Reptiles & Amphibians

23 species listed on Pet Listings.

23 pages written

A

AxolotlA salamander that never leaves the water or loses its gills, and it regrows a lost limb. The wild population survives in one lake system in Mexico City.

B

Ball PythonIt takes the name from curling into a ball with its head tucked inside. West African, slow moving, and bred into a wider range of colour morphs than any snake.

Bearded DragonThe beard is a throat pouch it puffs and blackens to make a point. Australian, awake in the day, and it waves one arm at other dragons to keep the peace.

Blood PythonShort, and thick through the body in a way few snakes are: a five foot blood python outweighs a seven foot rat snake. A lowland forest animal from Southeast Asia.

Boa ConstrictorIt gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs, which most snakes do not. A constrictor from Central and South America, and it keeps growing for years.

C

ChameleonsThe eyes move independently and the tongue fires out longer than the body. Colour tracks mood and temperature more than background, so it is a mood gauge.

Corn SnakeA North American rat snake, and the one most keepers start with: even tempered, steady in the hand, and bred into a long list of colours.

Crested GeckosFrom New Caledonia, and thought extinct until it turned up again in 1994. It has no eyelids, so it cleans its eyes with its tongue, and a dropped tail is gone.

E

Eastern Box TurtleThe hinged lower shell closes like a box, all the way shut. North American, long lived past fifty, and it holds to one patch of ground for life.

F

FrogsIt drinks through its skin rather than its mouth, which is why humidity matters more than a water bowl. Almost all of them start as tadpoles and rebuild.

G

Gargoyle GeckosNamed for the bony bumps over its head, and from the same New Caledonian forests as the crested. Unlike the crested, it grows a dropped tail back.

Garter SnakeThe most widespread snake in North America, and one of the few still active in cold weather. It bears live young and stays small enough for one hand.

GeckosThe toe pads grip by molecular attraction rather than suction or glue, which is how a gecko holds to glass. Many of them are vocal, which lizards rarely are.

H

House SnakeAn African colubrid that stays small, feeds readily and takes handling well. One of the easier snakes to keep and one of the least often kept.

I

IguanasA green iguana reaches six feet and lives twenty years, which is the fact most often missed at purchase. Herbivorous, and it has a third eye on top of its skull.

K

King SnakeIt eats other snakes, venomous ones included, and it resists their venom. Hardy, and it feeds without fuss, which makes it a straightforward keep.

L

Leopard GeckosOne of the few geckos with working eyelids, and it has no sticky pads, so it lives on the ground rather than up the glass. Twenty years is ordinary.

LizardsThousands of species, from an inch long to ten feet. Many can drop the tail and leave it twitching, then grow a replacement that never quite matches.

M

Milk SnakeA kingsnake wearing coral snake colours, which is the whole of its defence: the bands say danger and the snake cannot back it up. Docile and easy to feed.

R

Red-Eared SliderThe most kept turtle in the world, and it reaches a foot across with thirty years behind it. It needs a basking spot dry enough to warm right through.

S

SnakesIt smells with its tongue, delivering scent to a pair of pits in the roof of the mouth. The jaw does not unhinge: the two halves are joined by stretching ligament.

T

TortoiseA land turtle, herbivorous, and slow in every sense: some species outlive the people who buy them. The shell is fused to the spine, so it cannot leave it.

TurtlesThe shell is part of the skeleton rather than a house it carries, with the ribs built into it. Most kept turtles are aquatic and split the day between water and a lamp.