I vote green Anole and Leopard Gecko! My friends have some and there kids are 9, 7, 5 and 3 
and the kids love them
and the kids love them Best Lizard for young child?
- Thread starter StudentoftheReptile
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Get a Argentine Tegu! Or a BTS, i've always wanted one.
I would definitely go with a skink. Do you have your mind set on a medium sized lizard? There are also species of skinks like fire skinks and sandfish skinks that make great pets and are VERY docile with children. I own both of those species and have found them to be very rewarding. Fire skinks stay at a reasonable size, up to 14 inches and are reluctant to bite.
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Hey if you exclude the "friendly" part, an iguana would do- hey wait a minute you can do a crested gecko. My cousin fed it the crested gecko diet and it was perfect, it lived up for about five years then it died. Oh well, it's hard to find one that fits a your discription for a lizard :T. Also, if you don't mind crickets, a leopard gecko is quiet, doesn't take up room, doesn't smell, doesn't hibernate, needs few requirements, and are fairly easy to breed. My gecko, Spotty, never made any noise, except when she got attacked by a cricket once when she was a hatchling. They have a fairly quiet squeak. She was unusually quiet for a LG but that was fine with me since she came out at night. She died two years ago and I still cry sometimes because I miss her sweetness. Anyways, that's my suggestion about what to do.
My cousin has a leo this time and he is such a bad keeper. Last time i went to his house he poured a whole batch of crickets (about 12) AND the whole cricket container onto that gecko and it screamed like crazy and his tail fell off!
Even his gecko isn't normal
My cousin has a leo this time and he is such a bad keeper. Last time i went to his house he poured a whole batch of crickets (about 12) AND the whole cricket container onto that gecko and it screamed like crazy and his tail fell off!
Even his gecko isn't normal
I'm not sure why an 18 month old child would need any pet. This will be your pet. Bearded dragon claws are razor sharp, and if you plan on putting the animal on a baby be prepared for scratches. I've had bearded dragons before. Two from the same clutch. One was calm as can be, and the other would puff up and bear its teeth whenever you approached. It was naturally mean. They were raised from hatchlings in the same environment. The same care and handling. Their personalities didn't really come out until they grew a bit.
They all have their own personalities. Just like people. My Uro wouldn't even flinch when you approached it. Not skittish at all. In fact it would approach your hand looking for food rather than running from it.
Oh, and bearded dragons will poop on you. I had a friend holding my docile one on his shirt and he went to the door to pay the pizza girl. When he was flirting with her, it pooped all down his shirt. When they gotta go, they gotta go.
As far as roaches go, I never dealt with that. For protein I fed mine either crickets or jumbo meal worms. Then the normal veggie diet.
They all have their own personalities. Just like people. My Uro wouldn't even flinch when you approached it. Not skittish at all. In fact it would approach your hand looking for food rather than running from it.
Oh, and bearded dragons will poop on you. I had a friend holding my docile one on his shirt and he went to the door to pay the pizza girl. When he was flirting with her, it pooped all down his shirt. When they gotta go, they gotta go.
As far as roaches go, I never dealt with that. For protein I fed mine either crickets or jumbo meal worms. Then the normal veggie diet.
I see this as a bad decision all around. You want the unattainable, and neither you or her is going to be satisified.........
I find Skinks incredibly boring.......I also used to breed Dragons, and they only stink if you don't keep them clean.......When it got to the point of having to buy 20k plus crickets a week, it turned into to much of a hassel........I tried again recently with a few animals, and the upkeep is just too much to be honest......
I find Skinks incredibly boring.......I also used to breed Dragons, and they only stink if you don't keep them clean.......When it got to the point of having to buy 20k plus crickets a week, it turned into to much of a hassel........I tried again recently with a few animals, and the upkeep is just too much to be honest......
20k plus? I take it you had more than just a pair. I guess once you get to that level, the fun is taken out of it.
I never noticed that part about your son being 18 months. I have a few friends with children around that age and their attention span is about the same as a goldfish. Also, you really don't know if he will be into reptiles or pets for that matter. In my household growing up pets were dogs and that's it. I was always interested in reptiles and started collected them around 5 years old when I got a box turtle. Second was a iguana that didn't last long because I fed it nothing but lettuce and tomatoes (the pet store told us that's all they needed so that's all it got, I was 7 and didn't know any better). I have three younger brothers that were around me and all my reptiles and have little to no interest in herps. I would even buy them their own like ball pythons, corn snakes, etc and I always ended up taking it back. So what i'm saying is, why don't you wait til he's a little older and starts to show interest (he might not) and let him have a say in what he gets.
I never noticed that part about your son being 18 months. I have a few friends with children around that age and their attention span is about the same as a goldfish. Also, you really don't know if he will be into reptiles or pets for that matter. In my household growing up pets were dogs and that's it. I was always interested in reptiles and started collected them around 5 years old when I got a box turtle. Second was a iguana that didn't last long because I fed it nothing but lettuce and tomatoes (the pet store told us that's all they needed so that's all it got, I was 7 and didn't know any better). I have three younger brothers that were around me and all my reptiles and have little to no interest in herps. I would even buy them their own like ball pythons, corn snakes, etc and I always ended up taking it back. So what i'm saying is, why don't you wait til he's a little older and starts to show interest (he might not) and let him have a say in what he gets.
People seem to be wired to like furry critters but that does not appear to be the case with scaled ones. I'd say that 18 months to 2 years old is an appropriate time to start making sure that empathy for creepy/crawlies makes it into your kids' moral compasses.
