What's the most interesting herp you have ever kept?

[Tim and Julie B]

I have had red tailed rats
I own a Stinking goddess
Puerto Rican boa E. inornatus not very colorful but rare

[CamHanna]

My Elaphe (Psuedelaphe) flavirufa and Rhinocheilus are likely the most rare in my collection. Both are interesting but flavirufa are are my personal favourite because the feed better and are visible more often. They are also quite graceful once they get up in the branches.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Tomato frogs (Dyscophus antongili).

[hudson]

Unfortunately I don't have them any more but my favorite and most uncommon were my 1.1 red eyed crocodile skinks also called bush skinks sometimes. They were awesome and you don't see the available very often.

Kate

[Brent Strande]

I used to keep an iguana...

[thunder]

i currently work with Elaphe quatuorlineata sauromates; only 2 other ppl (that i know of) work with them in the us. their relatively rare in european collections as well.

[lolaophidia]

The most rare reptile I've kept was probably my Shinisaurus crocodilurus- Chinese Crocodile Lizard. I picked him up from a local pet shop (in the early 90's) that had gotten him in from someone moving who couldn't keep him. They had no information on them, really no one did, so one of the petshop boys (as I affectionately call them ) offered him to me for $35.00 since I tended to take the more difficult critters and get them going. Great semi-aquatic lizard, really neat physiology and odd temperament. I ended up selling him back to the same person who originally sold the lizard to me a few years later (I still regret that!), because he told me that he would loan the animal to the Philly zoo's breeding program. Very cool lizard!
For snakes, I've had about 50 different species and the rarest is probably my Rhynchophis boulengeri- Vietnamese Long-nosed ratsnake. He's really neat too. I like the odd ones I guess...

[blazinreps]

wow those jamacan boas are stuning where did you aquire those?

[CamHanna]

Shinisaurus crocodilurus ... for $35.00

I think you got a deal!!

[hhw]

Originally posted by daiyoukai
what do you feed those guys?

Quail eggs.

[thunder]

i just saw a chinese croc lizard for 1000 usd.

[Mystic Lizzards]

death head roaches is my most uncommon pet

[chas*e]

I am fortunate to own my fav and exotic/rare reptiles..... American Alligators, Argentine boas, Bredl Pythons. and a lot others

[lolaophidia]

Yep the Shinisaurus for $35.00 USD was the best buy ever, but then, no one had ever heard of them. They had a specimen in the Smithsonian and there was 1 article about them in English that I was able to find on captive husbandry at the time. The only information the person could give me who sold him to me was that the guy who used to have the lizard caged it like an aquatic turtle and they thought it would eat crickets or fish. I experimented with various prey items and discovered it would eat nearly anything I dangled in front of it, as long as it didn't get too hot. They go into a dormant state if the temp gets too cool (they apparently live in cold mountain streams in the mountains of China) and just seem really uncomfortable at temps above 75-80 F. I had a pang of nostalgia a couple years ago and shopped around for them- $500.00 was the lowest price I was able to find (talked with a couple of breeders in the U.S. and one in Germany). What a difference 10-15 years makes! Now you can even find them captive bred, but they're pricey...

[Linds]

They were produced by Simon Sansom and purchased as neonates from Corey Woods 4 years ago. Simon's are the only breeding pair I'm aware of in Canada, but I'm sure some of their offspring (from a prior litter) should be approaching breeding age soon enough.