Hi everybody! For a while now I've been interested in reptiles as pets. I have never owned anything other than the standard cat, dog, fish, hamster type pets and I really want to try something new. I imagine some of you have reptiles and will be able to tell me some of the pros and cons of whatever pet you have. I'm open to suggestions as far as which one to get, however I don't like spiders (they're F*CKING gross) and turtles seem to be a lot of work. Ideally it would be kind of like a cat in the sense that I can play with it when I want to but otherwise it's pretty self-sufficient (other than feeding etc.).

Here are my criteria:

- Not overly expensive ((don't suggest a $1000 reptile no matter how cool it is, it's not happening) (I want to limit myself to $500, tank and accessories included))
- Doesn't require hours of daily care (I have a busy schedule with school and/or internships)
- Can be played with (I would like to be able to take it out of it's cage/tank and play with it once in a while)
- Won't eat me (no Boa Constrictors please)

Thanks in advance for your help and advice!

SWEET PEA IS ABOUT TO COME IN HERE AND LAY DOWN THE F*CKING LAW ON YOU SON.

I've already jumped on that shit and messaged him. LOL

Lol I think we all was expecting a sweetpea post ol

I know how to school niggas on bearded dragons. I'm pretty much an encyclopedia of knowledge on those things.

Please get an alligator. Then train it to attack people on command. That would be awesome

Alligators can be caught for free! and you can feed them invadors/illegal aliens and no one will care so UP-free food! and a kiddy p00l is cheap and so is water for the pool -_0

You say no to boa constrictors, but what if I told you that with snakes you can limit their food intake and their bodies will adjust to that amount of food which means they'd never get big enough to actually eat you. Also, spiders are arachnids, not reptiles and they are awesome. I used to own a couple of iguanas, and those are pretty cool. Reptiles are really easy to forget about though, because they kind-of just sit there (specifically lizards) unless you're letting them roam around, in which case good luck finding one that finds a nicer spot to hang out than a tank if that's what it's in. Turtles are a lot of work in the sense that you have to clean their tanks more often, like with fish. Maybe you should just have a pet rock.

LOL, while I do agree that an illegal immigrant eating alligator would be awesome, it doesn't fit my criteria (see #4).
Also, although Sweet Pea did in fact drop some serious knowledge on Bearded Dragons, I'm not limiting my search to only those. Iguanas, chameleons, snakes (etc etc) are also a possibility!

I am just gonna say:




The snake in this picture will probably never get any bigger than it is, but they 'can' if you want them to, which you just said you didn't.

Uromastyx are also easy to take care of. :)

Wow, Sweet Pea, that thing is crazy! I love the colors!
Kwang, I'm still on the fence about snakes. They are very cool, but they still sort of freak me out. I'm going to see if a local pet shop will let me handle one so I can see what it would be like.

LOL

Get a leopard gecko haha they are a piece of cake to take care of.

i heard trouser snakes are fun to play with

Also, that Uromastyx looked pretty nice. :D

Monty, snakes still freak me out. Same with spiders, but that doesn't keep me from liking the ones that aren't aggressive. It's a good idea to handle a snake before you make a decision. Pretty sure I'm not gonna sway you on spiders, but I've never considered having a spider as a pet either, so I couldn't tell you what it's like to begin with.

wel i have a 6 + ft boa and they are reall easy to take care of and it has never struck at me nor tried to eat me the will limit their size to the tank and amount of food given

I have a green tree python and a ghost boa. They are super easy to take care of and as long as you keep them fed ( 1 rat every 2 weeks) and you handle them (take them out of the cage 3-4 times a week) and dont feed them in the cage, you will never have a problem. Mine are 5'3" and 6'. I can post pics of them later.