if any of you were like me then you've become somebody's reptile person and what i mean by that
is everyone has a guy you know i have a suit guy a ride guy or whatever it is there goes the cat
um but what that really means is that you are the person in wherever you live in your group
of social network you're the reptile person which means you've probably been asked hey
what's the first reptile i should get or might we're thinking about getting our kid a reptile
or what do you think the best choice is for the first beginner pet and really there's
three options you can have and that's a snake a turtle or a lizard and to be completely honest
with you i don't think any kind of turtle or tortoise is a good first time pet and i'll do
a whole video about that a little while later but so really we're thinking about a snake or a lizard
so first two beginner pets there's a whole lot of variety when it comes to them
but when we first thinking about a beginner pet and that's what this is going to be about which is
the best beginner pet reptile we're thinking about if it's a lizard something like a crested gecko or
this leopard gecko or if it's a snake something like a corn snake
like sierra here or a ball python so i'm going to go kind of over the pros and cons of both and it's
kind of honestly 100 percent up to you they both make great great pet animals in general but i'm
going to go over kind of the pros and cons of both again this is just beginner first time thing so
there's a whole slew of how intricate and detailed depending on the species whatever it is you want
to get into but this is just beginner first time pet reptiles so pros and cons of both and then
i will let whoever it is because it's entirely subjective decide what the better one is and so
first things first in which is basically what are you comfortable with so
obviously snakes have this really bad stigma because they're snakes they don't have legs
there's all this other stuff we did a whole video about that in general but you know whatever it is
that's the biggest one the kind of deciding factor what you're comfortable with if you're comfortable
with either then we can kind of get into it a little bit from there so we'll first talk about
lizards because that's why i pulled out first so this is our leper gecko she is our rescue she has
mbd which is metabolic bone disease and we will talk a little bit about that in just a second
but she is our long-term forever resident leopard gecko this is a great beginner reptile
so once again honestly i don't know if there is an absolute best particular species of either a
snake or a lizard but i think a leopard gecko or a crested gecko make the perfect beginner ones and
personally it might be the crested gecko in my personal opinion i'll talk about that in just a
second so pros to these guys so once again we're talking leopard gecko crested gecko maybe african
fatso gecko or something like that something easy doesn't so nothing that doesn't take too too much
down the road so pro they're pretty personable and what about that i mean there's this whole thing
with amp performerization where you attribute animals with human characteristics which is
kind of a slippery slope and that's a whole other subject too but they have eyes they
have cute little adorable faces little puppy dog faces you know and they can be a little bit more
personable you can kind of reflect that in general if this is a first time pet you're first getting
into reptiles it's your child's first reptile pet that might be something that's a little bit more
attractive to you versus a snake or something like that they have eyelids for instance these
guys will still sit there and like lick their eyelids but they can close their eyes snakes can't
another thing about that is that they for the most part are fairly
active and while yes in general they can be fairly sedentary it's a little bit more interesting to
watch these guys move around once again if you're not comfortable without legs and things like that
is that they can move around their enclosure so if it's a crested gecko
it's an upright arboreal setup and you'll see them stick on the walls and the glass and move around
and lick and and lick up their food and get up to all sorts of high jinks and with these guys
you can see them kind of pop their heads out of their enclosures and cruise around and climb
on rocks and hunt for their little crickets and things like that which can be very interesting and
it's a little bit of an easier thing like if you want kind of like a ride-along little pet not that
i necessarily recommend that you just kind of hang out and chill with your leopard gecko or crested
gecko because geckos have a tendency to just kind of fly off off the off of people and these guys
obviously not her as much because she honestly can't move as well as a lot of others can but
they will kind of wander off as well but they are kind of a fun sit on your shoulder a little pet
so when i talked a little bit about the feeding part so these guys chase crickets and stuff
that can be a big pro if you don't want to feed rodents or in some cases gar snakes fish and stuff
to your animals so with a leopard gecko you feed them bugs and what that basically means is small
dubia roaches crickets mealworm super worms um never just one kind but you don't have to
deal with rodents you don't ever have to buy them frozen or live whatever the case may be you don't
have to deal with that you don't have to watch it which can be uncomfortable for a lot of people and
i entirely understand that i don't necessarily always feel comfortable especially when feeding
live when it's a necessity at least for me i don't really like that i think it's cool to watch snakes
eat and how they do it but i don't really want to actually see it i guess i'd say i think it's
cool how they do it i don't necessarily want to see it because it was another living animal
and i like the little fuzzy critters too so you don't have to feed that you just have to feed
bugs and in the case of a crested gecko you don't even have to do that it's literally a powdered
mix that you add water to that you can just change out on a dish every day it's it doesn't get easier
than that feeding your cat is more difficult than that it literally is just scoop water mix
mix there you go that's it it's all you have to do it's absolutely easy peasy these guys once again
talking about these specific kinds they don't get very big so you don't need a whole lot of real
