Caring for reptiles can be a fun and rewarding experience, offering a glimpse into their fascinating lives. Whether one is an expert or a first-time keeper, understanding all of their specific needs is key.
People truly don’t understand how expensive keeping reptiles is. First, one has to buy their enclosures, all the decor in the enclosure, lighting, food, and spray bottles/humidifiers. Enclosures are not cheap at all. Each of my turtle enclosures were $150 each, my crested gecko enclosure was around $220, and we hand-built my Savannah monitor’s enclosure because it would be over a thousand dollars to purchase it. It costs me around $30-40 dollars a month for feeder insects. Then each reptile needs special lighting, and each of those heat bulbs costs around $20 at least. Then you need to get either a cheap spray bottle or an automatic humidifier.
Keeping these animals is not only expensive financially, but it is also expensive in time.
Keeping these animals requires you to have a lot of time and patience. I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is turn on every heat light and then spray down every cage. Then when I get home from school, I spray them again and then grab my tongs, the worm bucket, and the bowl of roaches and prepare to feed all my animals. First I do my Savannah monitor because she eats the fastest, I first dust the insects with calcium and vitamins, then I grab the insects with the tongs and feed her. While turtles that I feed take around 15-20 minutes each, and that is because patience is the key to feeding them. They all are skittish, they have to stare at the worm or roach for a while before they eat it, and then they finally eat it. Then I also have to take time to clean their enclosures, making sure there is no feces or shredded skin. I also have to make sure they have clean water, everyday. Also, I take some time to handle, it so they can get used to people and me. Then I put them to bed and spray them before I turn their lights out.
It took a lot of time, but I quickly learned each of their personalities.
Each one of my animals has a personality. All of my turtles have different personalities. For example Brutus. He remains calm and sits in the same spot most of the time and likes sitting in his basking spot. Pompeii is very outgoing and loves people he rearranges his enclosure every day and likes climbing on his big rock and then flipping off of it, while Mishell, my baby box turtle likes to move a lot one day of the week and then sleeps the rest of the week. The day Mishell is active she likes to climb all over the place and and watch my dogs that walk by. Then my crested gecko, Draco is nocturnal, but I still get him out in the daytime, and he is very hyper. He likes to jump all over and then run along my arms, but he sleeps most of the time when his light is on. Then my Savannah monitor, Nessie is very food motivated, so normally I hold her and then feed her so she sees it as a reward, she does not like being held but loves getting petted. She likes to bask on her pile of rocks and look at everything around her because reptiles are very curious and intelligent creatures, they want to know what everything is.
Their personalities also sometimes make it difficult to work with them, such as when Nessie wants to jump out of the cage when I grab the container I keep my superworms in, or when Draco wants to jump out of my hands and land on the floor.
They all have their specifics when it comes to care and working with them. Each has heat and humidity specifics. My turtles need their temperature to be 85-90 degrees and humidity of 70-80%, while my gecko needs the temp to be room temp and humidity of 60-80%. My monitor needs the temp to be 90-110 degrees and 50% for her humidity. They all have a specific diet that I need to follow as well. My turtles are omnivores, so they eat insects, fruits, and veggies. My gecko eats a powder-based diet that is mixed with water and crickets once a month. My monitor is mainly an insectivore but eats a boiled egg once a week. Then they get fed on different days, like once a day, every other day, or even one to two times a week. They all are unique in their ways.