COLUMBUS DISPATCH (Ohio) 13 December 09 Nothing says Christmas like a lizard from Santa (Tracy Turner)

For the past 10 years, MT Schwartz has spent Christmas Eve delivering gifts to her customers' homes in time for the surprised recipients to open the next morning.

Each package typically contains the same thing: a gift box stuffed with paper towels, a heat plate and a note that warns: "Do not shake."

"That's so the recipient won't hurt the bearded dragon that's waiting inside the box," said Schwartz, owner of Saffire Dragons in Powell, a reptile business that mainly sells lizards.

"People will buy them in advance and have me deliver them Christmas Eve so the kids will think it's from Santa. Lizards make great Christmas presents, especially for kids who have allergies, because the lizards have no fur."

That sentiment was repeated several times by participants and animal sellers at the All-Ohio Reptile Show yesterday at the UAW Hall on the West Side.

The show featured alligators, ferrets, spiders, roaches, mealworms, crickets, rabbits, hedgehogs, turtles, rats, snakes and lizards. It attracted several hundred consumers looking to start a reptile collection or add to established collections.

Tom and Jody Schwartz of Pickerington were looking to add a beaded dragon to their collection of pairs of tree frogs, toads and leopard geckos. The beaded dragon was a holiday gift for their boys, Marcus, 5 and Jaron, 2.

"Marcus wants a beaded dragon that'll grow large enough that he can walk it down the street on a leash," Jody Schwartz said as she held Jaron up to see collections of baby pythons and other snakes. "Dogs take too much effort to own. With a reptile, you don't have to do nearly as much in order to care for them."

About 11 million people kept reptiles as pets in 2005, a 22 percent increase from 2003, according to the most recent data from the Humane Society of the United States.

And many reptile sellers say the scaly critters make great holiday gifts because public perception of reptiles has become increasingly positive in recent years.

Snakes, for example, aren't aggressive and typically lash out only as a defense mechanism, said Columbus resident Peter Rushton, who has owned P.T. Reptiles for 11 years.

"Even my wife bought me a boa for Christmas one year," he said with a laugh. "I've sold many snakes as gifts."

Eddie Hefner of the East Side spent $75 on two Kenyan sand boas from Rushton as an early holiday gift for himself.

The East Side resident already owns 45 snakes, including a 9-foot red tail boa.

"It was a gift, too," he said with a smile.
Nothing says Christmas like a lizard from Santa

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