They are cute and cuddly, but not the traditional soft and fluffy pets most people are used to.

Meet Sleepy and Liz, two reptilian ramblers spotted during their latest sojourn — in the main street of the South Australian fishing city of Port Lincoln.

Sleepy, 8, and Liz, 6, are bearded dragons owned by Rory Bascombe from the Adelaide suburb of Hillbank.

He said their trio were inseparable, to the point where he even takes them on holidays.

Rory Bascombe takes his bearded dragons, Sleepy and Liz, away on holidays with him. ( ABC Eyre Peninsula: Tim Jeanes )

"They love it although I walk too slow for them — they want to run all the time," Mr Bascombe said.

"Kids reckon they're great. They always want to hold them and give them a cuddle."



But it was not lizard love at first sight.

"I was in a pet shop and [Liz] was knocking on the glass saying 'take me home, take me home'," Mr Bascombe said.

"I left, but an hour later had to go back and get her. Next thing, I had to get her a friend... so here we all are."

Deb Kelly, manager of animal welfare at the South Australian Environment, Water and Natural Resources department, said bearded dragons were popular pets.

"They look rather big and mean and cute because they've got all the spikes on them, little kids love them," Ms Kelly said.



"They look like dragons or like dinosaurs, but they are just so nice-natured.

"They are really gentle, they can be trained, they're relatively easy to keep, and they're not too big."

Ms Kelly said bearded dragons were generally easy to care for and did not need a lot of room.

"Particularly if you live in a small area, say you're in a small unit or an apartment — they do make a charming pet," she said.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 45 seconds 45 s A time lapse video of a bearded dragon shedding its skin.

Popular pets, but stick to the rules

But, she said people needed to make sure they were sticking to the law if they wanted to keep their own little scaly friend.

Each state and territory has its own laws about which animals can and can not be kept, and whether or not licences are needed.

In South Australia, people can have one bearded dragon without a permit, but need the right paperwork to sell them or keep more than one.

"I certainly hope and trust that people who care enough about reptiles to want to keep them would do the right thing and make sure that they look after their animals and follow the system, which has worked for a long time," Ms Kelly said.

She said in states where it was legal to keep bearded dragons as pets, they needed to be legally sourced.

"That really means that you buy it from a pet shop or you buy it from a breeder. You can't just take them from the wild," Ms Kelly warned.

She said getting to know reptiles better and keeping them as a pet gave people a greater understanding of them.

"A lot of people are frightened of reptiles because they do look almost extra-terrestrial in some ways," she said.

"They're strange, which is part of their appeal, but I think by people loving an individual, they learn to respect the whole species."



'Very expressive' pets

Dan McPharlin's bearded dragon, Cornelius, has been known to wear the odd hat. ( Supplied: Dan McPharlin )

Dan McPharlin is another proud 'dragon master' and owner of Cornelius.

"I had Igor who ran away, and then I bought Corny and Trogdor," he said.

Trogdor died from a twisted bowel, and Cornelius became a little more outgoing.

Mr McPharlin said bearded dragons are smart critters that could be trained.

"I can leave him outside and when he wants to go back home, he'll scratch on the door," he said.

"I'll open it, and he'll walk across the room and go into his enclosure."

He said bearded dragons also had very big personalities.



"You see the joy on his face when he catches a cricket, or the satisfaction when he's fanned out outside in a nice sunny spot," Mr McPharlin said.

"Or that grumpy look when he's sleeping and he opens one eye and looks grumpy if you've woken him up.

"I don't know if I'm imagining those looks, but I think he's very expressive."