cold-blooded pet ownership

December 31, 2010 1:54 PM

Why do people want reptiles as pets?

I hope I'm not being rude here. I think reptiles are really cool, honest! I just can't understand why anybody would ever want one. Furry mammal pets make a lot of sense to me, but boas and lizards do not. Are terrariums sort of like a cooler fish tank? Can somebody fill me in on the perks?

posted by 200burritos to Pets & Animals (26 answers total)

I have a turtle, it's pretty cool. He likes to have his head scritched, it hides when we play music that it doesn't like. It sticks it's head out when we play music it likes. It knows it's way around the house. It eats spiders. He like to hide in dark spots, it likes to sit in the sun. It torments the cats, it tries to hide in your pant legs. Overall it's pretty cool.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 1:59 PM on December 31, 2010 [4 favorites]

Some are allergic to furry animals.

Some find reptiles fascinating.

Some like to have very low maintenance pets.

Some keep them to annoy the squares.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 2:02 PM on December 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

History. I like to watch my bearded dragon act like a dinosaur.
posted by evilelvis at 2:02 PM on December 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

I used to have a friendly iguana that would climb onto my hand, and hang out on my shoulder. He loved eating zucchini, and having his head rubbed.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:14 PM on December 31, 2010

a friend had a big ass snake. he was awesome. he liked head scritches and would just hang out on your shoulders while you watched tv. also: for the 7 year old boy in all of us, it's pretty rad to watch them swallow shit whole.

turtles/tortoises are fucking sweet! seriously. just google for turtle eating and look at the images - strawberries! bananas! mashed potatoes! all cute!
posted by nadawi at 2:14 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

They are furniture you feed.

I've had an iguana and several snakes. I kept them because I thought they were beautiful, because snakes are fun to play with, because they are conversation starters, and because they require minimal upkeep.

The iguana died, one snake escaped, never to be seen again (don't worry, Kirby was a kingsnake, not dangerous unless you are a mouse), and I sold Fluffy the Ball Python when she got so big that I couldn't afford to buy a larger terrarium for her. She'd gotten to be almost six feet long and was as big around as my forearm. She was a beautiful snake.

I enjoyed keeping them, but doubt I'll get another. Feeding your pets live mice is kind of a bummer after the "nature-red-in-tooth-and-claw" novelty wears off, I don't miss cleaning their habitats (snake poop reeks!), and they aren't exactly cheap. I'll stick with kittehs now, thanks.

What I really don't understand is why anyone would keep a bird. Loud, smelly, obnoxious things that live for freakin' ever.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:16 PM on December 31, 2010

I've always assumed it's the same impulse that causes people to want hamsters or other furry-yet-passive pets.
posted by Sara C. at 2:16 PM on December 31, 2010

the hamster comparison is an interesting one - i had lots of hamsters as a kid and we'll definitely be getting a hedgehog. i might just like non-traditional pets.

i do have terrible allergies, so it might be part of it - but i also just think animals are super neat.

...except birds. fine to look at in the trees, none in my house, please.
posted by nadawi at 2:20 PM on December 31, 2010

Best answer: They are really interesting. Everything is different -- the effects of cold bloodedness, the way they reproduce, what they like to eat and how they like to eat it, their sensory organs (like the Jacobson's organ, truly exotic and alien.). Snakes also feel amazing to touch or handle . . . a mass of moving muscle. And some, in their own other-worldly exotic way, are gorgeous.
posted by bearwife at 2:22 PM on December 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

We found our iguana on the street, what were we supposed to do? Plus it's cool, half the reason I bothered aging at all was to get goofy pets like that and our giant dog.
posted by Max Power at 2:33 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

What I really don't understand is why anyone would keep a bird. Loud, smelly, obnoxious things that live for freakin' ever.

Awww, a reptile can't whistle and can't preen your hair :-D I have kept pet birds since I was a child and I have never found them to be smelly...and smaller parrots such as budgies and cockatiels don't live forever. One budgie that lived to 12 was the exception.
posted by Calzephyr at 2:34 PM on December 31, 2010

I got a turtle because I was allergic to furry animals, wanted a pet, and baby turtles are adorable. He isn't cuddly, but he's always happy to see me (he may have a pea brain, but he knows I am the thing that brings the food). He's less interesting than a cat or dog, but probably more interesting than fish. I've since gotten a cat (allergies seem to have improved with age). I still like my yertle, although I have to admit kitty is more engaging.
posted by Mavri at 2:43 PM on December 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

having lived with both furry kittehs and a colorful cast of reptiles (not concurrently), i can contribute the following anecdata:

• leopard geckos (best kept in multiples as they are social) are like small, slow, scaly kittens. i know that seems nonsensical but they have adorably coy looks they flash and interact in ways that seem full of the same naive positivity people love in kittens.

• the australian frill-neck lizard we fostered had strange, dog-like bursts of activity (think: apartment-bound terrier!)

• for those that love the reptile-houses at the zoo, natural history museums, and/or building dioramas: working on the habitats is like bringing the love home.

