A Few months ago, I took some of my beloved pets to Reptile Weekend at Binder Park Zoo. The Michigan Society of Herpetologists is always looking for new members. One girl I spoke to said that she had a bearded dragon, a leopard gecko and a corn snake. I told her that she was off to a strong start. Reptiles and very addictive. I have to take a lot of care to keep an eye on the time in the morning before I go to work because when I'm going around and turning on the lights and checking everyone's food and water, it's very easy to get caught up in them. There are reptiles known as good beginner reptiles. I often call them gateway reptiles. After trying a chameleon, I wised up and got myself a bearded dragon. Later that summer I got a leopard gecko. That was my entire collection the first year I went to Binder Park Zoo: a single leopard gecko and a single bearded dragon. Well, times have changed.
I couple months later, I picked up a tangerine leopard gecko. I few months later, I picked up a Mali Uromastyx. So the bearded dragon led to the Uromastyx. The leopard geckos ended up leading to African Fat Tail geckos. I picked up my first African Fat Tail in 2007. She was so small and the time that her head once got stuck in a coconut shell. That summer I actually successfully hatched my first baby leopard geckos. I still have Gizmo and Stephen, they are my two main studs right now. I still remember the elation I felt when I checked the box and saw that Gizmo had hatched. Then I began to discover different morphs of leopards and fat tails. Of course I soon discovered pictus geckos. They were similar to Leopards and fat tails, just smaller with harder eggs. The pictus geckos soon led to Thick-Tail geckos (Nephrusrus Milii). With their friendly disposition, they quickly became a personal favorite. One species of thick tail wasn't enough and I soon had a couple Wheeleri as well. Then I had the ever addictive cave geckos including Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese tiger. Finally I discovered crested geckos. What took me so long? Crested geckos led to Chahouas. Now I even have a pair of frog eyed geckos. At a recent expo, I picked up an African clawed gecko, not even knowing what it was, but what a wonderful discovery.
That was just the geckos. My Mali Uromastyx and my first beardie both suffered conditions, that despite their best efforts, my vets could not cure. They left huge holes. I did eventually purchase a Saharan (Nigerian) Uromastyx. He was a nice, captive hatched baby. He's grown into quite a handsome boy. He turns almost solid yellow sometimes and is a very social guy. I got a female red Saharan from a guy who couldn't keep her any more, and picked up a second one this year. They are a very happy trio in their nice melamine cage. I decided to try Rankins Dragons. Boy were they a challenge to find. I bought two babies from different breeders on nearly opposite ends of the country. I got lucky and ended up with a male and a female. Of course, that lead to Painted Agamas, which are like Bearded Dragons, but smaller. Then, last spring, a co-worker recommended me to a friend who needed to find a home for her bearded dragons. I didn't plan on having bearded dragons again, but I kept one for myself and gave one to my brother. I bought four melamine cages off of Craig's list. One went to the Rankin's dragons, one to the Painted Agamas, one went to the Uros and one was empty (my beardie was already in a similar cage). Well, I now have a couple of young adult females sitting in the formerly empty cage. I also have a Panther Chameleon and a Dragon Agama.
As far as snakes go, I don't have any. Corn Snakes do seem the gateway snake. They are friendly and there are all kinds of Morphs. Ball Pythons are another gateway snake for the same reason. They lead to king snakes and king snakes lead to milk snakes. Then there are small boas like Kenyan Sand Boas and and Rosy Boas. People finally cave and get larger snakes like Red Tail Boas and Reticulated Pythons.
