Husbandry care sheets

The most popular pet snake in the world and the backbone of the morph hobby. Docile, slow-moving and long-lived, but sensitive to low humidity and open, exposed enclosures.

Lifespan: 20–30 years in captivity, with 40+ recorded

The classic first snake: hardy, reliable feeders, tolerant of a broad range of conditions, and available in hundreds of morphs.

Lifespan: 15–20 years

A large, powerful, generally even-tempered constrictor. A long-term commitment in both space and lifespan.

Lifespan: 25–30 years

A small, charismatic, upturned-nosed digger famous for its dramatic bluffing display. Rear-fanged but medically insignificant to most people.

Lifespan: 15–20 years

A ground-dwelling, crepuscular gecko with eyelids, a friendly disposition and a huge morph catalogue. One of the best starter lizards available.

Lifespan: 15–20 years

An arboreal New Caledonian gecko that thrives at room temperature and can live on a complete powdered diet — the lowest-maintenance display lizard in the hobby.

Lifespan: 15–20 years

A confident, interactive desert omnivore. Easy to tame but genuinely demanding in lighting and space — the most commonly under-housed reptile in the hobby.

Lifespan: 10–15 years

A robust, dog-tame omnivorous skink with real personality. Ground-dwelling, food-motivated and highly rewarding to keep.

Lifespan: 15–20 years

The largest living gecko: a heavy-bodied, vocal, locality-driven arboreal species and a serious collector animal.

Lifespan: 20+ years

A small, hardy, energetic grazing tortoise that stays a manageable size — but is a multi-decade commitment that needs far more floor space than a glass tank offers.

Lifespan: 40–50+ years

A large, messy, long-lived aquatic turtle. Cheap to buy and expensive to house properly — filtration is the entire hobby with this species.

Lifespan: 30–40 years

A round, sedentary ambush predator that spends most of its life buried. Simple to keep, dramatic to feed, and not a handling animal.

Lifespan: 7–10 years

A placid, chunky arboreal frog with an almost cartoonish expression, and one of the very few amphibians that tolerates brief handling.

Lifespan: 15–20 years

A permanently aquatic, neotenic salamander. Beautiful and interactive, but strictly a cold-water animal — heat is the number one killer.

Lifespan: 10–15 years

Low-maintenance, long-lived display invertebrates. New World terrestrials like the Chilean rose and Mexican red knee are the standard entry point.

Lifespan: Females 20–30 years, males 5–10 years

A large, glossy, communal-tolerant scorpion with mild venom and a striking appearance under blacklight.

Lifespan: 6–8 years

Terrestrial crustaceans kept both as a hobby in their own right and as the cleanup crew of every bioactive enclosure.

Lifespan: 1.5–3 years