Like all exotic pets, choosing to invite a lizard or dragon into your home needs to be a carefully considered decision. The often misled perception is that reptiles and lizards in particular are a low-maintenance pet option when compared to cats, dogs and other fluffy small animals.

The truth is although lizards don't need to be walked, trained, fed daily and won't leave muddy paw prints on the couch or fur from one end of the house to the other. They have unique care requirements of their own.

Lizards and dragons DO have a highly specialized diet that isn't as easy to procure as grabbing a tin of food off the super market shelf. It may also be required that you provide a highly controlled environment for the pet, such as achieving a constant temperature and providing certain plants or materials to live in such as certain wood chip, saw dust or sand.

Lizards bite. Hard, and often.

Human curiosity often leads us all to wants to play with our pets in some way. Next time you're at the Zoo and visit the reptile show check out the fingers of the reptile keepers. They're skin looks like old leather covered in scars, scratches and evidence of regular wounding. Unlike a dog you can't train a lizard not to bite, they will just bite and bite and bite until you decide you've had enough, not the other way around.

Don't be a pretender

It's not our intention to discourage you choosing a lizard as a pet, but there needs to be a few truths up front to discourage those who just think it will be "cool" to own a lizard and find those who truly motivated to want to own one.

If your considering having a lizard a pet to show off to your mates. You're in it for the wrong reasons. In fact that is a poor reason to own ANY pet.

Also, check with your local authority on the regualtions regarding keeping lizards as pets (Australia and New Zealand have laws on lizard ownership) and ALWAYS purchase them from an authorised breeder. DO NOT capture lizards from the wild. Ever.

Types of pet lizards

1. Skinks. These include the very common Australian Blue-Tongue lizard that has become a pet favourite internationally. Skinks are generally smaller reptiles that are hardy and can be the lowest maintenance.
2. Geckos. There are thousands of species of gecko, all are friendly but they are exceptional climbers with suction-pad-like feet and if you don't have a secure enclosure can go off exploring around the house.
3. Iguanas. Not for beginners. These buggers start small, grow fast and end up BIG, up to 2 metres long. Wow. They basically will need their own bedroom.
4. Monitors. As with iguanas, not for beginners, although they don't grow as fast they can certainly grow big, some are aggressive and have whip like tails. They'll happily bite off your hand for a taste of your ham sandwich!