The care guides
Reptile species we cover
We're building the warmest, most trustworthy reptile care library there is — starting with the best first reptiles to the advanced species, each one fact-checked before we publish it.
66 of 66 fully sourced
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Lizards
Green Iguana
The cute green hatchling that becomes a 6-foot, room-filling commitment — rewarding for a dedicated advanced keeper, heartbreaking as an impulse buy.
Arboreal herbivore lizard ✓ Care guide
Chinese Water Dragon
The 'little dinosaur by a jungle stream' — a striking semi-aquatic lizard that needs a big heated pool AND a planted, UVB-lit land side.
Semi-aquatic lizard ✓ Care guide
Caiman Lizard
A dragon-like, snail-crushing semi-aquatic lizard — spectacular but a specialist that needs a huge heated pool and a knowledgeable keeper.
Semi-aquatic lizard ✓ Care guide
Rankin's Dragon
The pocket-sized bearded dragon — the same sunny, hand-tame charm in a lizard half the size.
Arid basking lizard ✓ Care guide
Common Chuckwalla
A chunky desert herbivore that wedges into rock crevices and puffs up — a hardy hot-and-dry specialist.
Arid basking lizard ✓ Care guide
Collared Lizard
A brilliant, sprint-happy desert lizard that can run on its hind legs — active, alert and hands-off.
Arid basking lizard ✓ Care guide
Fire Skink
A jewel-toned, secretive skink — stunning red-and-black flanks, though it spends much of its time burrowing.
Tropical (humid) skink ✓ Care guide
Schneider's Skink
A stout, golden desert skink — hardy, active and one of the more handleable smaller skinks.
Omnivorous skink ✓ Care guide
Sandfish Skink
The skink that 'swims' through sand — a mesmerising desert oddity that spends most of its life buried.
Omnivorous skink ✓ Care guide
Frilled Dragon
The umbrella-necked 'dinosaur' lizard — that flaring frill display is unforgettable, but it wants height and heat.
Arboreal lizard ✓ Care guide
Pygmy Chameleon
A thumb-sized leaf chameleon that plays dead like a fallen leaf — delicate, short-lived and hands-off.
Chameleon ✓ Care guide
Bearded Dragon
The friendly, hand-tame beginner lizard — the most popular pet reptile there is.
Arid basking lizard ✓ Care guide
Blue Tongue Skink
The docile, dog-like omnivore lizard — hardy and full of personality once you learn its varied diet.
Omnivorous skink ✓ Care guide
Veiled Chameleon
The iconic colour-shifting, swivel-eyed lizard — mesmerising to watch, but a look-don't-touch display animal.
Chameleon ✓ Care guide
Ackie Monitor
The dwarf monitor with a dog's smarts — an interactive, dinosaur-like lizard for a dedicated keeper.
Monitor lizard ✓ Care guide
Uromastyx
The sun-worshipping desert herbivore — brilliant colours, no live food, and a lifespan that can top 25 years.
Arid basking lizard ✓ Care guide
Argentine Tegu
The famously dog-tame giant lizard — intelligent, interactive, and a room-sized commitment.
Tegu ✓ Care guide
Savannah Monitor
The stocky African monitor sold as a bargain beginner lizard — rewarding, but genuinely advanced and too often kept badly.
Monitor lizard ✓ Care guide
Panther Chameleon
The living jewel of the chameleon world — dazzling colour, and a strict look-don't-touch display animal for a careful keeper.
Chameleon ✓ Care guide
Jackson's Chameleon
The tiny-triceratops chameleon — the males' three horns are unmistakable, but its cool, humid montane needs trip up many keepers.
Chameleon ✓ Care guide
Red-Eyed Crocodile Skink
The tiny "dragon" of the skink world — armoured, orange-eyed and famously shy; a humidity-loving display animal, not a handling pet.
Tropical (humid) skink ✓ Care guide
Green Anole
The little green colour-changing lizard sold cheaply everywhere — charming and active, but a delicate, hands-off display animal, not a handling pet.
Arboreal lizard ✓ Care guide
Geckos
Tokay Gecko
A big, brilliant-blue arboreal gecko with a legendary bite — stunning to watch, not a hold-me pet.
Tropical arboreal gecko ✓ Care guide
Giant Day Gecko
A dazzling green day gecko active in daylight — beautiful, but delicate-skinned and not for handling.
Tropical arboreal gecko ✓ Care guide
Leachianus Gecko
The largest gecko in the world — a chunky, long-lived New Caledonian giant that can become surprisingly tame.
Tropical arboreal gecko ✓ Care guide
Chahoua Gecko
The 'mossy prehensile-tailed gecko' — a hardy, characterful New Caledonian that wants more live insects than a crestie.
Tropical arboreal gecko ✓ Care guide
Chinese Cave Gecko
A striking cool-climate ground gecko — a look-don't-handle species that hates heat and loves humidity.
Arid ground gecko ✓ Care guide
Leopard Gecko
The classic starter gecko — hardy, handleable, and no big lights needed.
Arid ground gecko ✓ Care guide
Crested Gecko
The no-heat-lamp, fruit-eating arboreal gecko — arguably the easiest reptile to start with.
Tropical arboreal gecko ✓ Care guide
Gargoyle Gecko
The crested gecko's hardy cousin — same room-temp, powdered-diet care, but it regrows its tail.
Tropical arboreal gecko ✓ Care guide
African Fat-Tailed Gecko
The leopard gecko's calm West African cousin — same easy care, but it likes a bit more humidity.
