Heyoo, hello there fellow pet lizards enthusiast! I suggested you best starter lizards. In this article, let’s talk about the worst lizards for beginners.
Within the scope of the article, these fields are applied for beginners only. If you are experts on breeding lizards, you don’t have to worry about this.
So, let’s get started!
Btw, before getting to the article content. Thanks to unsplash.com for the super cute pet lizards there.
List of Worst lizards for beginners
While reptiles, especially lizards, are commonly available in pet stores and inexpensive, it does not make them the ideal pets for beginners. The majority of reptiles are not suited for captivity life.
Furthermore, everyone has to consider their size, temperaments, and aggressiveness.
They also have difficult care requirements and other considerations to take into account.
However, in the list created for the worst starter pet lizards, we do not say that they cannot be pets. They are just more difficult to keep, especially for starter pet owners.
Iguana
The green iguanas are some of the most common and cheap pets in the market.
They are also sociable and intelligent, but they grow into large monitors. They can grow to 5-6 feet and have razor sharp spikes, talons and also have large teeth.
As such, this creates a hazard for the handler where even the tame iguanas can accidentally cause nasty cuts or slashes, which necessitates handling with care.
Furthermore, their caging requirements can reach up to half the size of an average bedroom, as well as, special lighting and heating.
The babies grow fast and thus require space planning to be in place up front. They can live up to 15 – 20+ years. They grow up to 5-6 feet.
Requirements
- At a minimum, they need a 6 x 6 x 6 feet cage as adults
- Vegetable diet
- Controlled lighting and heating
Pros
- Cheap
- Easy to find
Cons
- Aggressive animals
- Their large size requires large space
- They are high maintenance and a big commitment
Read more: iguanas now illegal in Florida
Savannah Monitor
The second species of worst lizards for beginners is Savannah Monitor. It is not suited for starters, not because of the cost.
The savannah monitor is a cheap lizard. A baby can cost below $25, but they grow into large monsters that can inflict injury through bites or break bones using their tail whip. As a result, they are victims of abandonment as adults by impulse buyers.
They are good pet monitors, but not ideal for beginner keepers. They require experience handling and lager cage spaces.
Savannah monitors also eat a lot and thus require cleaning after every day, which increases the tasks involved.
Their intelligence is high making them great escape artists and can result in extensive property damage.
They live from 10 to more than 15 years and can grow to 3-4 feet.
Requirements
- The cages needed for the adults must be minimum 4 x 8 x 4 feet
- They need special controlled heating, humidity and lighting
Pros
- They are easy to find and cheap
- Evenly tempered compared to other monitors
Cons
- Savannah Monitor‘s size is large
- Quite messy
- They require intensive resource investment
Green Anole
The green anole is a common and a cheap lizard as well. However, whereas they are cheap to acquire, their maintenance is expensive.
They require expensive lighting and controlled environment whose cost is numerous times the initial cost.
Although the anoles look pretty, they are easily stressed and should not be handled regularly.
They are also carnivorous, which increases their need for daily insect diet supply for the juveniles and every other day for the adults.
It is easy to keep them with a proper setup, but due to their flighty nature and specific care needs, one needs to think and decide wisely before buying them.
Green anoles live from 3 to 5 years and can grow up to 5 to 8 inches.
Read more: What do green anoles eat?
Requirements
- They require a 10-20 gallon tank or equivalent
- They need controlled heating, UVA and UVB lighting
Pros
- Easy to find and cheap
- They are small in size
Cons
- Their set up is expensive
- They are easily stressed
Chameleon
Whereas chameleons can do well while in captivity, they are very specific on their needs and are generally unforgiving.
They need specialized care as most of those found in stores are caught from the wild making them difficult to handle and care for.
The wild-caught chameleons also carry diseases and parasites, thus one must ensure that they are captive bred.
Even though they are beautiful, chameleons are best not being handled unless it is extremely necessary as they are easily hurt or stressed.
They also need high humidity and a special terrarium with fake or natural plants. Ideally, they should have automated misting systems.
Chameleons are fascinating but need extra research and commitment to keep as pets. They live up to 2 – 5 years and their size is variable.
In other word, Chameleons is one of the worst lizards for beginners
Requirements
- Their cage size is dependent on the species size
- They need controlled lighting and specific humidity
Pros
- They are unique and fascinating
Cons
- Expensive set up needs
- Easily stressed
- They are not handling-friendly
Other Monitors
There are numerous commonly available monitor species that include Asian water monitors, Nile monitors, and green tree monitors among others.
Most of these animals make poor captives as they grow to large sizes and have extremely delicate environmental needs.
As such, it is important to conduct in depth research before buying one of these monitors.
While babies might be intelligent and inexpensive, the maintenance costs can rise into thousands of dollars.
In addition, it is important to consider that they may be wild-caught and could be harbouring pests and parasites.
The lifespan varies with the species and most are large in size.
Requirements
- Most require large cages
- They also need controlled lighting, humidity and heating
Pros
- High intelligence
- Attractive
Cons
- Expensive to maintain
- Difficult to care for especially for first time keepers
- Aggressiveness
hey, not all monitors are bad for beginners, ackie, dumeril’s, timor, argus, black-throated, peach-throated, storr’s pygmy, and even asian water monitors make great pets, even for begginers