Hey mick!
welcome to APS ,you will find everything you need to know and more here.
there many people on this site who have fantastic knowledge of reptiles in the wild and in captivity. There may be some people who just waste your time but most ,myself included, will more then willing to help ,that I can promise you,. Though sometimes we may get off topic but we will get back on topic and answer your question.
I'm a lizard keeper ,I'm starting to get into snakes,. I got my first medium sized reptile when I was 5 and I've been keeping medium reps ever since but I prfer and favor the small species especially geckos and pygopods. I recommend a bearded dragon for beginner keepers even though a gecko or pygopod sounds like something for a beginner a few of them aren't. They are fragile ,some have speciall requirements in diet and habitat especially some of the tropical and desert species ,such as the burtons which only eats other lizards. However if you want one I would suggest a common species like the 'marbled gecko or the ,introduced, 'Asian house gecko' for geckos and the 'common scaly foot' for pygopods. Again welcome.
Hope this has helped kindest regards
Reptiles4me
So many people with great knowledge of herps 
