Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The only BTS I saw in my life was some years ago. I think skinks, not only BTS, a family of lizards with great appeal, personalities and fine candidates for the terrarium. In my opinion, BTS are in the top of these, as large sized and nice tempered. The question is: Why they are not so popular?

They are easy to find in any store, some even captive born, at not so high prices, but it still isnt in top-of-mind pet ranking, even between mid-sized lizards and not so commonly found in houses as I would imagine...what are the reasons for it?
tks

Very good question and I do think it comes down to price. Picture Mom and Dad caving in to Junior's wish to have a reptile. Mom won't do snakes and Dad doesn't want crickets all over the house. What's at the pet store, small, cute, vegetarian and CHEAP? Iguana.

We all know iguanas actually aren't cheap when you factor in the cost of the adult sized enclosure and the lights and humidity requirements, etc. But not very many chain pet stores follow up with customers to make sure they buy what they need and understand the adult size of Mr. Iggy.

Whenever I do educational events or even if I'm in the pet store and someone is looking at an iguana I always say that blue tongues are GREAT starter lizards for someone looking for personable, intelligent, TAME, and a little less fragile for kids to handle than a leopard gecko.