Reptiles, advice please?

[TitsalinaBumSquash]

My son would love to bring a lizard into the family, he's amazing with animals but highly allergic to fur, we had a little dog and they were best pals but DS's allergies were getting to a clinically dangerous level so Ddog now lives with good friends of ours but DS is distraught that he doesn't have a pet in the house anymore.

He has asked for a lizard and has presented us with a list of ones he feels would be good for our first one, he thinks a bearded dragon would be a good choice. (He has gathered this from a lot of reading books and googling)

I'm not against the idea, I KNOW that I am responsible for any animals that come into the house incase DS gets bored etc etc.
I however know not the first thing about reptiles and if they're good pets!

I'm not willing to have a snake in my house so that idea is out. We occasionally babysit a tortoise but he bites (a lot) so DS isn't as keen!

It's a really 'in the future' type thought and we'd speak to experts IRL of course but wondered if MN had any wise words for us on reptiles please.

We're just researching getting a leopard gekko so this is really helpful. I've seen online some paste food.. Is this OK or do they have to have the live food? If so, how long do the crickets live for if you get them from the shop, how long can you keep them alive in the box or whatever?

Bearded dragons are meant to be amazing pets. We have a tortoise 🐢 and he is a joy and extremely low-maintenance. He is a real personality without much hard work.

We have a crested gecko and we never live feed and only used the paste.
The breeder said this was fine and we’ve had him 2 years and he’s very healthy and happy (I think, it’s hard to tell)

Thank you.. The guy in the shop I went to said the opposite. I don't really feel like we're ready to take this on yet.

I suppose leopard and crested geckos are slightly different but the guy we got ours off is a member of all sorts of (slightly odd) reptile related groups. Plus I was sent to him by a member of the Royal Herpetologist Society so I trusted him.
We arranged to meet at a reptile and exotics show in the area and he advised us on the set up and then he came over (2.5 hour round trip) to see it in situ before handing over the little chap. We still keep in touch.
Reptile/exotics people can be a bit off the wall but they are usually really passionate and knowledgeable about their animals. Try to find one rather than go to a shop.

Sorry, it’s the British Herpetological society

Thank you.. That's really helpful.

@HugeAckmanswife leopard geckos and created geckos are totally different species with different diets.
Crested geckos are fed paste as they are omnivores (in the wild they'd eat fruit and insects). A friend of mine has one, the paste is weird stuff but they're easier to care for than other reptiles.
Leopard geckos eat insects only (insectivores).

Thank you. I'm going to tell dd we have much more research to do

Sorry not sure if this has already been mentioned, but I feed my reptiles Dubia roaches and my beardie loves them. They don’t escape or smell, they live for ages, they don’t make any noise, they can be put in a wide dish so that they don’t go missing around the viv, they’re easy to breed and are much more nutritious than crix or hoppers. Slightly more expensive and definitely don’t buy from pets at home but I’d recommend them to anyone.

Also, beardies are amazing and if I had the space I’d have loads of them 😂