My daughter was about 2 when she accidentally shut off the power to my sulcata's outdoor shed... during winter. She was crushed when I told her that touching the light switch that she did could have given her tortoise a boo-boo. Three years later she remembers the lesson and will occasionally double-check with me to make sure that I haven't accidentally turned off the heat. Kids do a lot more learning when they're little than we tend to give them credit for.
My daughter was about 2 when she accidentally shut off the power to my sulcata's outdoor shed... during winter. She was crushed when I told her that touching the light switch that she did could have given her tortoise a boo-boo. Three years later she remembers the lesson and will occasionally double-check with me to make sure that I haven't accidentally turned off the heat. Kids do a lot more learning when they're little than we tend to give them credit for.
since the parents are reptile lovers I see no reason not to get a lizard. Of course he knows it's really his pet. An 18 month old can't really care for an animal so in reality everyone knows it's a family pet for a reptile loving family. My kids grew up with lizards, snakes, and turtles since they were preschool age, if not earlier. When they started grade school they were shocked to find out that most people dislike reptiles, particularly snakes. They had no idea!! And of course now, as young adults just starting to leave the nest, they still enjoy herps of all kinds.
Its pretty much moot at this point, but I'm glad most of the people didn't take the time to read some of my initial posts in this thread.
Yes, I am acutely aware of how short 18-mo-old attention spans are.
Yes, I know how sharp lizard claws are.
As mentioned before, I have no intention of letting him handle it or it climb on him.
I already stated why I really didn't want to go with a crested gecko.
etc etc etc etc etc.....
Anyway, we're not getting a lizard in the near future at all. In fact, I may be adopting another tortoise instead!
Looking back at this thread, I just laugh. I would have gotten just as much help if I asked what everyone's favorite color was!
Yes, I am acutely aware of how short 18-mo-old attention spans are.
Yes, I know how sharp lizard claws are.
As mentioned before, I have no intention of letting him handle it or it climb on him.
I already stated why I really didn't want to go with a crested gecko.
etc etc etc etc etc.....
Anyway, we're not getting a lizard in the near future at all. In fact, I may be adopting another tortoise instead!
Looking back at this thread, I just laugh. I would have gotten just as much help if I asked what everyone's favorite color was!
...good luck with the decision!
On an aside: clean cages/tanks/enclosures don't stink. If you pick up droppings daily (or every other day) you won't get a smell. Even herbivorous tortoises get stinky if their tort table doesn't get cleaned out regularly.
On an aside: clean cages/tanks/enclosures don't stink.
If you pick up droppings daily (or every other day) you won't get a smell. Even herbivorous tortoises get stinky if their tort table doesn't get cleaned out regularly.biochemnerd808 said:...good luck with the decision!
On an aside: clean cages/tanks/enclosures don't stink.
Then explain how of all the 20 years of keeping various reptiles, bearded dragons just always stink to me. And explain when I voice my observation to others who have kept beardies, they agree.
Like I said before, it's not just me. And its not just everyone not keeping beardies properly. They stink. Some people are used to it, I guess. But they still stink. Period.
StudentoftheReptile said:biochemnerd808 said:...good luck with the decision!
On an aside: clean cages/tanks/enclosures don't stink.
Then explain how of all the 20 years of keeping various reptiles, bearded dragons just always stink to me. And explain when I voice my observation to others who have kept beardies, they agree.
Like I said before, it's not just me. And its not just everyone not keeping beardies properly. They stink. Some people are used to it, I guess. But they still stink. Period.
I think part of this is just mis-communication. Bearded dragons themselves don't necessarily stink, it is just that their poop smells like death itself. The smell can be intense, and it lasts quite awhile. This doesn't seem to bother some people, and others have the kind of daily schedule that allows them to remove it immediately when their beardie goes.
Maybe some people have found a diet that doesn't result in "toxic" waste, but my guess is that they are just not as sensitive to the smell. I keep dozens of bluetongue skinks, and honestly, if they all pooped at once, the smell would not be as strong as I have experienced in the past from a single beardie going.
I like bearded dragons, and they are one species I recommend to people who are looking for a "friendly" lizard, but the smell and diet that includes insects are the reasons that I no longer keep them myself. It's not their fault that their poop stinks so much! That just doesn't change the fact that it does.
Good luck with this issue in the future. I am also involved in a "mixed" marriage. The only difference is that my wife doesn't like or appreciate ANY reptile. We manage to maintain peace by me keeping my animals as out-of-sight as possible, and she does her best to not bash or complain about them. Our situation works because it is based on mutual respect for each other's feelings. It's been 23 years, and we still genuinely like each other, so it is definitely possible. My advice is to make sure that your wife always knows that she is more important to you than ANYTHING else. When they are confident of that, it is amazing what they will put up with!
Thanks for expounding, Jeff.
Yes, that's what I mean by "stink;" it is their poop, not the lizard themselves. But you said it best: it doesn't change the fact that it does stink. LOL
Yes, that's what I mean by "stink;" it is their poop, not the lizard themselves. But you said it best: it doesn't change the fact that it does stink. LOL
Even though you've decided not to get a beardie, have you ever tried keeping one on a bioactive substrate? I would think that all the inverts might be able to make short work of the source of the stink. Enjoy the new tortoise.
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I baby sat a beardie who was trained to go do her business in the sink. It still stank terribly though, just really easy to clean up.
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