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hello and welcome to another exciting episode of reptiltv. first of all, my intro animal: this is an australian woma. australian reptiles used to be absolute highlights and they still are. but at one time there was almost nothing available, just woma or the black-headed python. they were rarities; perhaps 5 people in germany had one. i'm talking about 20 to 25 years ago. in the last few years more have been bred, but they are still wonderful animals and a highlight in terrarium keeping.
that's why i wanted to show you this superb woma today. however, it is a long way from today's topic. that is the right reptile for the beginner, or which reptile should you choose for your terrarium. that's what we want to deal with today. in episode 63, the children's episode, we went into how to begin. and today we will also say a little about beginning. the most frequent question is always: i want to start with reptiles, what should i buy? that's the topic we want to explore today.
the classic question is: stefan, what sort of terrarium animal should i buy? parents come along and ask: my son wants a terrarium; what can you recommend? my most important piece of advice, which i have repeated in countless episodes, is, buy what you really want. if you want a snake, then buy a snake and not a lizard or a tortoise, because the partner or the parents are against snakes. or the child wants a snake, but is too young to keep a snake. the best thing is to wait and buy a snake when the child is old enough. so don't make any lazy compromises
and then say a year later, actually i wanted something different. now i have bought myself this and now one animal must go, to make room for the other. listen to your inner self. what fascinates you? snakes, lizards or tortoises? and then choose one from that category. we also have to consider age. from a family viewpoint i can buy a tortoise rather earlier. even when the child is 6 or 7 years old he or she can help a little in caring for the tortoise.
a lizard rather later. at about 7 to 10 years old a child is certainly able to help looking after a lizard. for a snake it is better to wait until 10 to 12 years old, before the child is able to help with a snake. those are the roughly suitable ages. when the age is not right and it must be a snake, then it is better to wait another year until the child is big enough and then buy the snake. so, let's now look at the orders of reptiles, the three i have mentioned, snake, lizard, tortoise. if you have decided on a tortoise,
for example and as a comparison, i would advise you to choose the european land tortoise. these are all the testudos. in my left hand is the greek tortoise, testudo hermanni. this is the size of the juvenile, this is a one-year old animal. in terms of size it makes sense to buy an animal like this. adult or fully grown they are the size of the animal in my right hand, although i have something different in my right hand, an aldabra giant tortoise. this is also a juvenile. they grow enormous, but i wanted to show you the sizes. ok, you have decided on a tortoise. my tip is
to get a european tortoise, testudo. it is best when you keep it in the open, in the garden and can build a nice enclosure. that is perfect for keeping them. the european tortoises hibernate, so in the winter you have 3 to 4 months "peace" from animals. if at christmas and in winter you have lots of other things to do, then these european land tortoises are absolutely ideal. as for the tropical tortoise, the example in my right hand, for one thing they usually grow larger. the aldabra is an extreme example. they grow to
almost 1 metre. along with the galapagos tortoises they are the biggest. they become gigantic and do not hibernate, so you have to care for them all year round. therefore my tip is the european land tortoise. you also need a large terrarium in the house to be able to keep them all year round. the land tortoise is really an animal for several generations; they become as old as the hills. the longevity of land tortoises is proverbial, but they really do live that long, so you have to be aware that you will more or less pass the animals on to your heirs. however, land tortoises require amazingly little work.
5-10 minutes a day maximum are needed to look after the animal, if you keep them in the open air, but not much more is needed in the terrarium. the most important point in the terrarium is the lighting, the need for uv light for the animals. also the space - a 1 metre or 1.2 metre terrarium, depending on the size of the animal, that is manageable. so this is really an ideal terrarium animal, and it is suitable for younger children, always accompanied by the parents. as for lizards, the bearded dragons are definitely the most kept terrarium lizards. here is the classic pogona vitticeps bearded dragon. it is a full-grown male.
