Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I am looking to get my first lizard. I have quite a few snakes and have been keeping them for over 10 years. Now I want to have a lizard.
I orginally thought of a tegu, but the bite of that would not sit well with me. Snake bites are less bone crushing. So I am thinking of a blue tongue skink. I want sometging that gets a good size,slower moving and not too difficult for my first.
I know that most would say a gecko or bearded dragon. But not my fav.
Any suggestions?

Thanks
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python 1.0
Eastern King 0.1
Mexican Black King
Great Basin Gopher
Hypo Brooks 1.0
White Sided Bull 1.0 (Envy)
Striped Pacific Gopher (Envy)
Axanthic Brooksi 0.1 (Mark Kenderdine)
Goini King 1.0 (Mark Kenderdine)
Northern Pine 1.0 (Nick Puder)
Arizona Mtn. King 1.0 (AAM Snakes)
1.0 Pastel Red Tail Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn (Abbott line)

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

For one thing, a BTS will feel more like a snake because their scales have a similar texture and I think their sheds are very similar. Also, BTS are great first lizards if you have the space. I wouldn't keep an adult in anything smaller than a 4ftx1.5ft (foot space) tank as they are large bodied lizards. You will need a basking spot and you will need to consider a UVB source and definitely will need to provide supplements as they need to have D3 and calcium. Depending on the type of lighting, you might or might not have to provide D3.

I would say go for a BTS. Very friendly, very hardy and very cool pet lizards.

Thanks for the info. I heard that the Northern BTS is calmer. true? I know that all retiles vary.
Also, a friend mentioned to me to look at Ackies as another idea.
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python 1.0
Eastern King 0.1
Mexican Black King
Great Basin Gopher
Hypo Brooks 1.0
White Sided Bull 1.0 (Envy)
Striped Pacific Gopher (Envy)
Axanthic Brooksi 0.1 (Mark Kenderdine)
Goini King 1.0 (Mark Kenderdine)
Northern Pine 1.0 (Nick Puder)
Arizona Mtn. King 1.0 (AAM Snakes)
1.0 Pastel Red Tail Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn (Abbott line)

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

On the BTS question, I don't know that there is a difference, but I have only had a northern.

Ackies are interesting lizards to keep, but they are super active and need even more space than a BTS. They also must have very high basking temps, like in the 130F range, plus enough space to have a cool side where they can cool down, so in addition to costing more in the initial outlay to purchase one, you will spend more on electricity as well. Going from snakes ackies could be quite a shock activity wise, and I think you would probably need to think a group rather than just one whereas a BTS can be kept alone. They are super intelligent and can become friendly, but as I said, very fast and active, so I am not sure that they are good pets to handle much.

That's funny cause I have balls for 6 years and now want a tegu but you mentioned bone crushing making me have second opinion! I hear argentine tegus are great I guess you have to say to yourself if you raise it properly why would it bite you like that? Pit bulls can rip apart humans and rarely do unless abused! Any ways good luck with your decision!