Vivarium Newbie Question

I would go with anoles. They are very easy to keep and stay pretty small.

I'd do firebelly toads. They are cute and do well in groups

giant african millipede, hehe these are so easy to take care of, you can fit like 5 of these in a small 10 gallon tank, they just need some sort of heat, peat substrate, a shallow water dish, maybe a rock to dig under, and your done, food is just some veges you throw in there

do a little research and spend a little money for dart frogs... cheapest run for about 50 each and they readily breed in a well set up viv of 10 gallons... heres an awsome site.. www.blackjungle.com


http://www.blackjungle.com/basics.html

Anoles aren't much fun, they can get mean. I had one for awhile and it decided I looked like lunch (..I don't even know what happened). I'd recommend a Leopard Gecko though. You can keep one in a 10gl aquarium and it doesn't require too much. They are very easy to care for and can be fun to handle.

Now if you wanted to keep two, you easily could (only 2 females, or 1 male/1 female, never 2 males). You'd have to buy them as adults or from a breeder though to know the sex, as young leos are unable to be sexed until they are mature. Also, they are very easy to breed, and you are almost guaranteed they will if you have a male and a female. I have a 3yr old female and a 1yr old male in a 30gl tank and I just got my first set of eggs on 3/30, currently incubating to be hatched a females (they are temperature sexed).

Leopard geckos really are great additions though, I've enjoyed all 3 years with my albino, and they come in all sorts of colors. My only suggestion, get on a reptile forum if you are looking to purchase something. NEVER trust the petstore. They will tell you to house it on sand (which is bad) and all sorts of retarded crap. Geckos need tiles, paper towels, or reptile carpet, anything that isn't loose. Loose substrate causes impaction, which can lead to death or other problems (very common in hatchlings and juvenile geckos, depressing as well).

That's just my suggestion in my 4 years of housing leopard geckos. My anole was a jerk and had to be returned to the pet store (and he bit the lady that took him out of the box to put in the cage). I had some sort of frogs for awhile, but all they did was bounce around and dig down in the dirt. Pretty boring. I like critters I can hold, and that are easy. My geckos are that pet for me, as my saltwater fishies can be a pain sometimes.

There are other species of geckos that aren't hard to care for either, like crested geckos. I wouldn't recommend a Tokay Geckos, those things are nasty. Let us know what you decide to go with, I'd be willing to give some advice if you need it.

Well you want to ask yourself, do you want a lizard and set of animals to hold or just watch?
Well what ever you do, it will cost a few bucks. Herps are not cheap especially when you do it right. If you want to do some thing fun with a few animals you could try a good size screen cage. I have one about the size of a 20 gallon on its side. I keep just anoles in this setup but you could do anoles, house geckos and tree frogs. So the ration would be 1.1 anoles, 0.0.1 house gecko and 0.0.1 green tree frog.
The numbers in the herp industry mean this.
1.0.0 1 male
0.1.0 1 female
0.0.1 1 unsexed animal.
This will give you a nice variety and fun watching the animals run around. I like screen cages with a water fall. This allows humidity but good air flow. I have 2 lights on the tank, 1 uv light and 1 spot light for heat. These animals will not be affected to much but cooler house temps as well. So you will not need to get a heating pad for them.


Now, if you want to get an animal that you will want to hold all the time?? I would have to suggest a much larger cage and going with bearded dragons. But I will not go into that right now. But regardless most small lizards, even leopard geckos shouldn't be held. It just stresses them out. Out of all the lizards in my breeding colony I only have 1 out of 10 that doesn't mind being held. Others want to run or flee, when this happens, you risk the chance of breaking off a tail or harming your pet.

tricksterpup said:

But regardless most small lizards, even leopard geckos shouldn't be held. It just stresses them out.

Click to expand...

Leopard geckos can, and should be held actually. Most like it too. I've owned 4 over the years now, and every single one likes being taken out and held. Some will just perch on a shoulder, others will just sit around. My female likes to lay around on my laptop with me, as it's nice and warm. My male used to do that when he was younger as well. If you are going to say leopard geckos shouldn't be held, neither should a bearded dragon that is still young. Holding a lizard (considering ones that can't climb walls) isn't bad, and it doesn't stress them out. Now if it was wild caught it might, but leopard geckos have been captive bred for a long time now. Captive bred creatures take a lot better to handling then wild caught ones. Heck my captive bred clownfish will hang out with my hand, verse the yellow tang who takes off.

A baby leopard gecko, a hatchling that is, should not be held right away. This will stress them out as they just came into the world and aren't sure what to do yet. I received my first one at only a few days old. Took her a week or so to adjust to my hand in the tank, but then she grew to love me and everytime I walked into the room she wanted to come sit on my shoulder.

That's just my 2 cents, as anoles, frogs, and some other creatures do get stressed out when being held. Leopard geckos generally do not, and most people that own them will handle them. If handled from a young age they are also less likely to freak out. It takes time and patience, but it has its payoff.

This is Awesome, my female, she just loves being handled. I go to the cage and she is looking at me like "please take me out".

if you want to keep the cost down, go for amphibians. Firebelly toads are nice and easy and don't require heat. A half land half water setup works well.
You could comfortably house four in a 10gal.

If you want an ultimate low-maintainence amphibian, then a horned frog (also called pacman frog) can be housed in a 10gal, although you must be willing to feed it locusts and mice. don't house more than one as they are cannibalistic.

An all-water setup might be nice with African Dwarf Frogs, floating frogs or firebelly newts. With newts the temp shouldn't go above 23C for extended times. In a 10 gal you could keep maybe 10 floating frogs and 5 ADFs, or 3 Chinese firebelly newts or Eastern newts. Floating frogs and ADFs need a temp of about 22C or higher. ADFs and newts have the advantage of not needing live foods (floating frogs do).

Circa that is an awesome looking Gecko! All this reptile talk make me wanna get back into the hobby. back in the day I rescued two green Iguanas the male grew to be 5' long and my female grew to be 3' (nose to tip of tail). Unfortunatly they had both died from stress of never adjusting to moving to another state.