What lizard for my wife?

[Dirt]

My wife is thinking about a lizard for her. Not sure which one would fit the bill. I've done some looking on the net, but I have a lot more trust and faith in the folks on this forum to point me in the right direction.

She's looking for something that would live in a smaller tank, a hand sized lizard that will hang out on her shoulder. It would live in her home office, so decore is important. (branches, fake plants, brown tone substrate)

Something interesting with a little more personality than my BP has, something that will move around the tank instead of sitting in a ball inside it's hide all the time.

Also, something easy to feel and maintain. I'm thinking meal worms and letuce, NO CRICKETS. - She doesnt want the noise or the smell of 100 crickets hanging around. And only wants to feed like once a week or less.

I'm not sure if there is such a lizard out there,... I read Bearded dragons, but small ones need to be fed every couple days and like crickets, She doesn't like the look of Skinks, maybe a chameleon?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Kodieh]

Well, just about any lizard you can..."get away" from crickets as long as you can offer a variety of other insects. You'll spend more money that way, because I bet you don't have anyone selling silk worms near you.

As for feeding once a week, I really don't see that happening. Baby anything will need to feed once a day for months, subadults will need to still eat every day at the very leat every other day. So, her ideal lizard...doesn't exist.


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[Valentine Pirate]

Cresteds are about one of the easiest geckos to maintain, stay about hand sized, come in a billion colors/patterns, and you can set up a nice looking display tank for them. I don't handle mine enough for her to really calm down, but a lot of people call them "shoulder riders" and they seem to take to handling when they're exposed to it. No bugs, only need MRP (meal replacement powder, Repashy is what I see most). And they do fine at room temp, no external heating needed unless it's on the cooler side, and then you only need a small heat lamp to one side for them to warm up a bit. They don't do too well in hotter temps, I've read that 85 + can cause issues, but being in Washington I haven't had to deal with it yet.

They still need their food changed every other day, but if you're going for low maintenance that's about as good as it gets before you go into houseplant/pet rock territory

[ChrisS]

Your not going to find a lizard that eats once a week or less. Your best option IMO is a crestie.

[mustang91302]

Crested geckos fit all that and you feed them repashy crested diet we have 3 of them and we will throw a couple crckets in once a week

[lefty]

yep, sounds like she should be in the market for a crestie.

[mainbutter]

Lizards as a rule require more effort and time than snakes. Small bearded dragons don't just need to be fed every couple of days, but for the youngest.. EVERY DAY, if not multiple times every day.

Most lizards are heavy insect eaters, and while there are great options that let you ignore crickets, you won't like them as much in general. With the exception of various "worms" (silkworms and hornworms tend to be my favorites, but expensive), various roaches are pretty much the best non-cricket staples for most insect eaters IMO.

I'm going to say that.. no, there is no lizard out there like you want, particularly when it comes to diet. There are a handful of species of lizard that might be happy to hang out on your lap/shoulder for a while, but even the number of species that are prone to that behavior is pretty thin, and the only ones I know of are definitely more complicated when it comes to diet.

Crested geckos have been mentioned. I do not consider them a species that would hang out in the manner your wife wants. They are handleable usually, but not all are. They are small, fast, agile, capable of jumping and scampering up 10ft high walls in seconds. If you get a flighty one, it's not exactly something you want to handle for long or take your eyes off for a second. For their size alone, an adult leachianus gecko might be more prone to that kind of handling, but I've never kept them and they tend to be expensive.. and not all are happy to be handled.

In addition, cresties should be fed way more than once a week. I give mine a fresh dish of their CGD powder mixed with water 3x a week and feed calcium dusted crickets once a week to adults. I used to feed roaches, but have since decided the roaches were more work than just buying some feeders at the store for my small number of geckos.

An option that is better than a baby bearded dragon would be an ADULT bearded dragon. You will still have to deal with insects (and no, feeding only mealworms is not a good idea), but there are options out there that let you ignore crickets.

Chameleons are about the worst option out there for your desires. They're pretty, but not handle-able regularly (though great to look at and have just hanging out visible in their cage next to your desk. Insects, particularly daily feedings for most species and individuals, are a staple of chameleon care. They are just very heavy in the husbandry requirements.

We haven't even gotten to the issue of water yet. All the rhacodactylus genus geckos require misting every day, if not twice a day, for good long term health. For my crested geckos and lone gargoyle gecko, I have them set up with an expensive MistKing misting system. Many other species (for example, all chameleons) also require this kind of daily misting. Terrestrial lizards do better with water via a dish than arboreal lizards.

From the sounds of things however, your wife doesn't want a lizard, she wants a snake with legs that might have more energy than a ball python. Two options to think about:

1) A small tortoise species. They are hard work and expensive to keep correctly relative to snakes, but being herbivorous is pretty cool. You get to feed them flowers, fruit, and all kinds of greens. We grew hibiscus flowers and had a garden to grow greens in our back yard to feed our tortoise years back. If you want something cute and fits your desired diet, but is a little heavy with husbandry and keeping costs, this might be a good option.

2) A more interesting snake species than a ball python. Green tree pythons are cool, but have their own keeping difficulties. Carpet pythons are AWESOME. Western Hognose snakes are hilarious and unique. All make better display animals than BPs and are handleable, have personality, and are easier in husbandry than your average lizard.

[DooLittle]

Yeah, lizard and only eating once a week don't go together. Beardies have a ton of personality, but need protein. Maybe a Uromastyx? Honesty, how about a boa? Lol

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[satomi325]

It sounds like your wife needs a boa. lol

And I also second Uromastyx.
They're similar to beardies, but adults don't need insects. You fan feed them greens and a blend of seeds(bird seed), but it is a daily feeding.
They also range a bunch of different amazing colors that you rarely see in reptiles.
And they have very unique personalities.

[Dirt]

Thanks for the responses, guess we better keep looking.