A reader asks – What is a good reptile/amphibian pet to have?
“I’m looking for a new pet, I have a 20 gallon and a 10 gallon tank to play around with. Preferably fairly low maintenance, but mainly I am looking for a great pet.
I have a hermit crab, kittens, a puppy, and some fish already, but I am ready for a new animal. I love to take care of things…can you tell lol.”
Answer:
Here is a list of some great species of snakes and lizards that would do just fine for their entire lives in a 10 or a 20 gallon (depending on the species and gender), plus, a bit on information on each species, and a care sheet. 🙂
You could also add Ball pythons, King snakes, Corn snakes, Milk snakes, and Children’s pythons to this list; but unfortunately a 10 or a 20 gallon is a tad too small for all of those species except possibly a relatively small Corn or California King snake.
Rosy boa. They are small, very docile, calm, are great eaters, and are slow moving (and thus easier to handle than a lot of colubrids like King snakes and Corn snakes). They are also very hardy, low maintenance, come in lots of different colors and localities, and aren’t prone to shedding problems.
Care sheet: http://www.rosyboa.com/desertboas/caresheet.html
Kenyan sand boa. They have all of the good qualities of the Rosy like the gentle disposition, ease of care, small size, great feeders, etc, but the only problem that some keepers may have with them is that they spend most of their time under their substrate. For those who like to randomly walk by their snake’s cage to check to see what the snake is up to and how it is doing, that could be frustrating for them.
Care sheet: http://www.wnyherp.org/care-sheets/snakes/kenyan-sand-boa.php
Rough-scaled sand boa. These guys are a very small, generally docile, low maintenance species of sand boa. They are hardy and easy to care for, are great feeders, and are excellent for beginners. The only problems with these guys is that they are a bit harder to find than most of the others on this list, and like the Kenyans, they spend most of their time buried under their substrate.
Care Sheet: http://www.reptilia.org/Snakes2.aspx?page_id=233
Western Hognose Snakes. They are a usually good-tempered, low maintenance, small, amusing species that could be mistaken for a Rattlesnake if someone wasn’t well versed in reptiles. They are generally very sweet, tame down quickly, are great feeders, and are great shedders. They are mildly venomous, though not enough so that it could pose of any danger to humans. Not only are they reluctant to bite; their fangs are also located in the back of their mouth thus making it very hard for them to bite you unless you literally stick your finger in there. Even if they did manage to bite you; you’d have to let them ‘chew’ on you to get any sort of reaction at all. Generally the reaction from their venom in humans is mild irritation and swelling.
Care sheet: http://www.reptileallsorts.com/westhognose-cs.htm
As far as lizards go; I would highly recommend a Leopard Gecko, a Viper Gecko, Crested Gecko, or an African Fat-tailed Gecko. All are nocturnal so they don’t need UV lighting, low maintenance, docile, interesting looking, hardy, do wonderfully with being handled, and I am not sure how much experience you have with reptiles; but they all make great starter lizards. 🙂
Here are care sheets for all of the Gecko species I just named:
Leopard Gecko:
http://www.thegeckospot.net/shortleocare.php
Crested Gecko:
http://www.pangeareptile.com/id52.htm
Good luck!
BTW see the comments below for more suggestions.
Bearded dragons are wonderful pets to have. They are solitary, you feed them crickets sometimes and greens other, (bok choy etc). They love being held but also can just sit under their light happy. You would need a heat light for them. No heat rocks for lizards, or snakes really, they’ve been shown that they can burn the underbellys of the animals.
I like corn snakes. They are easy to care for and are pretty timid. Ohhh…tortoises are also awesome pets…but expensive. I don’t recommend a milk snake because they can be very aggressive. Frogs get kind of boring in my opinion. I’d go with a corn snake personally
Exotics owner – 20 Tarantulas, 6 Centipedes, 1 Scorpion, 2 Whip Scorpions, 1 Frog, 2 Dogs, 2 Ferrets, 2 Snakes
gecko
My son has Lepord Gekco and does needs alot of room and eats crickets and mealworms. Very low maintenance.
Crested Geckos are fairly easy to care for you don’t even need a bulb if you live in a decent climate.
I’ve done a lot of research and plan to buy one soon.
Here’s a good caresheet:
http://www.sundialreptile.com/caresheet-crested.htm
try iguana
I think you need to have a monitor… a big lizard that would take care of all the other pets. It is smaller than an alligator and it feeds mostly on small rodents. It’s mouth is small that it cannot swallow a human being.
Try geckos or anoles for reptiles. Bearded dragons are great pets but they should have a 40 gallon breeder tank even though pet stores say that 20 gallons is enough. There is no species of turtle that can live in a 20 gallon tank (they need 10 gallons for every *inch* of shell). Similarly, iguanas are a bad idea-they grow to 6 feet long.
African clawed frogs are really low maintenance and would work well in either of the tanks you have.
ACFs are kept in a tank (no less than 10 gallons-females can reach 8″) filled to withing ~3-4″ of the top with no land areas-these are completely aquatic frogs. You also need a screen top with clips to keep it in place as they are strong swimmers and will jump out of the water and dislodge the top. I used gravel on the bottom of the tank but other people say not to as they could break the glass when kicking. Sand would be safer. Tank should be cleaned (full water change) weekly or more often if dirty-make sure the water has been declorinated like you would for fish. I never used a heater for my frogs, nor did the person I got them from (they were about 14 years old at the time) but if temperatures in the house drop below 70 it would be a good idea to get one of those special heaters marketed for turtles so they couldn’t burn themselves.
Smaller frogs should be fed daily what they can consume in 15-20 minutes, larger adults (2+”) can be fed every other day. Reptomin floating sticks (usually labeled for aquatic turtles) works pretty well, the pair I had had only been fed that and occasional small bits of raw hamburg (bad idea) and lived until they were about 17-20 years old. A more varied diet would be better with feeder guppies and rosy red minnows supplementing the reptomin. Goldfish would not be advisable as they often carry parasites and will poison turtles although I’m not sure if they’d eventually poison the frogs.
Do not keep fish with the frogs unless you’re willing to see them eaten. ACFs will consume fish as large as they are even if it chokes them.
Handling ACFs is not a good idea and should be avoided whenever possible as you could damage their slime coating. You could use an aquarium net for the smaller frogs when cleaning the tank but that doesn’t work for the larger ones, especially the older females. Handling one of those takes a massive amount of practice and patience…there’s a reason for them being called “clawed” and those hind claws can hurt…
well for the 20 gallon i guess u could start of with a leopard gecko or some anoles and long tailed lizards
Horned toad. Garter, and Corn snakes. Firebelly newt. take your pick, there’s plenty more where that came from. also try green tree frogs.
years of rehabbing snakes and amphibians.
——> look hear, The Leopard Gecko is a great, easy and rewarding reptile that is simple to care for, cheap, good for young kids and new to reptiles, plus, they stay small. there is a number of different skin breeds. albinos etc. The 20 gallon tank would give a pair of these guys a exceptional home.
i would say a bearded dragon but the tanks you have are not big enough. I would go with a gecko of some kind. they are small and very low maintence. crested geckos are really cool. they look spiky but are really soft.
bearded dragon owner