Meet Mom & Dad Madagascar Hissing Cockroach! These are some Big Bugs! at full size they will be 2-4 inches Long! They are one of the fascinating animal species to hail from the island of Madagascar! Madagascar is a island off of the southeast coast of Africa. The Male’s have Horns on the top of their heads (AKA also called Longhorn Roaches) Both the male and female’s can hiss when scared for mating rituals and during battles. The male’s use their horns to become king of the roach colony, strongest roach wins. Another interesting fact is that the female’s give birth to live young 30-60 at a time.

Meet Rose, she is a Chilean Rose Tarantula, they are know for their docile nature, low toxicity and beautiful coloring, this makes them one of the most common tarantulas of the exotic pet trade. As her name states she is from Chile and lives in the dry deserts regions and females can live up to 20 years! Since tarantula’s lungs are on located in their abdomen it is very easy for them to drown. She has a shallow water dish in her cage with rocks in it so she does not drown.

Meet Leo, he is a Leopard Gecko, and comes from the Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan & India regions. In the wild they live in the high desert mountains. These gecko’s do have eyelids, and this one even looks likes it is smiling! They are Nocturnal, so they have big eyes and do there hunting for food at night & spend most days under a rock! These little guys are pretty hardy lizards and do make pretty good pets. They eat live insects & worms, and drink water from a shallow dish. They can grow to 6-7 inches and live 15-20 years when well cared for. I do recommend these guys for your 1st exotic pet!

Meet Mel, He is a specially breed of Bearded Dragon. He is a Citrus and Leather-back breed meaning that he has been bread for the colors and the smoother back that he has. Citrus because of the citrus fruits, Orange & Lemon colors and Leather-back for his slightly smaller scales and smoother back! Bearded Dragons are from the land of Oz, Australia that is. Bearded Dragons are Omnivorous, that means they eat both Vegetables and insects. Dark Greens are best for them (mustard, turnip, collard green) and they love to chase live crickets & superworms. They live in the desert and love to bake in the sun. Not only do they love it, but they need to bask in the sun to metabolism the food they eat into the calcium then need so the do not get MBD. (Metabolic Bone Disease)

Also know as the Imperial Scorpion, are one of the largest scorpions in the world! 6 to 8 inches when fully grown. They are very good at digging and have been found up to 6ft deep in termite mounds. Termites are their favorite food. They are considered Arachnids so they are related to Tarantulas. They can be found in the Rain Forests and savannas in west Africa. Scorpions have very poor eyesight, but very good hearing.

In this photo you can see the Stinger and Venom sack at the end of his tail, They are VENOMOUS!

Meet Oscar Rose, she has been in my family all of her life! She started with my sister as a baby, and was to young to tell if she was a male or female, so she gave her two names, so once she was old enough to determine that she was a female, her name was changed to Rose! Rose is now 16 years old! she started off eating live mice and rats, but is now eating pre-killed rats! Brendan feeds all of his snakes pre-killed for the safety of the snakes. Ball Pythons do make a great first snake because of their great personalities.

Meet Urie, He is a Mali Uromastyx. Urie is also a rescue, he came to me as a Egyptian Uromastyx. After doing some more research I was able to find out that he is a Mali Uromastyx. There are 14 recognized species of Uromastyx, so it can be a little tricky to recognize which is which. Because breeding these in captivity has not been very successful most of these lizards have been caught in the wild and shipped all over the world to be sold in the pet trade. For this reason I do not recommend them as pets, unless they are being rescued like Urie was or from a captive breeder. When I got him he was covered in sand and you could barely see his awesome black & yellow coloring! His fingernails had not been trimmed in a long time & were the longest I have ever seen. Uromastyx’s are 100% vegetarian 99% of the time! Which means that they can eat a cricket or meal worm on occasion.

Meet Mr. Freckles, he is a 9 year old Redtail Boa Constrictor. His owner raised him from a baby, he was about 16 inches long when he got him. Mr. Freckles is now over 9 feet long and just over 30 lbs. He was donated to Reptile Guy in June of 2014. His owner started his own business and it has taken off. Not having as much time to spend with Mr. Freckles he wanted him to have a good home. Mr. Freckles first appearance with Reptile Guy was in a photo shoot for a TV commercial. Redtails average between 9-13 feet long and can live between 20-30 years. Redtails can make a good pet but do get quite large and are not for everyone. The general rule is you should always have two adults around when working with snakes over 8ft long.

Meet Boaz, he was a 14 year old Redtail Boa Constrictor. Boaz was the first Redtail that I used when I started doing programs with Reptile Guy. I was blessed to have him for just over two years. He grew up on the east side of Nashville, his 1st owner kept him from a young age until about 4 years old. This is a snakes prime growing season. Most snakes grow the fastest the first 1-3 year of their life, and then continue to grow just at a much slower rate the rest of their lives. Unfortunately Boaz was kept in a cage that was to small for him to grow as big as he should have these first few year and his growth was stunted. Boaz’s 2nd owner took very good care of him, I was his 3rd owner. Boaz was 6 1/2ft long, and a very gentle and chill Redtail which made him great for programing. Thank you for your two year of service it was a pleasure working with you. Rest in Peace!

Carpet Pythons come from the island of Australia, I rescued this guy from about the 4th or 5th owner, he got it because it looked cool! The problem was he was not an experienced snake owner, and was scared of how fast he is and was afraid of getting bitten. Since I have had him, he has turned out to have a great personality and even though he is the fastest snake I have he has never tried to strike or bite me or anyone else! He is so nice that he does not ever strike at his rat dinner. I have to just leave a pre-killed rat in his cage and he finds it and eats it, which is very rare for a constrictor to do. He does not have the exact markings of a Jungle Carpet Python so he may be a mix between a Jungle and a Coastal Python.

Meet Twitch, Our Colombian Black & White Tegu, Not to be confused with the more popular Argentinian Black & White Tegu (if you just say Black & White Tegu most people will think Argentinian not Colombian) Twitch is almost 3 years old and still growing. It is eating a diet of Insects, Superworms, Pinkies, Ground Turkey, Hard Boiled Eggs, and fruit! His personality is still a bit skid-dish, but he is getting better day by day! My daily goal is to hold him twice a day if not more! These guys have powerful jaws & a strong tail that they can use to push off of when jumping, or use like a whip in defense. Twitch It is about 30 inches long now, but could still grow to over 3ft at full grown.

Meet Sunshine, she is a 5 year old Albino Burmese Python. She grew up in southern TN, her 1st owner did not take very good care of her, when the Reptile Guy received her she was under weight, length and had some very bad scale rot. She was also kept in a cage that was to small and her growth has been stunted. She is currently almost 8 ft long, but should be over 12ft long by now. She was also not handled very much and HISSED very loudly at first, but has since calmed down and only hisses when scared. In the last few years, Sunshine has been eating well, and lounging in a custom made snake enclosure. Now set up in her new home she has a hot side of 90-95 during the day and a cool side of 75-80 at night. Burmese Pythons also like high humidity. Sunshine gets her name from her brightly colored scales, which are mostly Yellow, White with some Pink, because she is an Albino. Albinism can be found is all creatures including humans. Albino is a genetic trait that is passed down from their parents or past generations.