Snakes vs Lizards :)

[ChristinaM]

Which do you prefer? and why?
If you have both, what were you into first? And why did you get the other?

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My answers:

My first was a bearded dragon. Lizards were/are my love. I have in my personal "pet" collection: 5 bearded dragons, 6 leopard gecko's. ( all pets/breeders ) and their babies which will be sold.

Now I have 4 snakes.

Damn you Simon Fung

LOL.

I gave Simon a ride to an expo, not so long ago, what, about a yr maybe...( last fall's one I believe ) and he invited me in after the expo. Needless to say, I went home with a cute lil baby amel corn. Such a sweetie. Unfortunately the baby passed on, but Simon offered me another. >( what a horrible influence. LOL

and that's what got me into snakes.

I got my first corn, and while at Simon's, I fell in love with the BRB. Came home and did tons of research on them, and ended up with my "Promise", also from Simon. Now I'm onto the Boa's Gotta love a boa. The smaller boa's for me anyways. I don't have the ability to keep the bigger ones, or I would....but I know my limits

Anyways:

what prompted this thread, is that for the past week I've been dealing with some crappy withdrawl effect ( legal meds LOL ) and been unable to do alot. Which includes time to tend to my herps.

In times of illness, I definately have to say that snakes are sooooo much easier to deal with. They aren't gonna die if they miss this weeks meal, whereas my baby dragons, don't feed em for a few days and they would suffer. It was soooooo hard tending to the lizards. I am so behind in it. The snakes, so easy. Even after a wk, all I had to do was: grab snake, remove newspaper, wash tub, fresh paper, fresh water, return snake. Easy easy easy.

Snakes are definately IMHO, alot easier than lizards.

BUT.

I would not give up my lizards. nope nope nope. They have more personality than snakes, and are more "pet" than snakes.

so which do I prefer? I do not know. I prefer the easiness of snakes, and the pet qualities of lizards.

[Linds]

Well, I know it's nto listed, but I'm gonna have to toot for tortoises as best for all-around pet qualities. They are just so expressive and "personable". I started off with lizards and they can be a lot of fun too. My first was a green iguana. I loved her to pieces, but will never have another. Just not my thing. My geckos are a lot of fun, and I love working with uros as well. Monitors are definitely very cool to watch and interact with. Lizards do take up much more space and a lot more maintenance must go in to them. Snakes definitely take the cake for ease of care. It isn't as easy to go on a trip with a house full of lizards than a house full of snakes! Over all, I'm a snake girl - they are totally cool and fit my needs well. My collection is and always will be, predominantly snakes, but of course I like to have a few of the other guys for the kind of pets that are more interactive and expressive, more "pet like"

[HeRpZ03]

I started off with lizards (anoles) and continued with my lizard facination with loads of other lizards untill i left the hobby for about a year, but now that i'm gettin back into herps, i found that i enjoy keeping snakes rather than lizards, a lot less maintenance and less feedings which gives me more time to do other things. Used to spend a good chunk of my day just feeding the lizards, changing/cleaning water bowls, doing spot cleans...etc. I do agree that lizards are more "pet like" and tend to have more of a personality than snakes, imo, but i just luv keeping snakes now, i never thought i'd say that. My buddies all kept snakes but me and everytime we had a discussion i'd say "why snakes, they just hide all day and they don't even have legs!" lol...yes i'm a hipocrit(sp?) Happy herping!

Allan.

[sapphire_moon]

Definitly snakes. They are easy to care for, and fun to watch.

I used to keep lizards, but found their needs to be to much for me to match at that time. But I do plan on getting back into it. I am totally a snake girl as well. (as in when people ask if I'm a dog person or cat person, I say neither, i'm a snake person )

[Big_V]

I started off with turtles when I was a young kid. They became kinda hard for an 8 year old to deal with all the time and after awhile when I was around 13 I got a leopard gecko and each year after that I got something new. Now Ive discovered that I love snakes more than any other reptile except that first leopard gecko which I still have because she will always be my favorite and is my reminder why I got into this hobby.

[Janiman]

I have been a snakekeeper for the better part of 25 years. A few years ago I had to give them up when I was going through a separation and when I decided to get back into herps again about a 18 months ago I thought I would start out with lizards so I bought some (3) crested geckos. Now I realize that there is a lot of variation in the activity levels and character of different species but I knew that I still needed to keep snakes. I now have 17 snakes in my collection and can say that some of them are every bit as entertaining and "pet-like" as my lizards. Then again, I keep mostly colubrids and now find most boids, although beautiful, somewhat boring in their lethargic habits. I just got a young Russian Rastsnake that actually comes over to me when I open the lid of it's container and I can't get it off my hand without some effort. I certainly can't say that about my Cresteds...

[crazyboy]

snakes, tehy are easier to care for and can be left longer if you have to go away:-)

[Pixie]

Funny, I'm opposite to most on this subject.

I got into herps because of snakes, always have loved them and was just dying to get one (or more!) of my own. Surely enough, when I was able to, I got into snakes and had up to 10 at one point. Their ease of care was one of the things that attracted me to them, tarantulas too for that matter.

I later got a few leopard geckos and loved them to bits, the big difference I noted was in the personality and interactivity department.

Last year, I ended up with what I NEVER would have though of in a hundred years, an iguana! She was a rescue in need of a good home and I instantly fell in love with her, even though she can be quite the nasty b*tch!!

Since then, I have developped far more affection for her compared to the rest of my herps and inverts. It's her personality, character, moodiness, etc. It's very hard to explain, but I definitely have much more of a personal connection with her than any other snake or gecko in my collection.

She is quite the handful to take care of!!! That was one of the major reasons why I was never attracted to igs in the first place. Since I've introduced her into my home, I've cut down my herp collection by 5 snakes and 3 geckos to free up more time to care for her. Caring for an ig take more time than caring for many many snakes and/or geckos! I easily spend 1 1/2 hours a day doting over my Paco girl!

I still love my snakes and all the animals in my household. But I've developped quite a fondness for my iguana, something I never thought would ever happen. I've even considered rescuing another, but will only undertake that task once I am fully ready for all that comes with it.

Pixie

[Slannesh]

I like them all...

my first herp was a fire belly newt when I was in about grade three. He was around for a few years but eventually died. No herps after that till I was about 20 and then I picked up Ymir, my ball python. Still have him almost 10 years later. Got into Leopard geckos last year as well too. They're definately a lot more work to take care of than the snake is but a lot more interactive for the most part as well.

[reptiguy123]

Lizards. I don't know why.