Bettas make a great beginner fish, and cockatiels are manageable for bird novices. First-timers in dogs often choose the easygoing Labrador retriever.

And if you’re looking for a starter reptile? Kelli Hammack of Fort Worth, Texas, votes for the leopard gecko.

“Their requirements in captivity are easy to meet,” says Hammack, who, with her husband, Steve, breeds leopard geckos — as well as tarantulas, boas and pythons.

Unlike the ever-popular iguana, which can grow so large that many are turned in to reptile rescue, leopard geckos mature to be only about 9 inches long. Eublepharis Macularius differs from other gecko species in that it lacks adhesive lamellae and so cannot walk up vertical surfaces.

Leopard geckos are a yellowish-tan color with the distinctive black spots that give them their name, and are reasonably priced — in the $20 range. But more than a decade ago, color hybrids began popping up. “Morphs,” as they’re called, can cost up to $1,000, depending on coloration or pattern.

Whatever their hue, housing these reptiles can be “as simple as a 10-gallon tank with a human heating pad under half of it,” says Hammack. Be sure to heat only half of the enclosure — a toasty 87 to 90 degrees is ideal — while the unheated half stays at room temperature.