Need recommendation for new cold blooded critter

I'm starting to consider a new cold blooded critter to enjoy with my 2 little girls(2 and 3 years old). I already have BP's, and Leos. I've had corns in the past. Not really into bearded dragons(like them just don't want one). Therefore I am requesting recommendations on something that will be easy to care for, and make a nice display animal at the same time. I'm leaning towards a lizard, or maybe another snake.
It can't be "huge" as per my husbands rules. He tolerates my critters even though he doesn't really care for them, so I make it a point to play nice on that rule in particular. If you have any recommendations to help me narrow down my search I would greatly appreciate it.

Someone already recommended step runner lizards or childrens pythons. If you have any additional input on these as well it would be greatly appreciated.

Crested gecko.

^ x2, cresties are pretty awesome little dudes (and dudettes):

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...milechubby.jpg

Easy to care for too, just don't keep them too hot as they're really sensitive to warmer temps

I love Cali Kings too: nice display snakes (though they will burrow much like corns) but they're fun:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...ober620125.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...ober620121.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...ober620127.jpg

I would recommend dwarf boas and carpets too but they might be a little larger than what you're looking for.

x3 for a Crestie, awesome little things, great for displays and if you house stays between 72-78 you don't even need a heat source for them.

Blue Tongue Skinks are very social, pretty easy to care for, and don't get too large. My daughter is considering getting one. There are a number of you tube videos for you to take a look at,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rlditmars

Blue Tongue Skinks are very social, pretty easy to care for, and don't get too large. My daughter is considering getting one. There are a number of you tube videos for you to take a look at,

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X2 My one and only kept lizard. Fun to watch, fun to interact with, not too large.

Thanks everyone! I'm going to start looking into a few of the lizards mentioned today, so if you have any other input to add I'm happy to hear it.

If your looking for display animals there is no better than a monitor. They will make you want to watch their cage all day long, but size of their cages is what turns a lot of people away. You could put fresh dirt mix in one Monday night, and by Tuesday morning they will have several different burrows already made. Amazing lizards to work with, I personally can not wait till I have ny own house and I can get back into owning some.

I love the idea of monitors, but don't have that much space. Even when we move hopefully later this year I doubt we will have enough extra space. He seemed to like them enough when I showed him the blue and green tree monitors at our local reptile shop.

I think a tarantula could fit your bill with the right species. Avicularia sp. are great for display IMO. And a great first T. Look up:
A.versicolor
A.metallica
A.diversipes
A.avicularia

Just here to second the blue tongue! I LOVE my friend's BTS, and plan to get my own after a Russian rat snake. The Russian might actually be a good consideration as well, from what I've been reading they're great display animals and great for handling. I'll be picking one up in the summer, don't have any experience with them, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Savu pythons are pretty cool and unusual, they don't get bigger than a ball python and go through a really cool color change starting off as orange/red babies that grow into black adults with white eyes (and they have that iridescence that Brazilian rainbow boas have). Docile cool snake.

Lots of people love Macklotts pythons, they get to be 6-8' but are pretty light bodied, so they won't overwhelm you (also very high on my wish list). Very little knowledge here but they might be worth looking into

EDIT: Chris's T recommendation is good too! It's his and 3skulls' fault we're all getting them now :P

IMO small animals only make good display animals if they are OUT and ABOUT. My crested geckos are not display animals, but their cages are display vivariums (that's an entirely different topic).

(Most) Lizards are just plain lots of work compared to (most) snakes, so let's talk snakes first.

Do you want something colorful, something easily handleable, or something uncommon? You can pick any of the three, but knowing your preferences (or lack thereof) there makes it a lot easier to narrow down something worth recommending.

Carpet pythons are awesome. The entertainment value based on their looks, their size (not big, not small, but just right), their personalities, and their ability to be handled is possibly higher than any other species out there. You also have a ridiculously wide variety of wild-type paintjobs from a variety of subspecies (and a variety of species if you include bredls pythons in the mix) as well as some morphs thrown in.

