Bringing home your new pet is one of the most exciting things about having a reptile! There are a few important things you can do to make sure you start off on the right foot with your new friend.
First, you want to make sure your enclosure is set up and your temperature gradient is established BEFORE you bring your animal home. This way they will already have comfortable spots to sit in and can get comfortable right away.
Next, evaluate the location you have selected for your animal’s enclosure. Is it in a noisy area with high traffic? Did you get a nervous species of snake, or a jumpy lizard? If so, and you have a glass-front enclosure, you may benefit from putting bars of paper tape on the front of the enclosure. This will break up line of sight and make the giant humans walking in front of the enclosure a little less intimidating. As time passes and you see the animal calm down, you can reduce the number of tape pieces and then remove it altogether.
It can also be useful to consider placing your enclosure against a wall or make sure the back is covered, so that the front is the main viewing area for the reptile. This creates more of a “sheltered” area and prevents people from walking all around the enclosure. Having a person in front of you, and then suddenly behind you, can be a little scary!
Next, after you bring your reptile home it is important to leave them alone for about a week to allow them to adjust to their surroundings—and your schedule, too. Go about your normal husbandry—checking them or spraying their enclosure or changing out their water—but resist the urge to pull out and play with your new friend. They already have a whole lot going on! They are watching you every day, learning your routine, and adapting to your home/work schedule. They will get used to their new lighting, whether it is the enclosure’s lights or light coming through a window in the room.
Of course, the “leaving your animal alone for a week” idea can sometimes be immediately ruined…by your animal. They might leave an enormous poo on the nice, fresh substrate provided, or they might climb into something you didn’t realize would be a problem, and you might need to pull them out. It happens! And that is OK. Just do your best to give your new reptile as much privacy as you can.
During this introductory period, you can start introducing your animal to a feeding schedule. For snakes, who only need food every week or so, you can offer them a first meal after a few days (depending on their feeding schedule before coming home with you). For lizards, you can start providing meals at whatever you plan your regular time to be.
After the introduction week, it is important to start working with and socializing your animal. For very young, impressionable animals like lizards, this may be a daily activity, and it may be as basic as offering food on tongs (especially if they are initially too nervous to accept food on tongs) or as involved as removing the animal and carrying them to a handling area. For snakes, taking them out once a week or once every few days may be sufficient. But it is important to establish a handling routine with them, so they understand when you plan to handle them. If you are nervous about handling your animal (it was much easier at the store, right?), you can signal handling time by gently touching them with a snake hook before reaching in to pick them up. Usually a snake at rest under a hide will figure it out pretty quickly if you always pick up the hide before lifting them out of the enclosure. This is also very different from a food signal, such as dangling a mouse on tongs in front of the hide entrance. Keep these things in mind in your first weeks with your animal, as you are basically teaching them what their everyday life with you will be like.
Finally, relax and have fun! Enjoy your new animal. Remember that once the basic husbandry is set up—temperature, humidity, and basic needs like shelter and water—the rest will come in time. There is no need to rush. You and your new reptile will learn more about each other, together.
