affectionate reptile

I wanted to know if anyone had any ideas/thoughts for me. i want to know if anyone knows a good reptile that has an attitude like a dog, that knows who you are that likes affection and what not. i have a snake and by no means do i not love it but they dont come running to you for affection, but they are snakes and thats just how they are. i know it is a stupid question but some input would be wonderful.

A Bearded dragon is the clostest pet to a dog ive ever had. The have costs like a dog too though.

besides snakes. like monitors or what ever else.

Bearded dragons are not snakes. Otherwise I'd say the only reptiles that have acted like dogs are going to be tegu lizards.
However, they need a ton of space, high basking temps, a lot of attention and cleaning, and lots of food. So they are not cheap to keep, but very rewarding.

Crocodilians recognize their owners I believe... if it's affectionate behavior is purely subjective ;)

I don't have any first hand experience, but most monitors, dragons, and other large lizards recognize and display positive behavior to their owners.

ya thats what i was more shooting for were lizards/monitors types of reptiles. what about ackie monitors for a smaller sized monitor?

I knew a caiman who certainly was pretty bright by reptile standards, and was quite friendly towards people, but of course the way to his heart was to feed him large rats.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

I knew a caiman who certainly was pretty bright by reptile standards, and was quite friendly towards people, but of course the way to his heart was to feed him large rats.

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Isn't that the way to any males heart?? Well, maybe not always rats :P

It's so true. My girlfriend feeds me better than $50/meal restaurants.

Not sure about ackies. I know my blackthroats recognize me, but that's not affection. They may be looking for food when they see me, but they'll still try to nail me if I'm careless. As far as reptiles that seek you out for petting etc, the only one I've SEEN do that has been the tegus. (I have no experiance with beardies though)

I'd say leopard geckos show slight affection. I had one that was pretty neat.

Oh also now that I have more time ill go into more details as to why beardies are dog like imo. They have very different personalities, and their moods change from day to day. You can teach them things and its funny when they do stuff on food day. Leela my girl beardie knows what time food comes, so the second I open her cage ( Sliding glass doors) and jumps from her perch and RUNs to the edge of her cage, its sorta funny when people watch for the first time because they think shes running to jump out. My other beardie Fry tells me when he gets hungry, he sits perfectly flat on his food bowl and stares me down. If someone else was holding my old beardie Nugget he would try to get on me instead :p And other times my old beardie Nubb Nubb would glass dance every time I came into the room, and not again after I held him and put him back in.

Its small stuff but it sure is awesome:)