i would say it is the classic average size; there are certainly larger specimens, but this is really the full-grown size. here on the left i have the juvenile; it is about three months old. that is the size you should buy. they should not be smaller, because that can cause problems. if you buy an animal, choose this size or even a bit larger. then you can tell the sex more easily, when they’re a little bigger. this is a great terrarium animal, especially because they are also well-behaved and tame. they are naturally as tame as these two. they look pretty.
you need to know that bearded dragons become large specimens, so you will need a huge terrarium. minimum 150cm x 80cm surface area, or preferably 2m x 80cm, which is really quite massive. they have a high metabolic rate and have to be kept hot. during the day you have to supply enough power in this large terrarium, so put large, strong lamps in it. this means that you have at least 10 hours a day of high energy consumption. the animals themselves have a high energy consumption.
they eat an incredible amount. i feed juveniles every day or 5-6 days a week. with a big lad it is sufficient to feed him twice a week. but you must put in the right food and you must be aware of this. of the amount of work you will see in this broadcast the bearded dragon is definitely the animal needing the most work. you have to count on 15-30 minutes a day. the second classic lizards are definitely the leopard geckos. here i have a juvenile; this little one is also no longer a baby,
rather a half-grown animal. here in my left hand is a full-grown leopard gecko. this is roughly the size they grow to, many of them a touch larger, but this is more or less the average size. the great thing about the leopard geckos is that they are a lot less work than the bearded dragons. because they store fat in the tail, as we can see here, i don't need to feed them every day. i would even say that it is sufficient in holiday periods to feed and give water once per week; that is perfectly acceptable.
if you reduce it to once a week in a holiday period, that makes it relatively easy. the 80cm to 1m terrarium size is also more reasonable than for the bearded dragon. of course, this also reduces energy consumption. many people see this as a disadvantage - they are active at dusk. that means that when the terrarium light is switched off, they start to run around, to explore the terrarium and look for food. i don't think that this is such a disadvantage. if you are out all day at work, or the children or adolescents are in school,
if i install my lighting in the terrarium so that it switches off at 1700 hours, then their main active period begins from 1700 hours. i think that is also the time that people arrive home. that is why i maintain that activity at dusk is not a disadvantage. these yemen chameleons are also great terrarium animals. here in my hand a freshly hatched baby. it hatched 2 - 4 days ago. you can see what a tiny animal comes out of the egg. in my right hand i have an animal, which is now
3 months old and that is the age at which they are sold. but it is interesting to see the one at three days old. you can see how fast they grow. at one year old they are fully grown and become adults. without the tail they are approx. 20 cm long. the male, as i said, not counting the tail, accordingly needs lots of space. i would say a terrarium should be 80x80x120cm. they need to be well looked after. the important thing is the uv lighting, which is the real essential. they need it very bright, but not too warm. very well ventilated, an important point for yemen chameleons in general.
with good ventilation you have a great terrarium animal. i would say that of all the animals, which we are showing here and recommending as starter animals, it is certainly the most challenging to keep. as i said, it is important that the terrarium is right; that the lighting is right and that the ventilation is right. but then they are easy to keep and also to breed. important: i am talking at the moment only about yemen chameleons. all the other chameleons, which you find in the trade, e.g. panther chameleons, are significantly more difficult. and all the others, jackson's chameleon, the carpet chameleon and all the others you see are really incredibly difficult to keep. it is really only the yemen chameleons,
which can be kept by beginners. so if you choose a chameleon, then choose a yemen chameleon. then you will have a great terrarium animal, which you can really enjoy. you must be aware that of all the animals i am showing this one needs the most time and work. chameleons must be sprayed every day, because they drink water drops. so they drink spray water; that makes for a lot of work. feeding: the juveniles must be fed every day. the yemen chameleon is not an animal where you can say to your holiday stand-in: ok feed my animal for me once a week. you have to invest 5-10 minutes work every day.
if like me it has to be a snake for you, i have always been the most fascinated and the most enthused by snakes. so if your terrarium animal is to be a snake, there are two standard or classic terrarium snakes. one is the corn snake, which i am showing you here. in my right hand i have a juvenile. it is a few weeks or months old and has eaten a couple of times. that is the about the size, from which it makes sense to buy an animal. you should only buy an animal that has already eaten. it is important that you ask the seller/breeder/dealer; whether the animal feeds independently.