estate in your house to take it up something like one of these guys a 20 gallon same with
the fat tail so that's i think the 20 gallons are 20 inches long so not even a full two feet
um easy peasy same with the crested geckos only upright so you know 12 to 18 inches across and
then you know 18 to 24 inches high not a whole lot of real estate it can be kept up on a bookshelf in
a bedroom or in the corner of a living room or somewhere doesn't take up a whole lot of space
so basically that's kind of the pros for having a lizard like this now let's talk
about the cons the con is well bugs like we said well yes you don't have to feed mice a lot of
people have quite the aversion to bugs in general especially cockroaches which unfortunately because
dubia roaches and similar species are some of the best insects you can feed to an insectivore
animal like this leopard gecko or a fat tail gecko so that can be a con not to mention
they have to be given proper nutritional supplements and so what i mean by that is is that
a lot of time if you ever go to a reptile store and say i would like 20 crickets for my beard
dragon please they'll say do you want those dusted or undusted and what that means is that they have
a little calcium dust powder and i wish i had it in my hand right here but a little calcium
powder that they will put on their crickets because they don't necessarily get 100 percent
of the vitamins and calcium everything they need in captivity so we add these supplemental things
to their diet so that way they stay healthy and if you don't do that then they can develop
issues so for instance the mbd that i talked about the metabolic bone disease what happens is they
don't get enough calcium in their diets and then their bones actually become somewhat pliable and
it's an irreversible effect it literally can never go away their lives can improve and if you saw her
when she came in with her two uh other tank mates that were in considerably worse condition than her
they looked horrible they weren't kept at the right temps they weren't given the right
humidity they were only given crickets if that they weren't given the correct
supplements because there's also vitamins too that they need as well so that's kind of a con too not
only you have to bear their diet with bugs on a more regular basis you know every day to every
other day depending on what you're feeding or how big they are as well as you have to make sure
they get their calcium and vitamin supplements it's really not that difficult but it's a whole
extra step or two that you have to deal with that you wouldn't have to when you're feeding a snake
so there's that the next one is their setups depending on how intricate you want to get
their setups we're talking about startup cost here that's probably how i should have started
this their startup cost startup cost for a lizard is usually not always a little bit more expensive
than a snake regardless of what species it is the reason for that is they usually need a little bit
different sort of lighting leopards fat tails crested geckos don't necessarily need uvb
light but once you start to get to a bearded dragon which is a little bit more like manageable
handleable reptile they need uvb light they need more room they need different substrates they need
water dishes they need food dishes they need a lot of different things to climb on and interact with
that it in general can sometimes cost a little bit more and especially in the case where a lot
of people want to get right into bearded dragons and i don't necessarily think they're the best
beginner reptile then you have to have uvb light you need to have a higher basking spot
you need to have an area for them to cool off all that requires a bigger enclosure so it costs more
in general so startup costs for lizards usually okay we'll put you back because we're going to
switch over to the left to the snakes here in just a sec they're usually a little bit more expensive
so those are kind of the pros and the cons to the lizards you know and so now we'll talk a little
bit about snakes so everyone kind of has their their opinions about what snakes is the best
and like i said i don't think there's necessarily one really good one
but let's be honest if you're getting a first-time pet and it's a snake it's either
probably going to be a corn snake or a milk snake or something similar or a ball python we won't
talk too we'll i'll talk a little bit about that we won't go too much about kind of controversy
about the ball pythons as a beginner pet so cons right off the start the the whole snake thing but
we'll we'll get to that in a second we'll start with the pros these guys can be kept very simply
that doesn't necessarily mean that they should be kept on just a paper towel with a water dish
just like with the leopard geckos and the crested geckos they need more than that to have
enriching fulfilling lives but they can be kept a little bit more simple most snakes
need under heat versus basking heat depending on the type of snake in the enclosure that you have
those are used a little bit less you don't have to worry about changing bulbs and stuff that you have
to do with a reptile if you have a very nice large under mat heat the feeding for these guys well yes
it is mice they don't eat nearly as often with a lizard you have to be feeding them
every day every other day depending on the snake you're feeding them once a week to once a month
and that's just fine like for instance a ball python it's not necessarily the most recommended
thing but you could feed a ball python once a month from debt from birth to death and it will be
perfectly fine and that's something you don't have to deal with if they're eating frozen thaw like
most snakes take fairly readily you can buy a pack from any reptile store or online vendor and keep
it in your freezer and you just defrost one once a week and that's all you have to do another bright
side is if they only eat once a week they usually only poop once a week which can be kind of nice
for clean up and then when it comes to the snakes there is a big reason why ball pythons are so
popular and that is the colors and morphs while leopard geckos and crested geckos have a huge
variety of morphs and colors all sorts of crazy things let's be honest they pale in comparison
to the literal hundreds of morphs and combinations and patterns that ball pythons and to a lesser
degree corn snakes can have they come in such a crazy variety of colors it's hard to find
