Three Pets That Are a Bigger Deal Than They Look

A cheap baby lizard. A small, colorful skink. A parakeet barely bigger than a lovebird. None of these three look like they come with real strings attached. All three do.

Green Iguana: the baby doesn't predict the adult

A $30 iguana hatchling gives no hint of what's coming, a 6 to 7 foot adult with real claws, a genuine tail-whip, and a temperament that shifts noticeably during breeding season. Inadequate care is so common in this species that an estimated 70% of captive iguanas don't survive their first year. This is squarely the same "outgrows the setup" story already told here by the savannah monitor and Argentine tegu, just with a strictly herbivorous, arboreal twist.

Green Iguana Cost · Handling · Health Issues · Enclosure Setup

Fire Skink: colorful doesn't mean handleable

Bright red, black, and gold banding reads as friendly and approachable. What's actually underneath that coloring is a skittish, fast, burrowing lizard, a real step away in temperament from the docile blue-tongued skink, despite both wearing the name skink.

Fire Skink Cost · Handling · Health Issues · Enclosure Setup

Quaker Parakeet: small bird, serious fine print

A parakeet-sized bird that talks like a parrot four times its price, builds nests unlike any other parrot species, and, in a meaningful number of states, isn't legal to own at all. Nothing about this bird's size suggests any of that.

Quaker Parakeet Cost · Handling & Legality · Health Issues · Cage Setup

The common thread

Small, cheap, or approachable at first glance describes all three of these pets, and predicts almost nothing real about keeping them. The iguana's price says nothing about its adult size. The fire skink's color says nothing about its temperament. And the Quaker's size says nothing about its talking ability, its unusual nesting instinct, or whether you're even allowed to own one where you live. Read the actual guide before you judge any of these three by their cover.