The first weeks

Run the enclosure empty for 48 hours, collect the animal yourself, and quarantine it for 12 weeks.

Setting up, first fortnight

Build it a week before the animal arrives

The enclosure should be running, stable and measured before the animal is in the room. Set it up around a stressed animal that has just travelled, and you'll spend the first fortnight chasing temperatures instead.

Build and site the enclosure, following Your home and household.
Wire every heat source through its thermostat, with the probe on the basking surface and the stat set to the species' basking temperature.
Add substrate, hides or planting, and water.
Run it empty for at least 48 hours. Check the basking surface, warm-end air, cool-end air and humidity, morning and evening. Adjust until the readings hold overnight.
Collect the animal, put it straight in, close the enclosure, and leave it alone.

The first two weeks, any species

No handling for 7-14 days. A refused first meal in a new home is normal. Wait before offering again rather than trying daily. Change water, spot-clean, watch from a distance, and otherwise leave the animal to settle. Each species guide gives when to offer the first meal.

Buying, collection, quarantine

What to ask the seller, and how to quarantine

Have the enclosure built and running first (see Setting up). Read PAAG's advice on buying a pet online alongside this section.

Ask the seller

Year of birth, and whether it was captive-bred. Every bask listing must carry a year of birth before it can go live.
The feeding record for the last four feeds: dates, food, size, and any refusals or regurgitations.
Its weight now, and a month ago.
When it last shed, and whether the skin came off cleanly.
Its morph and genetics, and what any welfare note or breeding guidance on the listing means for this animal. See Morphs and welfare.
Its current setup, including temperatures, substrate and food, so the move changes as little as possible.

A seller who keeps animals well can answer all of these without looking anything up.

Check the animal

Look for clear eyes, a clean mouth and a clean vent, with no mites around the eyes, chin or vent. The body should be rounded, with no folds and no visible spine or hip bones. Breathing should be silent with the mouth closed, and the animal should be alert, with good grip and muscle tone when handled.

Who you are buying from

Every bask store is labelled Hobbyist, Trade-only or Licensed. Licensed stores show a licence number, the issuing council and its star rating. bask does not verify those numbers, because there is no national register to check them against. If a licence matters to you, confirm it with the council named.

bask rules for every sale

Buyers must be 18 or over. Animals never travel by post or parcel courier: collection is in person, or by an APHA-authorised live-animal transporter, and any listing offering postal delivery is removed. Morphs on REPTA's prohibited list cannot be listed at all.

Collection day

Transport in a cloth bag or ventilated tub inside an insulated box, kept within the species' cool-end temperature range. Go straight home, straight into the running enclosure, close it, and follow the first two weeks.

Quarantine, if you already keep reptiles

Keep the new animal in quarantine for at least twelve weeks, in a separate room, on paper substrate so mites and abnormal droppings are easy to see. Service the new animal last, wash your hands between enclosures, and share no equipment. Mites travel between enclosures on hands and sleeves, and they are far easier to keep out than to get rid of.