If you like brown snakes but want something that pretty few people here on bp.net have, take a look at the dwarf python species or liasis species. The Antaresia genus (childrens python, spotted python, etc) is made up of mini-pythons. Cool patterns that typically are earth-toned, these guys get looked over from a distance but are stunning up close. They tend to enjoy their hides, so may not be the best display snake, but are truly top notch PET snakes. The liasis genus is custom-made exclusively for snake geeks. What may be a patternless "brown" snake to someone who has no interest in scaley friends could just be the coolest python species in the world. Olive pythons get big, and will likely break your husband's preferences, but ARE the coolest pythons around. Macklott's are a perfect handling size once full grown and give a bit of the "olive python" fun in a smaller package.

If you want something that is a little uncommon, visually stunning, and that perfect "not too big, not too small" size, check out woma pythons. If you can't tell by now, I'm obsessed with aussie herps, but the woma python takes the cake for looking ridiculously cool, ESPECIALLY to someone who hasn't paid much attention to snakes before. A weird colored head on a striped body with eggshell whites and rust-red tones might give someone the impression that this snake is venomous and has a look that says "DONT TOUCH ME!", but nothing could be further from the truth. This species is typically well behaved and is an ancient form of python. Pythons evolved to have heat-pits LONG ago, but these are pitless pythons. They are desert-dwellers and are pretty hardy in captivity.

If you were fine with having something that might be a little more work, might not be the nicest snake on the block, and has the potential to get surprisingly long (if skinny) to the point it makes your husband wary, a big bold bar-neck scrub python can certainly make a statement as a display animal. I'm not going to recommend them for the reasons already stated, but seriously, a 10-12 foot version of this is a stunning animal: http://iherp.com/Public/Animals/Anim...AnimalID=34348

Typically if you mention "display animal" around here you get a zillion replies of "green tree python", so I wanted to get away from that a bit.

If you want a lizard, the one big thing I have to say on the subject: good luck. While I can point to plenty of snake species and describe them as the "perfect pet", pretty much every lizard species has at least one glaring flaw. Crested and gargoyle geckos come pretty close to being truly excellent pets, but aren't the best display animals, and I have met too many that are flighty to consistently say that they make for good handling. I don't even really handle anything except my adults.

When you know what you are willing to compromise on, you can figure out what lizards and geckos will work for you. Diet tends to be something I don't easily compromise on these days because a complex diet takes time. That's why I like Rhacodactylus geckos. Crested and gargoyle geckos are easy to feed with a staple of CGD and supplementing every now and then with insects.

I really want to get into leachianus geckos, but for the moment they are out of my price range. Big, bulky, pretty similar care to the geckos I already have, and did I mention BIG? However, I'm waiting until I can afford grand terres, the biggest (and unfortunately most expensive) variety.

Keep looking around and evaluate what you like, what you dislike, and what you are willing to compromise on in a snake or lizard. If you HAD to have an "all the colors of the rainbow" lizard and you loved feeding a variety of insects daily to it, well it's pretty easy to figure out that panther chameleons might be for you. There are more choices out there than anyone can cover even in a handful of threads on bp.net

I didn't even get to non-python snakes (for example, you might want to check out blue beauty snakes), amphibians (dart frogs, tiger salamanders, big fat frog species), and have you thought about a fish tank? Sometimes branching out from reptiles and amphibians is just the thing to fill a space against your wall for a beautiful animal. If you think WE are obsessed with our pets, just check out monsterfish.com

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

IMO small animals only make good display animals if they are OUT and ABOUT. My crested geckos are not display animals, but their cages are display vivariums (that's an entirely different topic).

(Most) Lizards are just plain lots of work compared to (most) snakes, so let's talk snakes first.

Do you want something colorful, something easily handleable, or something uncommon? You can pick any of the three, but knowing your preferences (or lack thereof) there makes it a lot easier to narrow down something worth recommending.

Carpet pythons are awesome. The entertainment value based on their looks, their size (not big, not small, but just right), their personalities, and their ability to be handled is possibly higher than any other species out there. You also have a ridiculously wide variety of wild-type paintjobs from a variety of subspecies (and a variety of species if you include bredls pythons in the mix) as well as some morphs thrown in.

If you like brown snakes but want something that pretty few people here on bp.net have, take a look at the dwarf python species or liasis species. The Antaresia genus (childrens python, spotted python, etc) is made up of mini-pythons. Cool patterns that typically are earth-toned, these guys get looked over from a distance but are stunning up close. They tend to enjoy their hides, so may not be the best display snake, but are truly top notch PET snakes. The liasis genus is custom-made exclusively for snake geeks. What may be a patternless "brown" snake to someone who has no interest in scaley friends could just be the coolest python species in the world. Olive pythons get big, and will likely break your husband's preferences, but ARE the coolest pythons around. Macklott's are a perfect handling size once full grown and give a bit of the "olive python" fun in a smaller package.

