part 2
The other problem with wild-caught animals is that they are often handled roughly by humans and as a result very distrustful. If they are adults, it doesn't much matter if they were mistreated, as adult animals which grew up in the wild (where they have escaped being something else's dinner many times) will naturally just be anti-social. They will have learned through a long and hard life that being social to other species is a good way to get eaten, and we look like predators.
Finally, recently we have seen how African rodents can pass a life threatening virus to American rodents (prairy dogs). This is also true for lizards. The lizards from different continents have different virusses and parasites. In places where they come all together for distribution they may infect each other, but still look good. Then they may die in your well meant care weeks later.
For all of these reasons, you should only buy captive-bred animals that are well cared for. If at all possible it is best to buy directly from the breeder, as this minimizes the chance that the animals are infected with dangerous parasites due to contact with other reptiles at dealers. (Buying direct from breeders also generally minimizes cost on captive-bred animals, though that is not always the case.)
Even with captive bred animals, however, here there are a few things to watch out for. For the breeder, it is easier and cheaper to sell the babies as small as possible. Newly hatched baby lizards are often delicate, especially lizards like bearded dragons. Even if the somewhat older ones are more expensive it is worth while to choose them over the younger ones.
Now we come to the subject of pet stores. Pet stores are sometimes good places to buy a reptile, but most often they are terrible. Between overcrowding, the spread of disease,
mite infestations, no information (or bad information), and an often completely incompetent staff, many pet stores are traps that you can only escape by buying nothing. Even worse, there are too many pet stores run by hustlers who will happily lie to you in order to make a sale. Here are some signs to look for and signs to watch out for when buying a lizard in a petshop:
GOOD SIGNS
There are only a few lizards in a terrarium.
There is ONLY one species to a terrarium.
The animals look alert and have their eyes open.
There are even scientific names.
There are caresheets for every species sold.
Every animal has a clean and full water dish.
Animals (except temperate animals such as
corn snakes and gartner snakes) have heat lamps or heat pads.
Hiding places are provided to keep the animals from stressing.
They may have adults as store pets so you can see what you are going to be getting yourself into.
BAD SIGNS
The seller tells you that the care is "The same as in iguanas", or "the same as in bearded dragons" (or any other lizard). That is almost always not true, and by saying this they are trying to avoid spending time explaining with you. Often enough, they simply do not know the correct care and are trying to dodge the issue.
Lizards are crowded into few enclosures.
Dead or sick lizards are still in the enclosures with other lizards. Dead animals should always be promptly removed, and responsible stores will quarantine any sick animals (usually in a back room) and refuse to sell them.
People that do not tell the truth to you. One easy way to check this is to point at a lizard that is always wildcaught ( like an adult Mali Uromastyx, a butterfly agama, a red headed agama, a baby green waterdragon, etc) and ask: Is that captive bred or wild caught? When they say captive bred, then they are lying. Expect more lies to follow.
Mislabeling: One example of typical mislabeling is small Ermeias lizards, which have eyed dots on the sides. They are often labeled as Jeweled Lacers, which is not true. Columbian tegus are often labeled as argentine tegus (here is a page which explains the difference), probably because argentine tegus cost more. As you may not be familiar with what every lizard looks like, if you see a lizard that you are interested in, go home and look it up on the internet. If the pictures do not match the name, you should look elsewhere to purchase a reptile (be careful, however, as sometimes animals will have multiple common names, or the same common name is used for more than one species).
Different kinds of lizards in one terrarium.
If you sniff at the corner where the garbage cans are, it smells like dead animals.
Feces and urates are not promptly removed and cleaned.
There are no sources of heat like heat lamps or heating pads. (this is not a problem for temperate animals like
corn snakes and garter snakes.)
There is no water dish, or the water dish is dried out.
While poor lighting is not always an indication of mistreatment or poor quality, it often is used in an attempt to keep you from noticing problems.
While, as stated above, it is best to get your lizard directly from a breeder, specialized reptile pet stores are often good. These will be easy to tell, as they will feature their reptiles proudly and prominently, and often in their name. These specialized petshops often have captive bred animals and you will find there a bigger variety of lizards. However, there are still bad specialized pet stores, so you should still be careful and look for the indications mentioned above.
Let me mention a few (these are not all, there are many more) good specialized petshops:
AL Scales and tales in Pinson
CA Amazon Reptile Center in Montclair
CA East Bay Vivarium in the Bay area
CA Eri International, El Segundo
CA LLL reptiles in Oceanside and Escondido
CA Pet Kingdom, San Diego
FL Glades Herp near Ft Myers at the Interstate
GA Randar's Reptiles in Conyers
IA Mark Mertens at Wantapet.net in Johnston
KS Exotic Pets in Goddard
KS Tails & Scales in Derby
KS Santa Fe Pets in Salina
MN Twin City Reptiles in St. Paul
NY NY Reptilia in Flushing
NY D&J Reptiles" (Doug & Jimmy) in Islip (Long Island)
OH Parma Pets in Parma
RI Regal reptiles in Providence
TN Zoo Pet, Old Hickory
WI Hoffers Tropic Life pets in Milwaukee
If you purchase a lizard at a reptile show that is on Saturday and Sunday, then you should realize that many sellers live far away and need to drive all friday to get there. That means that the animals are often bagged on thursday already. It is therefore preferable to purchase your animal on saturday morning, if you can get there. These animals have been packed for less then two days. The sunday afternoon animals were packed 3 days and are more stressed and weakened. This is why I prefer the one day shows.
It may be counter-intuitive, but shipping an animal from a breeder will be much less stressfull for the animal, as it can be shipped in the afternoon and arrive 18 to 20 hours later at your door the next morning, avoiding the midday heat in summer.
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Bert is the founder of the largest breeding faciltity in the world, built with just the drive determination and years of hard work of himself and his wife Hester. He's one of the most interesting people I have met and feel honored to have learned so much from him.
Aside from being multilingial and well traveled---he continues to get appreciation and attention with the half century of herping.
In Daytona 2004 he was honored with the Breeders Award---quite unexpectidly and humbly.
He truly is a legend in our community.
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