Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I get this question more often than you could imagine from friends, family and co-workers...People wonder "why reptiles?"

I like cats very much..but personally I get so much more satisfaction out of animals who are so interesting if I had time I'd hang around with them for hours...

With a cat...cleaning the litter box seems like a chore but the work involved with every one of my reptile friends never seems like work...I enjoy it more than any other hobby, sport or television show combined...reptiles are facinating and interesting and wonderful to learn about...

People also cannot understand my fascination with snakes...until I get them to hold one...then they to are instantly fascinated..."they don't have legs but they still move!...that's so cool"

That's just my opinion...

So...what would you say if someone asked you: "why reptiles?"

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Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos

I know some folks like my wife, have allergies to our furry friends. Not so with reptiles.

My kids school passed a special rule about no pets allowed when picking up children from school all because of us. How cool is that? (we still bring them to car pool though)

There is something about exotic animals that is cool. Dogs and cats are common and not much of a challenge to own. Reptiles are special because most people don’t know about them or understand them. It is more challenging.

Maybe I am projecting but I feel many of my reptiles show affection in their own way. they make us feel good. Just like a cat or a dog that snuggles up to us when we come home, I have a 20lbs red tegu that snuggles with me as do many other reptiles. When I walk into the tortoise pen, they come running (well walking as fast as they can) to greet me and get a rub under the chin.

they don't judge us, they love us unconditionally.

So I would say there is that factor of love from an animal that is really cool.

BTW We also have spiders, scorpions, millipedes and other creepy crawlies BECAUSE they are cool. no love or affection, they are just cool to watch just like fish. We do handle all of our animals so no fish for us.

We also have some wolf hybrids that we rescued along with some dogs but my wife can't spend time with them the way she does with reptiles.

if you want to see a few of our pets (not to many Beardies) past and present go to
Pets

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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

are those your children? they're beautiful - and how lucky to grow up in such a wonderful environment! the lizard room is especially neat. what a great way for them to learn about various animals hands-on and to learn responsiblity, too! they are very lucky.
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1.0 Bearded Dragon - Telamon
0.1 House Cat - St. Stephen

1 Saltwater Aquarium
1 Freshwater Aquarium

Yep, they are mine. 13 and 10 now. None of their friends believed them about having hundreds of animals until they came over and saw for themselves. I did 2 shows for their school last year and brought some of the animals so kids could learn about them and not be afraid. The funniest thing was when I took out a roach container; all the girls began to scream. Then when I opened the lid and saw she was giving birth... all the girls wanted to see the miracle for themselves. They lost all fear.
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

It's awesome that you take the time to educate so many. If more people would do the same, I'm sure there wouldn't be so many cases of neglect and abuse out of fear, lack of knowlege or just pure evil/laziness.

Although I bet you sent a lot of kids home to their parents begging for new pets!!
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1.0 Bearded Dragon - Telamon
0.1 House Cat - St. Stephen

1 Saltwater Aquarium
1 Freshwater Aquarium

I took a box of eggs, babies and the parents to school for my kids show and tell and they all enjoyed it sooo much! The teacher allowed 20 minutes for Q&A and we actually ran over into class time and SHE didn't even notice they were all so fascinated and intrigued. Loads of fun. I still don't know if they had more fun or I did. LOL

Robert

one of my kids has asma and the other 3 have reactive airway disease. (which is a mild form of asma) ANY pet dander especially from long haired animals and they are choked up for days. That in return turns into ear infections, drops the immune system and they are sick for at least three weeks. It's not fair to them to not be able to have pets. They love reptiles now and know everything I do. Well the three year old doesn't really understand yet but he thinks they are the coolest. I do "show and tell" at the school for them and all the kids have a great time. So other than the personal satisfaction I get from keeping reptiles, those are a few other benefits that for me are iceing on the cake.

Robert

about the zoo he thinks we have!
As far as "why reptiles"? I just like animals...fuzzy or scaled.
I'm not in to big hairy tarantulas though..insects are not my forte'. Over the years I've mastered the art of keeping, maintaining, and feeding crickets to dragons w/o ever touching a one.
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www.classylizard.com

Well, I guess I have always been naturally intrigued with them. When I was really young (up until about 2nd grade I think) I was obsessed with dinosaurs. I then realized that you obviously can't have a pet dinosaur, so reptiles were the next best thing (now I'd much rather have reptiles than a dinosaur though ). At about 7 years old I got my first reptile, a desert kingsnake. That didn't go so well because I was the only one in the house that really understood what we had to do to get him tamed, but I was 7, so for one, the speed of the snake frightened me, and two...well, I was 7. It was way too early to get a reptile and because of that I almost wasn't allowed to get a beardie last summer. So the snake stayed with us for about 2 years or so and we only got it out of the tank once for handling, and a few other times out of necessity (to clean the cage and get rid of mites). After that my parents made an educated decision to give it back to the reptile place.