If you want something that is a little uncommon, visually stunning, and that perfect "not too big, not too small" size, check out woma pythons. If you can't tell by now, I'm obsessed with aussie herps, but the woma python takes the cake for looking ridiculously cool, ESPECIALLY to someone who hasn't paid much attention to snakes before. A weird colored head on a striped body with eggshell whites and rust-red tones might give someone the impression that this snake is venomous and has a look that says "DONT TOUCH ME!", but nothing could be further from the truth. This species is typically well behaved and is an ancient form of python. Pythons evolved to have heat-pits LONG ago, but these are pitless pythons. They are desert-dwellers and are pretty hardy in captivity.

If you were fine with having something that might be a little more work, might not be the nicest snake on the block, and has the potential to get surprisingly long (if skinny) to the point it makes your husband wary, a big bold bar-neck scrub python can certainly make a statement as a display animal. I'm not going to recommend them for the reasons already stated, but seriously, a 10-12 foot version of this is a stunning animal: http://iherp.com/Public/Animals/Anim...AnimalID=34348

Typically if you mention "display animal" around here you get a zillion replies of "green tree python", so I wanted to get away from that a bit.

If you want a lizard, the one big thing I have to say on the subject: good luck. While I can point to plenty of snake species and describe them as the "perfect pet", pretty much every lizard species has at least one glaring flaw. Crested and gargoyle geckos come pretty close to being truly excellent pets, but aren't the best display animals, and I have met too many that are flighty to consistently say that they make for good handling. I don't even really handle anything except my adults.

When you know what you are willing to compromise on, you can figure out what lizards and geckos will work for you. Diet tends to be something I don't easily compromise on these days because a complex diet takes time. That's why I like Rhacodactylus geckos. Crested and gargoyle geckos are easy to feed with a staple of CGD and supplementing every now and then with insects.

I really want to get into leachianus geckos, but for the moment they are out of my price range. Big, bulky, pretty similar care to the geckos I already have, and did I mention BIG? However, I'm waiting until I can afford grand terres, the biggest (and unfortunately most expensive) variety.

Keep looking around and evaluate what you like, what you dislike, and what you are willing to compromise on in a snake or lizard. If you HAD to have an "all the colors of the rainbow" lizard and you loved feeding a variety of insects daily to it, well it's pretty easy to figure out that panther chameleons might be for you. There are more choices out there than anyone can cover even in a handful of threads on bp.net

I didn't even get to non-python snakes (for example, you might want to check out blue beauty snakes), amphibians (dart frogs, tiger salamanders, big fat frog species), and have you thought about a fish tank? Sometimes branching out from reptiles and amphibians is just the thing to fill a space against your wall for a beautiful animal. If you think WE are obsessed with our pets, just check out monsterfish.com

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I love that website! They have some INSANE animals over there

Though it takes a considerable investment, I love our chameleon. More show than handle animal, but great non the less.

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Just this week I bought a little Sandboa for my 4 and 6 year old. They love him (her??)! He's not really a display animal since he borrows, but we spent a lot of time holding snakes in the stores before bringing one home and both my kids really liked the sandboas. They stay smaller which is nice for little kids. He's still in his adjustment period and we are not holding him here at home yet but I took a couple of pictures when we got home from the pet store with him. The kids named him Dorito :)

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...03532370_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...91321819_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...74283266_n.jpg

Right now my kids don't hold any reptiles. They love to look at/touch them, but don't care to hold them yet. I don't mind if it is something that won't be handled much for that reason. Besides if they want to hold something I've got a few small Bps they can handle.

Sand boas are cute, but not what I'm looking for.

Cresties!!!!!!!:)

I love my cresties, but not sure if I would want young kids handling them. They are pretty fragile until they get big.

Love carpets! They are so beautiful and good tempered.

Also what about a tortoise? I don't know much about them except they live a long time, like old enough to put in your will, but they seem pretty cool.


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Have you considered Chameleons for your girls? Their slow speed and amazing colour shifting ability are sure to have them hooked on herps in no time.