OK, so by popular demand, I've made the decision to bring back the 52 Week Coundown of the coolest Species being kept in Captivity.

So, obviously, this is a totally opinion based blog publication, but I am not close minded towards your opinions on which species should be included in this list.  So contact me in any way, email, facebook, text, etc. to throw your $0.02 in my direction.  Granted the finite nature of this countdown, and the fact that I will be excluding the 52 species that were included in the 2010-2011 countdown, there can only be so many posts.  I must say, that I am a bit biased towards species I have in my collection, because if I wasn't I wouldn't have acquired them.  I will try my best to not only include pictures (as high quality as I could take, or obtain), but also video's.  So the countdown will be not only of species that I keep, but those kept by others in the hobby, and credit will be given towards the individuals that help me out.  That being said, I have created a video to hype you people up.  I consider it as somewhat of a brief glimpse of what's in store.  I apologize for the video's quality at times, YouTube removed some of the audio sections due to copy rite infringement.  I apologize to the musicians that I have stolen from.  I'm going to try and have some fun with this count down.  Special thanks to all the organizations that fight for our right to keep these beautiful exotic animals.  Please support them with whatever means you can do so, they are critical for the continuation of this hobby!!!  Yours truly, Oli  

Sphaerodactylus macrolepis

Here, as you can see, is a very small gecko native to St. John, USVI.  I came across these geckos while vacationing, about 15 yards from the beach.  They reside in the leaf litter of sea grapes.  They are the only indigenous species to the island, but there are other introduced species which occupy the island as well.  

The last photo here is of their native environment, and yes, they have it good!

Gekko gekko

Good evening!  I've just come here to clear up any debate to the rawdog community on whether we are keeping any common species. The answer is yes, absolutely.  Personally, I like a lot of the more common species. I feel like they are definitely common for the reason that they are well liked and have many desirable characteristics, ie. look great, great coloration, awesome personality, great eaters, ease of care/hardiness and so on. I have kept leopard geckos, and ball pythons in the past, and as played out as they may very well be, I still think they are beautiful geckos. I was having this discussion with a friend this past weekend at the white plains reptile show, and it seems to arise in conversation often. I just love the natural beauty of these reptiles. I even really like how morphs look, there I said it lol. Put that in your pipe, and smoke it! 😉

Rhoptropus boultoni, and a nicely colored Nephrurus Levis Levis.

Here's just a few pictures of some geckos at my place. The first is an African rock dwelling species, and the last is one of our favorite knob tail gecko species!  Enjoy!  

Here are a few of this past seasons S c ciliaris and a few others.Sorry if some are repeats

Cordylus cataphractus feeding time....

Hello reptile lovers world wide. At this moment I'm posting a video that was shot this morning of my tail biters aka armadillo lizards eating some superworms. Thanks for looking. Oli

Hey guys, I was just going through some of my older pictures from back about 7 years ago or so, and I came across this species which at the time was very popular, and quite prevalent within the 'aussie lovers' or 'velvet gecko' community.  The Oedura marmarota.  There are two localities pictured here, the eastern and the western form.  They can be pretty secretive at times, but as you can see, they are pretty geckos.  This is another species that, like I said, was relatively prevalent, but now, they are very hard to come across.  This is a discussion that I've been having a lot recently.  From popular and rare, to abundant and losing popularity, to now again, sought after, but difficult to find or procure.  I guess the laws of supply and demand hold true even for geckos, and reptiles in general.  In a way, I have a respect for all you leopard gecko, crested gecko, or ball python guys out there because you know that you enjoy the species, and regardless as to whether the animals are in extreme abundance or not, you stick to the species project at hand.  It seems different within the more 'rare' or shall I say "lesser abundant in the hobby" gecko enthusiasts now a days.  These folks, seems to follow the trends constantly, and try and jump on the 'next big species wave.'  And I must admit, I have done this myself, so I am not calling anyone out.  It should not be for the money, but for the love of the art....Until the next ranting ;)