• if you experimentally mix species in habitats they will eat each-other. and it's not always who you'd think. we had a pictus gekko eat a fat-tail that exceeded it in size. the awe and the wonder. it is like live-action 'animal kingdom.' (we didn't watch it real-time, it happened overnight. the horror of even that was enough!)

i think you are conflating 'cold-blooded' with 'inability to interact in present-time with stimuli from beings of divergent intelligence.'

finally, why do americans like suvs? because their lizard mind tells them it's a great, safe thing to have on the road! lizard mind ... lizard mind ... so you could maybe think of keepers of reptiles as housing very strange, distant cousins.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 2:45 PM on December 31, 2010 [3 favorites]

I feel an affinity for reptiles because I'm pretty cold-blooded for a mammal. Like reptiles, I'd prefer to be cuddled up to a heat source.

As a pet, reptiles are cool with the interaction being on its owner's terms. Want to pick it up and play with it? It won't mind much. Want to go away for several days? It also won't mind much (as long as you provide basics, of course.) Want to sleep late? It will not jump on your head. Busy and don't have a lot of time to play? It will not poop in your shoes or destroy the bath mat.

Also, they're quiet and zen. When I'm stressed or cranky or just trying to carve out some time for myself, I find myself about up to here with the barking dogs, the yowling-in-heat cats, and the squawking humans in my neighborhood. Reptiles, they look at you and blink, and I can blink back, and it's all good.

I can see how reptiles wouldn't make sense if your personal definition of "pet" defaults heavily to the rewarding characteristics of cats and dogs. I guess the short answer (too late, huh!) is that there's different types of satisfaction under the umbrella of what "pet" means.

Huh, I think I just learned that I'm ready to start thinking seriously about adopting a reptilian pet.
posted by desuetude at 3:30 PM on December 31, 2010 [6 favorites]

I think reptiles are really cool, honest!

Well, that's it. You've answered your own question.
posted by Decani at 3:48 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

What I really don't understand is why anyone would keep a bird

well let me just ask my friend Dr. Buzzard... Sorry, he's not giving his opinion right now, he's busy being a little fluffy ball of cuteness taking a nap on the pillow beside my head. If he were awake, I'm sure that this is what he would have to say:
"hello! goodbird! chirp!"
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:06 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

I feel the same way about people who have decided to have kids. Sure they're cute for a while, but the mess! and the expense! Not to mention what you have to do to get one! No snark, just... different things appeal to different people. Some people just really LIKE reptiles and feel their lives would be improved if they included one.
posted by The otter lady at 5:54 PM on December 31, 2010 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Some people choose pets for the fun of observing interesting animals and their behaviour, not so much for the petting and playing. In that case, reptiles are an obvious choice because their behaviour and looks are so alien compared to what we generally see (i.e. so different from the animals that are all around us more obviously like dogs and cats or humans :) or birds or insects.)

Some people like to keep a pet that's a way of showing off - something interesting to display to visitors, something exotic or expensive. (That's the same impulse that leads some people to get an aquarium, or a purebred rare dog or cat, I guess.)

Some people like pets that don't need a lot of interaction. Snakes, for example, prefer NOT to be handled, don't need feeding very often, etc.
posted by lollusc at 6:38 PM on December 31, 2010

Similarly I kept a pair of Madagascar cockroaches as "pets" for a couple months. Mainly because they were creepy, and I liked watching them move and eat. They rarely did either though, most of the time they hid under the substrate so I sold them to a guy on craigslist. and they ended up as lizard food.
posted by thylacine at 6:39 PM on December 31, 2010

I've kept lizards on and off for almost my entire life. It started out with two Haitian curly-tailed lizards, because I was supposedly allergic to dogs (and my mom didn't want pets, particularly). I worked daily with those lizards, hand-taming them to the point that they were really sweet; one of them, in particular, charmed the whole family, and even my pet-averse mother would play with them; we have an Easter picture of the whole family from when I was 10 or so years old, sitting in the living room, and both my father and I have lizards sitting on our Easter sweaters like broaches. My mom used to even take one of the lizards out and let him sit on her shoulder and play with her hair while she did housework; she almost took him to the grocery store because she forgot he was there, but saw him sticking his head out from behind her neck in the rear view mirror. They really do seem to have personalities, too; they're not as expressive as a dog or cat, obviously, but there's definitely a personality there. Of my current lizards, Simon tends to be grumpy and baleful, but puts on a show for others. When we were taking him to the veterinarian on a regular basis to have a health issue treated, he was the darling of the office, and all the girls who worked at the vet hospital would gather around his little plastic travel container and coo at him, ignoring all the dogs and cats in the waiting room. Rusty is more on the goofy, crazy side, doing random acrobatics around his cage. Other lizards we've had have ranged from comical to skittish to outright aggressive; one tokay gecko, appropriately named Diablo, had a bite that was even worse than his bark (tokays bark, although they sound less like a dog than an angry chicken). While having a cyst removed from his leg, he actually woke from the anesthesia halfway through the surgery and attacked the surgical assistant. When she told me that, I misted up a little and said, "Yup, that's my boy!"
posted by infinitywaltz at 8:07 PM on December 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

(Sorry, meant to include a link to a picture of Rusty, my crested gecko.)
posted by infinitywaltz at 8:08 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

For some insight and perspective on the human attraction to a variety of non-typical "pets" (plus absolutely wonderful reading fun), I strongly recommend the books of Gerald Durrell (Lawrence's brother). I've given "My Family and Other Animals" to a slew of friends, and find the urgent need to re-read it every few years.

