reptile people help please

bayside

bayside

Member
i am wanting to start a reptile tank and wanted to get your input on what i should get and what would be best for me because i am a beginner and my only experience with reptiles is that my roommate in college had a bearded dragon.
right now im sorta trying to decide between a crested gecko or maybe a smaller common pet snake, not to sure what kind yet tho
opinions on either of these would be great, also let me know if a noob like me would be capable to care for one of these and also what i would need for lighting/heating and your preferences for a ground substrate.
thank you so much in advance
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
crested geckos are one of the best starter reptiles because they dont need special lighting or special temps room temp is fine. they eat powdered food that you mix up yourself into goo. I would reseasrch them. snakes are low maintinence but there is more to owning a snake. so I would reccomend starting easy.
 
sharkboy13

sharkboy13

Active Member
personally i would go w/ a corn, rat, king, milk, or ball python (all stay 5 ft or less) for snakes no special lighting is required but water, a hide, substrate, and food weekly or biweekly is required. an adult ball python will be able to fit a rat down while corns, rats, milks and kings should probably stick to mice. remember an enclosure should be as elaborate as u wish wo clean. while i prefer newspaper, a water dish, a shoebox, and some damp moss depending on species some ppl will go really elaborate. an enclosure should be atleast as long as the snake and half as wide at minimal, tho bigger is bettr.
 
bayside

bayside

Member
you really dont need any heat sorce of any kind? i was under the impression that you need some type of sorce depending on what you wanted to use and then just the tube florescent light, also what type of substrate would you recommend for a crested? i have heard pretty much every different type, i would just like to know what, in your opinion, would be the best considering ease of cleaning, looks, and what is best for the animal.
also i am planning for whatever i get to go into a 29 gal. so knowing this am i still able to keep these animals, if not i could go bigger if you think it would be best for the animal.
i really want a snake but i know absolutely nothing about them whereas i know a little bit on care for lizards
 
30-xtra high

30-xtra high

Active Member
ok, if you want a snake.. here is EVERYTHING you will need.:, i will be giving the needs of a corn snake..
29 or bigger tank, 29 is fine at full grown..
cage carpet, its basically green carpet for snakes that is sold at pet stores fotr like..5$
water bowl, big enoughf ro snake to fit in
heat lamp, and about 100watt bulb for a 29,
a "hide hole", or something the snake can go into making him feel completely safe, such as a wooden box with a hole in it.. plain and simple, or a shoebox..
some vines, and some fake plants to simulate woods
screen top, and a 5-10lbs weight so it can't get out
and when they are samll you will feed them 1 "pinky" a week, a pinky is a baby mouse that has been frozen after birth, and you get it at the pet store, thaw it out, and feed your snake, whne they get 30"+ they can eat a live mouse, and at full grown which can be 60" they can eat 2-3 mice.
thats all you need.. i'd recomend a snake over a lizard, i've had both, and snakes are funner, cool to watch, cooler to hold, great conversation piece.. fun to show people them eat..
hope this helped, and by the way, i have a full grown Ghost corn snake, adolescent regular corn snake, and baby yellow rat snake.
 
bayside

bayside

Member
k well after talking to the gf (cuz every decision must go through her) i am going to have to get the crested gecko. she doesnt want to see mice get eaten and all that jazz, so that eliminates all snakes

so i am going to get the thing this weekend prolly because today and tom are fish tanks cleaning day so i have no time. i just have one quick question for you all before i start it. In your opinion what would be the best for the bedding?
thank you everyone for your help
 
sharkboy13

sharkboy13

Active Member
Originally Posted by bayside
k well after talking to the gf (cuz every decision must go through her) i am going to have to get the crested gecko. she doesnt want to see mice get eaten and all that jazz, so that eliminates all snakes

not ALL snakes, green snakes and garters will eat crickets and goldfish
 
30-xtra high

30-xtra high

Active Member
Originally Posted by Sharkboy13
not ALL snakes, green snakes and garters will eat crickets and goldfish
yea, if you can find an Indonesian checkered garter snake.. they eat goldfish, my lfs sells them for 16.99$, and they get about 4 feet, which in my opinion is a good size..
but if you want the gecko.. i'd suggest the cage carpet.. its compressed moss that you just lay in your tank.. and when the rep. craps on it.. you just take it out, and either run under water, or run through washer without using soap.
 
sharkboy13

sharkboy13

Active Member
Originally Posted by 30-xtra high
yea, if you can find an Indonesian checkered garter snake
not just them, canadians and ribbons will eat em too, mine always did
 
30-xtra high

30-xtra high

Active Member
yea.. but ribbons aren't as common, and who wants a snake that they can go find in somebodies backyard thats a state away.. indonesians are really cool looking, black and brown checkered all over, and black and white checkered on the bottom, but then again, if he wants a foot long snake he could go get an egyptian earth snake.. the options go on and on.
 
sharkboy13

sharkboy13

Active Member
Originally Posted by 30-xtra high
. the options go on and on.
yes they do, but personally if they wernt critically id go w/ a san fran garter, those r awesome lookin
 
cherish life.

cherish life.

Member
hehe i dont wanna brag but i have a pair of mali uromastyx and i just love em!
if you have the money for a high wattage bulb like 100w or more and enough money for a uro (100$-300$) i would definately get one.
 
30-xtra high

30-xtra high

Active Member
my friend has one.. and no offense, but they're really boring.. he just sits there basking under his light.. its really not interesting at all, but i'm sure breeding them would be fun.. he has a female that lays eggs once in awile, i used to feed the eggs to my turantula before it died..
 
grmreapr

grmreapr

Member
you could also go with a leopard gecko very easy to take care and can live up to fifteen years mine is around seven years eats crickets apples carrots fruit and an occasional pinky.
 
sharkboy13

sharkboy13

Active Member
the probs w/ frillys is wc ones r sometimes more succeptible to diaseases (similar to a lot of tangs and such) i had a frilly about two or three years ago and it was nice, but incredibly ill tempered, i see this w/ a lot of frillys, sad thing :notsure:
 
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