So most people would have thought that it was just a phase that I'd grown out of, but for the years after that I wanted to try over again. Then it sort of went away for a year or two when I was certain I would never have a reptile in this house again, but then I saw my friend's bearded dragon and fell in love again. Once my parents saw how cute and docile it was they were fine with me getting one too.

Now I have the beardie and a neglected Mali Uromastyx I adopted just recently (getting her a bigger tank tomorrow). As has been said, I sort of just really like them as animals, and I like taking care of them. The way I see it, if you see taking care of a pet as a chore, it's not the pet for you. My mom has a siamese cat and I don't think I will ever get one. She's fun sometimes but the rest she's just annoying. I guess that means I'm just pretty much completely a reptile guy. I'm dreaming of when I move out and get a steady job...and I'm finally able to get a nice tegu. That won't be for a while, but I'm still planning on it.

Well that's a long explanation that sort of shows why I like reptiles....I think.

-ryan

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Life is what happens when you are making other plans.......

Well, I love ALL animals. It's a passion. I sometimes feel like I can relate to them better than with people.

Between my boyfriend and I we have a dog, a cat, a ferret, a beardie, and a snake. Quite a variety! We also have a tendency to take in wild animals that are in trouble, nurse them, and re-release them. It's actually a personal dream of mine to get some land and do rescue and rehabilitation.

As for reptiles specifically, I think it started with dragons. Not bearded dragons, the fictional kind. Since I was a very young child they were always my favorite in books, movies, games, my imagination, everything. As I grew up I this tranferred itself into a fascination with all reptiles. Much to my mother's dissapointment, instead of playing with Barbie, I played with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I just have a lot of respect and awe for reptiles. When I watch them it seems like I'm looking at an animal that's millions of years old, an evolutionary marvel. They were around ages before mammals, and will probably survive long after. They are just amazing.

I came up with a new answer a few days ago...
Because they're soft and smooth and plushy too!
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

I am a vet tech and animals seem to find me. I never owned a single reptile until eight years ago when a severly deformed, neglected bearded dragon was brought in to be euthanized because the owner had screwed it up so badly she thought it was dead. When she went to throw him away he moved. He looked so pathetic, but when I picked him up he looked at me, dead in the eye, with such a knowing look. It was as if he was saying "Please help me."

I had never even heard of bearded dragons before that day and he grabbed my heart. My doctor helped me deworm him and give him Ca injections and told me 'Stace, he's gonna be a heartbreaker. I don't give him more than a week to live." Well, I had my deformed little dragon for eight years. He had a personality comparable to any of my cats and I was hooked. Everything I know about reptile medicine I owe to Irwin. I only studied warm, fuzzy medicine before him. Irwin passed away about 5 months ago and I couldn't imagine my life without a beardie so I recently got a new baby, Fuego. He can't take Irwin's place, but he is a great baby and we are bonding nicely.

Here is a list of the rest of my animal family:

1 dog
6 cats
3 rabbits
3 guinea pigs
1 mouse
1 cockatiel
1 parakeet (budgie)
1 bearded dragon
1 mud turtle
2 California Desert tortoises
1 tomato frog
1 Wood frog
1 unidentified toad
6 Irian Jaya blue tongued skinks
5 pond comets
2 fancy goldfish
1 Community tank (about 18 fish various species)
1 Beta
5 guppies that just won't die (turtle wouldn't eat them, we are going on a year)
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Stacey

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1.0 Bearded Dragon - Telamon
0.1 House Cat - St. Stephen

1 Saltwater Aquarium
1 Freshwater Aquarium

5 guppies that wont die? and they arent breeding? lol. My dad got a hold of a few guppies intending to feed to his red eared slider. turtle wont catch em, so now those few guppies turned into a few HUNDRED guppies who wont die! (he keeps em in a seperate tank).

nice list you have there
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~Melissa~
1.3 Leopard geckos (Guido, Oasis, Gypsy, Marli)
1.0 Bearded dragon (Pharoah)
1.0 Hog Island Boa (Michelangelo)
0.0.1 Crested Gecko (Picasso)
1.0 Ferret (da Vinci)
0.1 Chinchilla (Eevie)

Melissas Menagerie

I've always been a fantasy/sci-fi lover (...but you can't tell by the name!!! ), and fascinated by lizards all my life (dinosaurs and such). I hadn't ever considered owning a BD until my girlfriend and I went to a VA herp show, which she had to practically drag me to. I liked looking at all the different reptiles, and soon we were standing in front of one of the breeder tables looking at BDs. I asked a few routine q's like how big do they get, what do they eat, and how difficult were they to take care of, and the breeder was very helpful. But it wasn't until I had her open a container with a single BD in it that I was hooked. He crawled right out onto my arm, up to my chest, and "snuggled" against my neck, refusing to move. Needless to say I bought him, then and there, along with everything he needed to live with me.
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Dl