There's a mom-n-pop petstore a few miles from here that is called "Wet Pets & Pups"...which I think is a silly name. But it's a nice little store. They have a very nice selection of reptiles, fish, a few amphibs, birds, some rodents, and a few puppies for sale. They seem to take very good care of all their animals.
ANYhow....I went in there yesterday to pick up some things, and saw a new animal they had just gotten in. It was a Russian Legless Lizard. Now, I've seen pictures of small glass lizards, and even seen little ones once or twice at herp shows. But this guy was HUGE. He was somewhere between 3-4 feet, and about a big around as a 50 cent piece! He was in a nice big tank with plenty of room to move around and he was very active. And the strangest looking thing I've yet to see, in person, in the herp world.
He moved just like a snake, as you would expect. But the scalation was all wrong for a snake. He looked like something out of a snake-horror-B-movie with a pointy, reptilian head. It actually reminded me of the Basilisk creature in the Harry Potter movie. And the very coolest thing was when this big "snake" lifted itself off the substrate and looked at you...and blinked. Very surreal!
They were only asking $90 for this magnificent creature! If I didn't have my heart so deeply set on getting a bp soon, I would seriously consider buying him instead. That species is definitely on my "next herp I want to get" list! Course, I need to learn how to take care of it first. Gonna search the 'Net and see if I can find a picture for you guys to see.....