Which Lizard...

[Blue Crab of PAIN!!!!]

Hello Everyone. I'm looking for a pet lizard which can regularly eat non-living foods on as a staple.

I'm going to be away at college (off campus, not dorming). There are pet stores nearby and, if absolutely necessary, I can retrieve live foods regularly but I do not have a car and I feel as though it would be an undue hassle to ask my roommates to drive me all the time. I also can't walk there; the closest one cuts through what we call "sketch bridge", if you walk there alone you stand maybe an 80% chance of being mugged.

Anyway, originally I was going to get an Argentinian B&W tegu because it is impressive, very personable, quite easy to tame (especially for a predatory lizard like that), and can live happily on grapes, apples and ground turkey (obviously with supplements).

The only problem with the tegu is that, when I'm not off campus I'll be living in my parents house (over breaks). The house is 1. fairly small, I may have trouble fitting a suitably sized cage into it. 2. My parent's probably aren't too keen on the idea of letting a 4 1/2 ft lizard free-roam on the carpet. and 3. The town I live in has a ban on "exotic pets", which is apparently ANYTHING except a cat or a dog under 40lbs. Not even big dogs are allowed. I **** all over this , but an adult tegu may be a little hard to hide.


Blue Tongue Skinks and Crested Geckos were suggested to me but... They're just not what I'm looking for. I do like BTS's but I don't feel as though I like them enough to spend money for one. I could probably have worded that better, don't take that the wrong way. I will settle on a BTS though if the Tegu is completely impractical and there are no alternatives.

About the alternatives though: My favorite groups of lizard are 1. Tegus. 2. Monitors. 3. (small) skinks, and 4 Legless Lizards.

Are there any species in any of these groups which can live a healthy life based on a staple diet of either prepared foods or pre-killed/canned insects? Does the Ackie Monitor need live insects constantly? If required I can get live insects maybe once every 1 or 2 weeks with minimal hassle. I just can't get a steady, CONSTANT supply. I don't think I'll be able to breed my own insects either.

Thank you all for your help.

p.s. I absolutely do NOT want an Iguana.

 

[Blue Crab of PAIN!!!!]

To clarify, by "small skink" I mean something like a 5-lined or a great planes.

Also, I wouldn't necessarily call myself novice keeper, I had a red-eye crocodile skink which started to lay eggs (she was alone, the eggs were sterile). I only lost her when I left her in my parents care for college.

In terms of difficulty a Tegu is probably the most I can handle. Big Monitors are probably out of my league.

 

[Experiment397]

sorry to break it too you but that is a very hard group for what you need. i would look at a red ackie monitor they are like tegus but smaller, 2 feet. other than that i would say the crested gecko is your best bet, they can live their whole life on baby food!!! the bts are cool but can be hard and need a big tank.def on the no iguana. bearded dragons are cool and can survive off of greens and canned insects. they do need good lights which can be hard. good luck

 

[latshki]

have you looked at uromastyx? they only eat veggies and will be fine with collards and danidilion greens, they are colorful, friendly and active
also dont limit yourself to cresties, most of the rhac family can live off of CGD
and have you ever thought about having your crickets shipped to you
it will be cheaper and will give you more variety

 

[fishy12]

Chameleons FTW but they eat live food dubia roaches but u can easily keep those in a 20gal colony.

 

[PacuPete]

i had a black agama once...awesome med sized lizard...

 

[Etunes]

I think a uromastyx is a great idea. BUT i would not mix them with any other species. They have very specific requirments. The need a minimum of 120 degrees and that is way to hot for a collard. They DONT eat bugs and they are a complete veggy diet which makes easy feeding. You can precut all your veggies and put them into containers so when your in a hurry in the morning you just take the food out put small piles of each in the dish and put it in the cage. They are very personallity oriented and need a cage of 4x2 atleast, so it is a medium size lizard. So they are very easy once you have there cage set up. And there are many COLORFUL variates. Any more questions PM me or just ask.

 

[aidenb]

I think a uromastyx is a great idea. BUT i would not mix them with any other species. They have very specific requirments. The need a minimum of 120 degrees and that is way to hot for a collard.

I think he meant collard greens, as in food, not a collared lizard. but uro's would be a good choice

 

[Bottomfeeder]

Uromastix geyri. But they aren't cheap and they need a basking spot of about 115 degrees and they also need full spectrum UV/UVB lighting. You could also get a Crested Gecko, they can be fed commercial Reptile diet and apple sauce and as long as you don't live in a very cold climate they don't need heating.

 

[Etunes]

I think he meant collard greens, as in food, not a collared lizard. but uro's would be a good choice

lol, in rereading his post i see now. lol. But ya, i say uromastyx are great as long as you can take there arsenal of lighting needed. I have 4 bulbs in my tank.