Leopard Geckos: Caring For Your New Pet (Reptile Care Guides)

Leopard Gecko Care Sheet

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Typically calm, tegus properly socialized from a young age can learn to walk on a harness and be handled with great frequency. It should be noted that there are multiple tegu species; Columbian tegus are NOT recommended as a good pet lizard. These black and white cousins are often aggressive and difficult to care for. Minimum Cage size as adults: What qualifies a lizard as a bad pet?

Many commonly available reptiles, unfortunately, are just not suited for an life in captivity. Just because a lizard is inexpensive or regularly seen in pet shops does not mean it will make a good pet. Large size, bad temperaments, aggressiveness, difficult care requirements, and many other factors were taken into account in the creation of this list of "bad pet" lizards.

As a note, we are not saying that these species should never be kept, but that they are more difficult and suited for advanced, experienced keepers only. Green iguanas are one of the most common and inexpensive reptiles available on the market today, which is a shame.

These beautiful lizards are intelligent and sociable but they get BIG. Even tame iguanas can cause nasty cuts and slashes by accident and should only be handled by adults. The cute, small babies grow fast and planning to "upgrade someday" does not work for them. Because of the huge requirement for time and space that iguanas require, they are at the top of our "bad pet" choices.

Size, aggressiveness if not regularly handled or with breeding males , big commitment, high maintenance. This is truly unfortunate because they grow into large, powerful lizards capable of inflicting a nasty bite and even breaking bones with a tail whip and the low cost creates a lot of uninformed impulse buys and abandoned adult lizards.

They are one of the better pet monitors but are not for the beginning keeper. Savannah monitors require huge cage spaces and experienced handling. The eat a lot and have to be cleaned up after daily, not a pleasant task. They are intelligent escape artists and can cause immense amounts of property damage.

Keeping a large monitor is a huge commitment of time and resources and should not be taken lightly. The green anole is extremely common and very inexpensive to purchase. This price is misleading, however; they have care requirements including expensive lighting and controlled environments that can cost dozens of times the initial purchase price of the lizard itself.

#1 - Leopard Gecko

Though pretty, anoles are easily stressed and should not be handled on a regular basis. They are carnivorous and need daily insect feedings as juveniles and every other day as adults. They can be easily kept with a proper setup, but because of their flighty nature and specific care requirements please think twice before picking one up as a "cheap pet". From the Experts at Advanced Vivarium Systems. Chameleons can do well in captivity but their very specific, generally unforgiving, care requirements place them on our list of lizards best kept for more advanced handlers. Chameleons available in pet stores are often wild caught and difficult to care for, carrying a variety of parasites and diseases.

Captive bred animals are a must. Though chameleons are beautiful, they are best not being handled unless it is an absolutely necessary as they are easily stressed or hurt. They need very high humidity and a specially set up terrarium with natural or fake plants and ideally with an automatic misting system. Chameleons can make wonderful, fascinating pets but they require much more research, commitment and care than many other lizard species.

There are a variety of commonly available monitor species including nile monitors, asian water monitors, green tree monitors, and others. Almost all of these make poor captives, getting to overly large sizes or being very delicate in their environmental needs. If you are interested in a pet monitor, please do thorough research on your species of interest. Monitors are intelligent, long lived lizards and that inexpensive baby may cause thousands of dollars to house properly.

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Large monitors also eat large prey and produce large feces. Many are at least as time consuming to properly care for as a dog. Wild-caught imports are most common in pet stores and often carry parasites that can be expensive to treat. Don't be swayed by cheap price tags and small, cute babies!

Controlled lighting, specific humidity requirements, controlled heating. Com Choosing the best pet reptile. Download any of these banners and use them to link to us!

Inexpensive, easy to find, no special lighting requirements, non-threatening look, small and space-efficient Cons: Ackies can be fed every other day and will accept a variety of foods including crickets and pinky mice Lifespan: Controlled heating, UVB lighting Pros: Relatively small, hardy, docile, unique look Cons: More expensive than other 'beginner' lizards, can be difficult to find.

Natural or fake foliage for climbing and hiding Pros: Most simple of lizard care requirements; no supplemental heating or lighting, simple mix-with-water diet Cons: Spend a lot of time hiding, nocturnal, more delicate to handle. UVB lighting and controlled heat, substrate to burrow in.

Caring for Leopard Geckos | VetFolio

Intelligent, captivating, hardy Cons: Large size and caging requirements. Iguana Green iguanas are one of the most common and inexpensive reptiles available on the market today, which is a shame.

Controlled heating, lighting, vegetable diet Pros: Leopard geckos are a unique type of gecko because they have vocal cords which allow them to squeak and bark. Even as juveniles, the leopard gecko is accepting of various levels of handling. Despite their sturdy nature, you still need to take care and treat them cautiously. Never grab them by the tail because doing this will frighten them and may cause the tail to detach. Leopard geckos are largely insectivorous, which means they eat insects.

You or your children will have fun feeding them crickets, mealworms, superworms, roaches and waxworms. For more information on what it takes to take care of leopard geckos read our handbook. Crested Gecko — The crested gecko is easy to keep and easy to love! They come in a range of colors and patterns, which make them fun to look at, and these geckos have been known to have individual personalities.

Misting will become a part of the daily care routine because these geckos rely on humidity to smell their food and drink off of leaves and terrarium walls. Like the leopard gecko, the crested gecko eats crickets, but they also eat various fruits as well. Your gecko will need to be fed times weekly. For more information on what it takes to take care of crested geckos read our handbook.

Bearded Dragon — Bearded dragons are one of the most popular pet reptiles, and for good reason. Bearded dragons eat both plant and animal matter. You should be comfortable feeding them crickets, mealworms, superworms, and roaches. To balance their diet, you should also provide them with a mixture of veggies weekly. For more information on what it takes to take care of bearded dragons read our handbook. Corn Snake — Corn snakes are one of the most popular pet snakes.

They are a small breed of snake, typically reaching about 5. Like the other pets on this list, their needs are simple and they are a very hardy animal. Years of being bred in captivity have resulted in snakes with a wide range of available colors and patterns. Many people worry about snakes escaping their terrariums; however, this is an easy problem to avoid as long as you invest in sealed and escape-proof housing.

Your snake will need to be fed once every days, and yes, you will need to feed them mice or small rats. Young snakes are often nervous and must be handled gently. The more you handle your young snake the more they will grow to be accustomed to handling as they get older.

Caring for Leopard Geckos

For more information on what it takes to take care of corn snakes read our handbook. They are more likely to tolerate handling than other amphibians, and will grow accustomed to you a lot faster because of this. These frogs only need to be feed times weekly.

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