Where to buy a Lizard (Vanc.)

[levi1803]

Leopard Gecko's and fat tailed Gecko's are probably one of the best for 1st time Lizard owners and the 25 gallon tank should be fine for either of these types. They breed in captivity quite often so you may actually find one from someone locally via some type of reptile association or something. Bearded dragons are quite nice and fairly easy to look after IMO, but the 25 gallon tank wouldn't be even close to the space they would need.

Good luck

[justinl]

Don't buy from chain pet stores... generally lesser quality than breeders. I would suggest buying/adopting from a shelter such as here (doesn't look like they have any leopard geckos though)...
http://www.reptilerescuerichmond.org/special.htm

...or buy from a breeder. check out this local reptile forum (quite a few breeders and reputable sponsor vendors here)...
http://dasnakes.com/bcrc/

Leopard geckos are great first choices if you're okay with keeping live crickets all the time. I'm lizard sitting for my brother and personally, i find the crickets to be the most annoying bit. I know they're not for everyone, but have you considered a snake? A cornsnake eats thawed frozen mice (a lot easier to keep than live food obviously) and is very undemanding yet very beautiful and rewarding as a pet. I got a hatchling cornsnake from a breeder on the above forum...
http://www.rrrcorns.com/index.htm

[plutoniumJoe]

Thank Justin,

Great info, just the type of thing I was looking for.

Joe.

[cav~firez22]

Aquatic Addictions also has a large selection of reptiles i saw last time i was in there

[levi1803]

I know there are a lot of people feeding canned crickets now, not sure how they compare to live though.

[Keri]

Originally Posted by justinl

Don't buy from chain pet stores... generally lesser quality than breeders. I would suggest buying/adopting from a shelter such as here (doesn't look like they have any leopard geckos though)...
http://www.reptilerescuerichmond.org/special.htm

...or buy from a breeder. check out this local reptile forum (quite a few breeders and reputable sponsor vendors here)...
http://dasnakes.com/bcrc/

Leopard geckos are great first choices if you're okay with keeping live crickets all the time. I'm lizard sitting for my brother and personally, i find the crickets to be the most annoying bit. I know they're not for everyone, but have you considered a snake? A cornsnake eats thawed frozen mice (a lot easier to keep than live food obviously) and is very undemanding yet very beautiful and rewarding as a pet. I got a hatchling cornsnake from a breeder on the above forum...
http://www.rrrcorns.com/index.htm

Great advice! The leos themselves do not make much noise but the crickets do (depending on size, adult crickets sing, smaller ones don't, if you always buy smaller subadult crickets you will be ok)
I think corns are excellent beginner snakes as well, the site justin mentioned also has corn breeders, and corns come in some WICKED colours these days.
(You will have to join that forum to view the classifieds, but, it's free and full of helpful people!)

Originally Posted by levi1803

I know there are a lot of people feeding canned crickets now, not sure how they compare to live though.

I've never used these myself as once you open it you have to use it all within a couple of days, which one leo just can't do. Then it gets pretty pricey. Plus some leos don't like dead food, so I wouldn't count on that 100% but that's an idea

[Norstar]

Check out Rogers Aquatic in Surrey. He has all kinds of reptiles and supplies. Anoles are a great beginner lizard. He has an excellent staff that can make a recommendation to you.

[midgetwaiter]

Originally Posted by justinl

Leopard geckos are great first choices if you're okay with keeping live crickets all the time. I'm lizard sitting for my brother and personally, i find the crickets to be the most annoying bit.

There is ample evidence to support mealworms as being a better diet than crickets long term and they are definitely easier to deal with. When I was breeding I had no issues with the all worm approach.

Get yourself a good book, the Leopard Gecko Manual from Advanced Vivarium Systems and Ron Tremper is by far the best one.

http://www.amazon.ca/Leopard-Gecko-M...8307194&sr=8-1

Outside of breeding season they don't really make much noise at night.

[High tide]

Originally Posted by midgetwaiter

There is ample evidence to support mealworms as being a better diet than crickets long term and they are definitely easier to deal with. When I was breeding I had no issues with the all worm approach.

Get yourself a good book, the Leopard Gecko Manual from Advanced Vivarium Systems and Ron Tremper is by far the best one.

http://www.amazon.ca/Leopard-Gecko-M...8307194&sr=8-1

Outside of breeding season they don't really make much noise at night.

Meal worms have a hard exoskeleton and are hard to digest, this can lead to impaction. There are many other types of worm/grubs like waxworms,silkworms,butterworms etc. that will be better long term. It is best for your reptile to vary it's food anyway.

I don't know when Cricket breeding season would be, since they breed all the time.

[Ephraim]

There is no way that a meal worm can supply everything the gecko needs nutritionally unless you are gut loading it with a broad spectrum of foods, = PIA. It would be better off feeding a variety of insect prey to the animal.

Beardies are not on the new BC banned exotics list, see link.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlife...s/species.html