I'd personally have a smallish menagerie if a) I owned my own house, and b) it was much bigger and had "grounds," and c) I had a lot of money to spend on feed/care/Vet visits, and d) I weren't so housekeeping averse. Not to mention e) in current possession of a rare, lovely husband breed who might be less than perfectly happy with all the other creatures.

In a parallel universe, though, I have at least a couple of cats and dogs each, a rabbit, a ferret, rats, a lovely lizard or two (omg! leopard gecko? I waaaant you!), turtles, fish, and various birds ... none of whom want to torture or ingest each other. (In alternate universes, this is much easier.) Because animals are just amazing and fascinating to observe on a daily basis and over time, and human-style expressions of companionship and affection are only two possible aspects of the interactions and relationships we can have with them.
posted by taz at 2:21 AM on January 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

As a kid, we had dogs, birds, fish, and mice, but it was only around high school that I got into lizards. I found them (and still do) fascinating and curious, though it was only until I got into leopard geckoes that I found a good match. Moving from green anole (got too picky and starved) to emerald skink (tried to bite me, then ran up a tree when I was washing the terrarium out), they were mostly fascinations but then when I found leopard geckoes... they had a real personality. The first one I had was more standoffish but watching her hunt crickets was riveting (especially the stalking and tail wagging) but the second one I got (who was ADORABLE as a baby) was so sweet and would've been my best pal if I hadn't had to put them in the same cage one winter day and the elder gecko bit it on the nose. Still, they were a lot of fun to watch and touch (they have eyelids! their patterns change as they grow! they have the best texture!) and some of the crossbred color strains are really neat looking. If I didn't own a dog that would want to eat one, I'd run and bring another home. Or maybe a bearded dragon-- the way they run around is quite funny and they always remind me of schnauzers, strangely enough.

So yeah, I'd say because they're entertaining and relatively low-stress, living fairly decent lifespans too. And some people just love them best. Despite being cold-blooded, some have a ton of personality and can be trained to hang out with their people. I miss mine.
posted by actionpact at 2:58 AM on January 1, 2011

I agree with the responses that state they're cool, low-maintenance, non-traditional, non-allergenic, non-needy, non-destructive, zen, stress-relieving, inexpensive, fascinating characters with cool environments to build, all of which appeals to the kid in us who wants to see dinosaurs and things eat living things - and who also happen to be repulsive enough when you're in your forties and still want to rebel against your square parents, just a bit.

All that said, I have to euthanize my pet toad, Sir Peanut, tonight. And I am in tears not so much because of the hole he'll leave in my life, but because it's likely that something I did in caring for him failed him, and I feel very very responsible for this living creature whose life is/was in my hands. It's not like previous dogs or cats I've lost - though I really really care/d for him and enjoyed having him. He was a chill little guy (until an infection took hold, and then he grew listless and sad). I do love him, though it's more abstract and less connected. It's a bit different than the mammals we have, you see - their personalities seem way more of their own development, and the reptile/amphibian/arachnids we have are more attributed. But, part of the sadness is because the amphibian and reptile's habits of non-complainingness means you have to be extra keen and observant, and when you miss something bacterial or environmental, righting it is more in your hands than a vet's. So, I'll add that they appeal to the science project lovers in us too, who want the challenge of essentially, playing "God" (or, whatever powers that be), with all the risks considered and taken seriously and emotionally. It's very hard to give pets, even captive-bred, a good life - but succeeding feels great, and very rewarding. Failing is sad, slightly more private, and to my opinion, a little less devastating.

(Also agreed with: Leopard Geckos are CUTE. Here is our daughter's, Princess.)
posted by peagood at 4:02 PM on January 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Some people like to keep a pet that's a way of showing off

I've always wanted a snake, and this is probably most of the reason why. In high school, it was because Alex from Clockwork Orange has a snake, and then it was just to seem interesting, then I started getting interested in this hypothetical snake...then my boss at the science museum had a pet snake...and then basically I just wanted something to name. And I have allergies. And cats throw up too much.
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 7:56 PM on January 1, 2011

What I really don't understand is why anyone would keep a bird. Loud, smelly, obnoxious affectionate, cuddly, beautiful things that live for freakin' ever.

FTFY, Calzephyr. (Actually, I've never owned a cockatoo, but I've met some that fit that description. Nearly doglike in their friendliness.)

As for reptiles, I met this grand babe on our Yule trip to Key Largo a few days ago. Who wouldn't want to have her beautifying the place?
posted by IAmBroom at 11:43 AM on January 4, 2011