I have a severe case of choice paralysis at the moment, and just can’t pick what I want!
I’ve picked out a couple species that I like and might do research into:
Crested geckos
Bearded dragons
Uromastyx
Hognose snakes
Superdwarf retics
Leachianus geckos
Boaedon sp.
Though I still can’t really pick this makes a good baseline/starting point for what I might pick in the future.
those are all great species! The ones I’m somewhat familiar with are hognoses, house snakes, and I own a bearded dragon, and I can share a bit of insight on them.
My beardie is incredibly friendly; he loves to climb out to say hi and just cuddle. Hognoses tend to be a bit shy but are very fun to watch, and house snakes are great to handle but they are nocturnal. Since hognoses and beardies are both diurnal, you get to see them active during the day.
For housing, bearded dragons need a 4x2x2 foot enclosure (which is 120 gallons). Adults need plenty of space to thrive. Adult hognoses do well in a 20 to 40-gallon tank depending on their size. The same general rule goes for house snakes, but it depends heavily on their sex: males stay quite small and do fine in a 20-gallon tank, while the much larger females need a 30 to 40-gallon enclosure (males can be in 30-40 gallons if you add tons of clutter).
Out of all the options, those are the ones I know best and prefer, but always make sure to do thorough research before bringing one home—which I’m sure you already know! You have some truly amazing choices here.
here is a picture of Rex :D!
Anyways these are all great species for your future with reptiles and these are all excellent option!!!
So… the downside with percentage SD retics is that the size is not guaranteed. You really have to look at the lineage and what the breeder is focusing on with polygenics. They’re not their own species with a regulated size. going with a pureblood is the only real way to know they’ll be small as this is generations of insular polygenics.
Also D and SD can be a huge difference.
These snakes should not be taken lightly. Extremely food motivated.
They are smart and will find ways to make your life difficult. If you think a cornsnake was trouble…lol. One of mine had gone and unscrewed her vent on an enclosure and it was not easy to coax her back.
I’ve only gotten into them within the last 2 years after 10 years of casual browsing while keeping other species. And even then, I made sure my first was a mature age (7years) to know they’re a smaller size (8ft 62.5% kalatoas)
Any of those animals could work well for pets just make sure you find a good breeder. With the house snakes, which personally I love, just make sure they are consistently feeding on frozen thawed rodents to save yourself some headache. The Uros make sure the person selling them really bred them and isn’t flipping Wc animals which will undoubtably cost you way more when they end up needing a vet visit, you find out they have parasites, etc.