Arid ground gecko ✓ Care guide
Mourning Gecko
The all-female gecko that clones itself — tiny, cheap, and unusually social, kept happily in colonies.
Tropical arboreal gecko ✓ Care guide
Snakes
Green Tree Python
The iconic emerald coil-on-a-branch python — a spectacular display animal, but a look-don't-handle, humidity-demanding keeper's snake.
Arboreal snake ✓ Care guide
Rosy Boa
One of the gentlest first snakes — a small desert boa that stays under 3 ft and lives for decades.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Brazilian Rainbow Boa
The snake with a built-in rainbow shimmer — a notch harder than a corn because it needs high humidity and cool, not hot.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Carpet Python
A beautiful semi-arboreal python — often feisty as a youngster, but a rewarding intermediate keeper's snake.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Children's Python
One of the best small pythons — calm, tops out around 3 ft, and genuinely beginner-friendly.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Rat Snake
A large, active climbing colubrid — hardy and rewarding, but a strong snake that gets well over a metre.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Blood Python
A short but massively thick python — today's captive-bred animals are calm, yet this is a LOT of snake for its length.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Bull Snake
A big, bold North American colubrid — dramatic hissers that are mostly bluff, and impressive once settled.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Rubber Boa
A tiny, cool-climate boa that feels like living rubber — one of the calmest, most cold-tolerant snakes there is.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Ball Python
The gentle, shy beginner snake famous for curling into a defensive 'ball'.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Corn Snake
The forgiving, reliable-feeding first snake — hardy and endlessly bred in beautiful morphs.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Western Hognose
The small, upturned-nose drama queen — hoods like a cobra, plays dead, and is harmless doing it.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
California Kingsnake
The hardy, glossy black-and-white beginner snake famous for one thing: it eats other snakes.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Milk Snake
The harmless coral-snake mimic — a kingsnake cousin whose bright bands bluff predators.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Kenyan Sand Boa
The stumpy little burrowing boa that lurks buried with just its eyes showing — hardy, small, and low-drama.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Boa Constrictor
The calm, heavy-bodied giant of the beginner-adjacent snakes — docile, but a powerful, long-lived, room-sized commitment.
Beginner snake ✓ Care guide
Garter Snake
The active, diurnal little snake you actually see moving about — hardy and engaging, but fed on fish and worms rather than rodents.
Garter snake ✓ Care guide
Tortoises
Greek Tortoise
A hardy, dog-tame Mediterranean grazer — one of the best beginner tortoises, and a 50-year-plus commitment.
Tortoise (chelonian) ✓ Care guide
Red-Footed Tortoise
A colourful, personable tropical tortoise — more humidity-loving and a touch more omnivorous than a Mediterranean.
Tortoise (chelonian) ✓ Care guide
Leopard Tortoise
A big, beautifully-marked grassland grazer — hardy and gentle, but it gets LARGE and lives for decades.
Tortoise (chelonian) ✓ Care guide
Marginated Tortoise
Europe's largest Mediterranean tortoise — hardy and cold-tolerant, with a dramatic flared 'skirt' shell.
Tortoise (chelonian) ✓ Care guide
Indian Star Tortoise
The stunning star-patterned tortoise — beautiful but demanding, and wrapped in strict international trade law.
Tortoise (chelonian) ✓ Care guide
Russian Tortoise
The small, hardy, dog-tame tortoise — a wonderful first tortoise if you can give it the floor space and the decades.
Tortoise (chelonian) ✓ Care guide
Sulcata Tortoise
The adorable hatchling that becomes a 100-pound, yard-sized, decades-long commitment — cute now, enormous later.
Tortoise (chelonian) ✓ Care guide
Hermann's Tortoise
The friendly, manageable Mediterranean tortoise — a great first tortoise like the Russian, with the same decades-long commitment.
Tortoise (chelonian) ✓ Care guide
Turtles
Eastern Box Turtle
A terrestrial woodland turtle — NOT a tank turtle — that wants a big humid land space, a shallow soak, and decades of care.
Box turtle ✓ Care guide
Painted Turtle
The classic colourful native basker — hardy and personable, but a full heated, filtered aquarium turtle for life.
Aquatic turtle ✓ Care guide
Common Musk Turtle
The palm-sized "stinkpot" bottom-walker — one of the smallest, most manageable aquatic turtles, but still a heated, filtered, decades-long pet.
Aquatic turtle ✓ Care guide
Yellow-Bellied Slider
The red-eared slider's close cousin — the same big, heated-aquarium, decades-long commitment.
Aquatic turtle ✓ Care guide
African Sideneck Turtle
The "smiling" sideneck that tucks its head sideways — a hardy, active aquatic turtle for a large heated tank.
Aquatic turtle ✓ Care guide
Northern Map Turtle
The "aggressive basker" with contour-line shell markings — needs a genuinely hot dock and pristine water.
Aquatic turtle ✓ Care guide
Reeves' Turtle
A small, hardy, personable pet turtle — a great semi-aquatic starter once the heated, filtered setup is right.
Aquatic turtle ✓ Care guide
Eastern Mud Turtle
A tiny, shy bottom-walker — a modest swimmer that wants shallower water, a warm dock, and clean conditions.
Aquatic turtle ✓ Care guide
Red-Eared Slider
The classic pet turtle — cheap and cute as a hatchling, but a big, long-lived aquatic animal that needs a serious filtered tank.
Aquatic turtle ✓ Care guide