Keeping your pet reptiles happy and healthy

Pet reptiles like snakes, bearded dragons, and crested geckos don’t run, shed, or scratch expensive furniture, and yet they can still be a sight to behold. However, just like cats and dogs, reptiles require your utmost attention if they are to live a long, quality life in your care.

Avoid keeping reptiles at home

Every year, millions of animals around the world are put to sleep due to a lack of shelters for them to stay in, so unless you can provide enough space for multiple reptiles on your property, avoid keeping reptiles indoors. If you have a python, for example, you need to understand that a python can lay dozens of eggs, which means you need to have the same number of cages or containers for each of the babies. However, these babies will eventually grow larger and take up more space. If you want your pet reptiles to receive the care and attention they need, let this be your number one consideration.

Provide Excellent Housing

Most reptiles are not like cats and dogs that love to run around and play a lot. However, they still deserve decent housing where they can have enough space to move around. This is crucial for muscle development. Many times, you will see reptile owners keeping snakes in long tanks, but not quite tall enough. This may seem correct since snakes just crawl. However, you need to understand that snakes can also climb trees, so ideally give them a tall cage with several tree branches to climb on.

Offer nothing but high-quality food

Each reptile has its own unique needs in terms of food. Some people think that snakes only need to be fed once a month, but this is a myth. In fact, most reptiles need to be fed daily. Find out how often you should feed your particular pet and avoid overfeeding. However, the most important thing to remember is to provide high-quality reptile food. Most reptiles are carnivorous, so you’ll want to have a constant supply of pre-killed or thawed food for your snakes. Avoid feeding live foods. In the wild, this is fine, but in a home where a pet owner is present to feed them, reptiles must be fed previously slaughtered food.

Regular veterinary checkups are a must

In order for your pet reptiles to live a long and quality life, be sure to take them to the vet regularly. This will help find possible health problems and treat them early. Depending on your area, there may or may not be an exotic animal vet. Also, a visit to the vet can be very expensive, even more expensive than the cost of most reptiles kept as pets. For this reason, don’t buy a pet reptile in the first place if you’re not ready to spend it.