just a normal ball python or corn snake take for instance sierra here she is an aneurythuristic
or annery corn snake that means that her this is a recessive trait and it doesn't contain
the aneurythophores which make the red and brown pigment so she's this gray and black
snake so that is something that a lot of people find very interesting and my myself included
let's be honest i have a real bias for snakes over lizards so i'll usually end up suggesting
that but i'm trying to do my best to stay neutral in this so those are kind of the pros to a snake
as well as the fact that they're honestly more of a just kind of hang out and sit with you
specifically an adult porn snake or a ball python they call them pet rocks for a reason
well yes they're obviously not a pet rock they are alive they are living breathing
thinking feeling animals but they do just kind of sit there they're very sedentary compared to
any kind of lizard even corn snakes too what are you doing you weirdo
so if you just want a snake just when you want to sit there and you know watch some youtube videos
wink wink and hang out with a reptile these are honestly probably a more just kind of sit don't
have to sit there and pay attention to them animal versus the other ones that you're gonna have to
actively be watching to making sure they're not getting into things now let's talk about the cons
really quick so as we said before no legs it's very off-putting especially in a lot of western
cultures and they all think they're venomous or they say poisonous i'm not gonna touch on that one
you know there's that the other one is all snakes are carnivorous some reptiles are herbivorous or
omnivorous so for instance the bearded dragons you can feed them greens in addition to the insects
iguanas urimastics once they uh specifically your mastics but iguanas once they achieve adulthood
they're almost exclusively vegetarians you can feed them the salad mix
not just lettuce but greens and then you have to deal with bugs or rodents or anything like that
which is kind of nice sometimes but if you have a snake you're going to be feeding it some sort of
animal protein be it birds rats amphibians lizards fish whatever whatever the species requires you're
going to be feeding it another animal that's the circular life we watch the lion king we know how
it works that's the deal with these guys which can be very interesting like i said before i
love snakes but i love the fuzzy critters too so it's kind of this weird mix the other one
is that their food in general costs more maybe if we sat there and like total the amount that
you have to spend on all the different bugs and calcium and vitamin supplements versus buying like
surplus packs of or both packs of frozen rodents then it might offset a little bit but for the
most part the mice and things are a little bit more expensive if you're going to your local pet
store or even your you know big chain brick and mortar store in your which i would not recommend
and you're buying one mouse or one rat a week depending on what it is you're spending between
a dollar and five dollars a week which isn't a whole lot but compared to
a dollar for three days worth of crickets it starts to add up so in general it's you
know it's a little bit more costly to feed these guys but the startup cost other than the cost of
the animal itself is usually a little bit more inexpensive especially when you're not dealing
with a ball python when you're dealing with like a new world north american club like a corn sticker
milk snake they don't need as high humidity they can be kept in aquarium as long as it's
tightly sealed and locked so they can't escape then your costs are usually a little bit less
so to sum it all up lizard snake they both can be great amazing pets great first time beginner pets
just you have to remember what you're comfortable with you have to think in the startup cost they
both can be fairly inexpensive but in the end it does start to add a lot and startup cost
does cost quite a bit but in all honesty soda startup costs for a lot of other animals when
you're getting a dog you have to buy the leash the water the vaccinations the toys the crate
all those things they all add up to so startup cost of whatever animal you decide to take
responsibility for is gonna cost a fair amount and that's okay and then once you after that you
have to remember okay am i okay feeding mice not nearly as often am i okay feeding animals
or my cave feeding bugs which is a little bit more comfortable for me do i want an animal that
i can sit there and interact with and relate a little bit more and think it's cute and all
these fun little faces which is definitely more of a pet thing or do you want an animal that you
can just kind of observe more naturally you can still say it's cute but just kind of enjoy their
more movements and behavior versus just kind of the cute of versus the snake versus the lizard
all those things basically the whole thing was it is subjective to you and
regardless of which one it is please make sure you do your research you would absolutely not if
you want a dog and you bring home a mastiff think your gear think you're bringing home a chihuahua
it's a huge difference and you don't quite know what you're getting up to just like dogs and cats
they're all the different breeds are a little bit different they require different things
same with snakes and same with snakes and with lizards in general so with ball pythons most
people always forget that they need very high humidity and it's hard to achieve that sometimes
so more research needs to be done with that still my great pets but research needs to be
done for that leopard geckos everyone thinks they're 100 desert you can keep them on sand
keep them under that red basking bulb well that's not entirely the case they need humidity they need
human highs even access to fresh water all the time because they do need humidity otherwise
they will have shedding problems and things like that so just and i'm not trying to ward anyone
away from one of the other or reptiles in general clearly i love them and think they're amazing but
just remember that a little bit of forethought some responsibility and ownership of whatever
living breathing animal you choose to add to your life to make your life better and to give them a
great life as well that's all we're asking for in general hopefully you enjoyed this video if you
have any questions comments concerns let me know down in the comments and we'll check you next time