Start Here: Every Care Guide by Species

Every ReptileCareGuide article, grouped by species. Each guide gives measurable targets (basking and cool-side temperatures, humidity, enclosure size, feeding schedule) and the mistakes beginners make most often in the first weeks.

Last updated October 29, 2026. These guides are general husbandry information, not veterinary advice. If your animal shows signs of illness, contact a reptile-experienced veterinarian.

Snakes

Turtles and tortoises

Geckos, skinks and other lizards

Bearded dragons: habitat, heat and UVB

Bearded dragons: feeding, health and routine

General husbandry and safety

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Why Do Kenyan Sand Boas Need a Heat Lamp, Not a Heat Mat? The First-60-Days Mistake Beginners Make

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The Rosy Boa Overfeeding Mistake: Why a Weekly Feeding Schedule Is Too Much in the First 60 Days

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The common belief, repeated across a lot of general snake-care advice: feed your pet snake once a week, maybe once every ten days once it's an adult. For a corn snake or a ball python, that's a reasonable starting point. For a rosy boa — one of the most beginner-friendly, docile snakes in the US pet trade, and a species increasingly recommended as a bearded-dragon alternative — a weekly schedule is overfeeding, and the fat that builds up in the first 60 days is hard to notice until it's already a problem. A rosy boa (Lichanura trivirgata) photographed in Joshua Tree National Park. Photo by Robb Hannawacker, National Park Service — U.S. federal government work, public domain / CC BY 2.0. Original file and license . Case A: the adult still eating every seven days Most widely shared snake-feeding guidelines were written with colubrids in mind — corn snakes, kingsnakes, garter snakes — species that are more active, burn through energy faster, and come from habitats with...
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