Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm thinking on a second lizard and was considering a Collared lizard, but then got to researching other animals and wondered if I should get this over a Collared, Lacerta or Ackie!

Well, I have had all of the ones on your wanted list..
The Lacerta are kind of jumpy and fast until you tame them down, the Ackies at least mine (babies) were fast and sometimes tried to bite- but I have seen very Tame ones. The Collards are great as long as you go captive bred. But the Blue Tongues are the best IMO. I have had Irian Jayas, Northerns, Easterns, Tannibars (spelling may be off)
They were easy to feed as I never needed Bugs- High Quality Dog food with Veggie mix..they now sell canned snails which could be a treat, The majority of mine were very tame and would just chill out with me as I pet their head. They always seemed to have an outgoing personality. I now keep all snakes, but plan on getting one or a pair of Blue or Pink Tongues.
Hope this helped a little.
Bill

Why would someone want to convince you on a Tiliqua ? It's simple really , you either want one or you dont .

Blue tongued skinks are fabulous, I would highly recommend one! They have such expressive little faces, the cock their head and squint their eyes at you with such a suspicious look, they're hilarious. I have a BTS that's about a year and a half, and he's a great guy. I got him thinking that this would be the friendliest reptile imaginable, I even read accounts of them following you around the house. My skink is not like that.

He's never bitten anyone or even "displayed" (when they open their mouth really wide before biting), but he "huffs" (goes "ffffff" at everything I do. Handling him is really simple, he doesn't even move when I pick him up now (he was a little squirmy for the first few months I had him), sometimes he huffs and sometimes he doesnt. People are really surprised to see me outside sunning with a lizard who doesn't try to get away, I frequently lay out in a bikini and plop my skink on my belly to soak up some rays and he loves it.

When my skink sheds he has let me peel skin off his fingertips, tail tip, even around his eye while remaining perfectly still. While he's not the sweet loving lizard I was hoping for, he's still by far the best behaved most people-tolerant reptile I've had. He's pretty easy to take care of, his diet is a little more complicated than the simple snake diet I'm used to (my BTS eats different kinds of greens, berries, tropical fruit, nightcrawlers, mealworms, snails, and the occational pinkie), but I like making his salad mush, and aside from that he's really simple.

Thanks for responding, I already received a Collared lizard. I posted in this forum and others hoping for you kind of post where the keepers/owners were highly enthusiastic about hteir species that they kept but most were like the one above you indifferent. The Collared people are more enthusiastic about their animals especially Eve who moderates their forum. The skink was avery close second choice with behavior that sounded as intruiging as the Collared. If get a third lizard, I doubt because now I have two lizards and two snakes, then the BTS is next on the list.