Tortoises and turtles and Chameleons. Oh my!

Well lets just jump right in shall we?

Pretty straightforward question here. Out of these three what would generally be the easiest first reptile for a person?

I ask because my girlfriend has expressed a lot of interest in wanting one of the three. I think tortoises might be nixed from the list already because of the space requirements needed for most of them.

In the end it really boils down to which new friend she really wants. After she read the comments in the "Is it true what they say about chams?" thread I think she might be leaning towards chameleons for now. Thanks for the input in advance guys.:banana:

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Originally Posted by Phiban

Well lets just jump right in shall we?

Pretty straightforward question here. Out of these three what would generally be the easiest first reptile for a person?

I ask because my girlfriend has expressed a lot of interest in wanting one of the three. I think tortoises might be nixed from the list already because of the space requirements needed for most of them.

In the end it really boils down to which new friend she really wants. After she read the comments in the "Is it true what they say about chams?" thread I think she might be leaning towards chameleons for now. Thanks for the input in advance guys.:banana:

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I would direct her towards a bearded dragon or leopard gecko. Each of your choices have their own issues. In my opinion, none are a good choice for a good first reptile.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

I agree with JH....but w a smidgen of a change. Get her a bearded dragon!! You can train them a bit...fairly sturdy reptile and they will interact with you. In fact they interact so much that you swear you know what they are saying. lol

The reason I dont think a leopard gecko is that they really aren't meant to be handled a lot. When someone gets a new reptile that is all they want to do.....lots of loving!!

As far as the cham...they are care iintensive and husbandry needs to be spot on. Turtles....well now some may disagree with me but it is my experience that my lil desert tort. is a very dirty lil boy. Seriously...they poo wherever even where they sleep...my lil guy will have it stuck on his butt and etc. He also has figured out that it grosses us out if we pick him up and he pees on us. So.....not what I thought he was going to be. lol

Thanks for the input. I'll talk it over with her the next couple of days and see what she wants and try to persuade her to your suggestions. She might be more inclined to go with the leopard geko than the bearded dragon. We'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks again guys, I'll let you know what she chooses.

i personally love tortoises but havent decided if i really want one.. for the same reason i dont have a mcaw.. lol the 50 year life span.. i figure ill get one here eventually but as for chams iv really only heard how hard they are to keep. go with a beardy

I have a Greek tortoise and 4 Leopard geckos (and 2 snakes), I got the Leos first and truly think they are a great 'starter' reptile. The care is basic, they are hardy and forgiving of minor mistakes and are just plain funny little things to have around. All of mine have very different personalities and all are friendly, social and goofy.
Turtle is great too but takes up a lot of space and requires special lighting. He does mess his table up, coconut coir is always in the water and food bowl and greens get tracked all over...I tidy it up multiple times a day. It's well worth the hassle but the Leos are much easier!
I vote Leos.

I have a hermanns tortoise and 5 aquatic turtles. The turtles are expensive if you want to set them up correctly. I have a 125 gal and 75 gal tank heat lamps uv lights heavy duty filters. But I totally love them. They are very personable. Love to have the shells scratched and beg for food like crazy. I was commited to them when I decided to have them. The tortoise I find easier to care for He is a smaller variety and I dont find him dirty at all. Just need a good size cage and proper lighting , heating and humidity. If its what you want then I think you need to be prepaired to research,commit and spend what you need to make the animal live a healthy life.
Good luck with what ever you choose:)

I will be the odd duck here and say that nothing you named is easy or hard. Every reptile requires a specific set of husbandry requirements. Some animals are more forgiving of errors in the husbandry but with the great amount of knolage we have about how to take care of various reptiles spot on husbandry is mearly a dollar amount more than anything. You eather take the time to set up the proper home with the proper equipment... i.e. infared temp gun, digital tempature and humidity monitors, uvb lights, proper diet... ect...

So i think its more a question of cost than anything. I dont think there is a cheaper and less time intensive reptile to care for then a snake. I currently have a Chameleon, crested gecko, bearded dragon, and two snakes and the animal that needs the least amount of attention is the snakes. The dragon eats alot and requires attention daily, as dose the Chameleon and crestie.

I would say its a mater of time and money but that is just me. They are all rewarding pets.

It looks like she's set on Chams for now. But she wants some books on chams, turtles, and torts first.

This way works out pretty well since she does have an overly mischievous cat~

Thanks again for the replies. They were great help.

Don't push her towards a 'more beginner-suitable reptile'.

This is the biggest mistake that parents make when a child wants a reptile, and it goes equally if not more so for your gf.

typical scenario:
1) 'I want x'
2) 'well x is deemed harder than y, so that's what you get instead'
3) 'y is cool, but now I've had it for six weeks, it's still not what I wanted and I'm bored'
4) animal suffers neglect or is given to a new home

My girlfriend's first reptile was a panther chameleon which she purchased last february. He's healthy and amazing.

The one thing that makes certain reptiles TOO difficult for 'beginners' is the ones we don't know good husbandry techniques for. I would say that Kinghorni scrub pythons and Boelens pythons are probably not a good idea for a beginner.

Many chameleons, turtles, and torts however are successfully kept with well-published husbandry techniques in thousands of homes. Talk to people who have kept whatever species she decides on, and emulate their husbandry techniques and modify as necessary to fit your lifestyle. If she's settled on a chameleon, I believe my gf read through one of the popular chameleon forums quite a bit (I forget which one however). I highly suggest finding an active species-specific forum.

I WILL say that keeping chameleons isn't cheap, relative to snakes at least. A wide variety of different types of live feeders, a good misting system (makes a huge difference, trust me), and the initial cost of the animal and caging/setup are all pretty high. That said, I love our panther chameleon and he's more than worth it.