could see us at a show oohing and aahhing over a teeny tiny tortoise only to find out after we bought it that it will outlive me. Ha! And this is a reservation that I have. I don't want a lizard that DD will leave at home with me when she goes off to college!!! So something with a <8 yr life span is great! :blushing: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 We have a bearded dragon. He is about 18 inches now, but I suspect he will get closer to 24 inches full grown. He is rather easy going, easy to handle, and easy to care for. Here is the run down- They do like live food.😠For their first year of life, their diet should be 80% live insects, 20% leafy greens (not spinach) and other veggies/fruits. I use a base of either kale, dandelion greens, collards, or mustard greens, and a teaspoon of other colorful vegetables and fruits on top. Mealworms are not a good choice for them nutritionally, even though the pet store will try to sell them to you. Crickets are better, but require a calcium mineral dusting. They also stink, make noise, and require a larger enclosure. I despise them, even though I still get them for our beardie. Black soldier fly larvae are an excellent choice. Pricey, but super easy to maintain, and the perfect balance nutritionally. If money were no object, I'd go with these exclusively. They come 100 in a small plastic container, require no food, water, or care whatsoever. Just grab some each day (I use tweezers lol) and stick them in a bowl. Their set up is easy once you get it going. A large (as large as you can afford, 40 gallon would be a good start) glass aquarium. A heat lamp and a UVB lamp. A basking spot under the heat lamp. Some climbing things (you can buy them or find good branches and bake them to kill off any mold/mites/ect) and we give ours a scrap of fleece lol. We have our lamps on an automatic timer, 12 hours on/off. Cleaning is easy, I wipe the cage down weekly, pick up food daily, and clean his poo as it happens. Ours poos twice a week or so, but he did daily as a young dragon. He also gets a bath1-2x per week. He likes going poo in his bath so we bought a cheap kiddie pool for this purpose. I fill it with warm water, let him soak and poo, then dump and clean it. Look for the biggest bearded dragon at the store, usually those are the healthier ones-they are generally solitary, so when you see them in the same tank all laying on each other, it's actually not because they are friends. The bigger ones lay on the weaker ones to get closer to the heat source. They get more food, ect. As for taming, daily handling helps. Ours is naturally very chill. They get lazier as they get older. As a baby, ours would scurry more, so it was harder to hold him. We hand feed him everyday which also helps. When we take him out, he is content to hang out in our laps or shoulders. We do have a scrap of fabric because his nails are sharp and I'm afraid to cut them. I'm afraid I'll hurt him. They are not aggressive normally (though I'm sure some can be) they simply blow up their chin area and it turns black (hence the bearded name). Ours has never tried to bite. Let me know if you have any other questions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Let me give a shout-out to the Leopard Gekko. dS10 got one this year and, while I'm not especially a fan of reptiles, I think Gary the Gekko is reasonably cute. We did have to start with crickets because they told us he has to eat them until he was 4" or something. But now, we mostly do mealworms. His tank is 10 gallon, the set-up is pretty cheap and simple, and the lizard was more interactive than I would expect for a reptile. We got ours at PetSmart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Ha! And this is a reservation that I have. I don't want a lizard that DD will leave at home with me when she goes off to college!!! So something with a <8 yr life span is great! :blushing: I hear ya on this; it is one reason I could tolerate the Gekko. He would actually pass criteria at many colleges. Some colleges allow "non-venomous, non meat-eating reptiles if they can live in a ten gallon tank." Gary could pass, although truthfully, mealworms are "meat." My niece had a pet turtle her first year at college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 I don't know enough about lizards to recommend a type. We had two anoles that were adorable, but a bit dull. Ds won one in a lottery at school, and we bought another as a companion. Anoles cost about $5 if I recall. But I read all the internet info about how to treat reptiles and went to a few lectures from reptile rescue groups. I did what they suggested and about $500 later, the anoles had a nice habitat.... One thing I hated, however, was the crickets. I found that after a snowstorm with skiddy roads, I had to leave the house to buy crickets, ugh. Or, in summer, buy milk and perishables first, then buy the crickets last so that they would not overheat in the car. And I had to keep the crickets in cricket habitats. And feed them. And dust them with some kind of powder to make them more nutritious. And clean out their habitats. And hope they wouldn't grow too big for the anoles. No doubt, someone else here will have a more positive take, but I just wanted to comment with one point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Definitely NOT a green iguana... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisbeth Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 We love our bearded dragon. He seems like he has a sweet temperament, which I didn't expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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