in my left hand i have a full-grown corn snake to show you the size. this is a large male. funnily enough with corn snakes the male is the larger; with other snakes it is the other way round, but with corn snakes the males grow larger. this is an adult male, which is now about 1.4 or 1.5 m long. it is not really obvious, but if i were to hold it outstretched in front of me, you would see that it is at least 1.4 m long. that is the average size: females are a little smaller, about 1.2 to 1.3 m. therefore you need a terrarium 1 m to 1.2 m in length. it must also be relatively high, since corn snakes belong to the rat snakes, which like to climb.
that means a terrarium height of 1 m would be good or would be advisable. then they are great terrarium snakes, always very well-behaved and sociable. they are good to keep and to breed. they really are classics. there are also different colour variants, so it is never boring, if you breed them or have several. they come in all colours, from white to black, everything your heart desires. the corn snake is definitely a great terrarium snake. they need heat only during the day, so from the viewpoint of energy consumption it stays more or less manageable.
during the day 28-30 degrees and at night you can switch everything off down to a low room temperature. that equates to their usual habitat. then you have a really great, lovely terrarium animal. the second, absolutely classic terrarium snake, i just have to say "check my balls". we must not leave out the ball pythons, the royal pythons, currently the number 1 terrarium animal, no argument. in my right hand i have brought you a really freshly hatched baby. it has eaten once and weighs about 80 - 100 g. here i have an adult female - she weighs about 2 kilos -
to show you what they look like fully grown and adult. this is the average size. we have record animals, which weigh 3-4 kilos. the record stands at 4-5 kilos. but the standard size, compared to a normal human being, who is about 1.8 m or 1.85 m tall, a 2 kilo python of standard size has a body about 1.3 m long. as i said, the royal python is a great terrarium animal. you have to be aware that they like it hot. you have to give them heat, 30 degrees during the day. the classic error is to think you have to heat at night as well. at night they need their 26 degrees. but it is an absolutely great terrarium snake, they are always always well-behaved and let you handle them.
they breed well. as far as age goes: i would not let an 8-year old handle a python and certainly not one as big as this. but a boy of about 12 or 13 can certainly look after a python. once again with the maxim: always with the help of the parents, of course. but he can buy a juvenile and grow up with it, so to speak. so this is a great terrarium animal and as far as snakes are concerned, my absolute favourite. the second tip about snakes: it is a matter of taste. one person says: i find corn snakes fascinating.
i think their relatively long, slim bodies are great. someone else says: no, a python with rather more mass, this powerful animal, this rather cool example of the species is better in my opinion. you have to make up your own mind which of the two snakes you like. but as terrarium animal and as a first snake this is a good choice: the royal python. those were the terrarium animals that i think are the most popular and well-suited and great for beginners. there is any amount of other great terrarium animals.
most of them can also be kept by beginners, if you satisfy the climatic conditions and all the trappings properly. this has been simply a selection of what in my opinion are great, suitable animals. as usual we end with a reference to good literature, which you ought to buy, so, if you have decided on one of the animals, buy a good book on it. good books are available for everyone. there are basic series on the animals - on the royal python, on the corn snake, on land tortoises. below in the video description you will find the links to them. you only have to click on the link and you will come to the special episode.
you can take a look, if you want to know about them. so, stay loyal, check my terrarium animals and check my balls! flo is the top pathfinder whoops ... ok look, they can't look better did it sometimes become absolute drivel or is it ok? the second classic terrarium snake .. i don't want to interrupt here, but that is the same as at the start those were my ... and those were ... again? keep properly, if you mind the parameters and the mmmhmmhmmh
the end, over and out ... end it finally up to check my balls here comes zack... the end, the end over and out let's do one more take ... we'll all go on holiday to italy ... come on, make just one take up to check my balls