The article summarizes the literature data on the frequency and causes of diseases of reptiles, the peculiarities of their infection with bacterial microorganisms, the use of antimicrobial drugs and the development of antibiotic resistance. It should be noted that the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs in veterinary herpetology has its own characteristics, due primarily to the peculiarities of thermoregulation and metabolism in reptiles, the nature of the pathogenic microflora inherent in these animals. In reptiles, infection with gram-negative microorganisms is more common: enterobacteria (salmonella, Escherichia coli, Proteus) and gram-positive bacteria (staphylococci and streptococci), as well as saprophytes belonging to the group of spore-forming microorganisms. Some species of actinomycetes show quite pronounced pathogenic activity as well. Reptiles suffer from salmonellosis or are salmonella carriers. In such cases, conditions are created for the potential infection of humans with salmonella, most often infecting children and the elderly who come into contact with sick reptiles. Other anthropozoonoses (eschiriosis, leptospirosis, chlamydia, campylobacteriosis, streptococcal and staphylococcal infections, fungal infections, etc.) are dangerous as well. Antibiotics were prescribed to sick reptiles “at the beginning” of the development of veterinary herpetology. The effectiveness of antimicrobial drugs depends on many factors (species, age and sex of reptiles, their physiological state: temperature, metabolic rate, the presence of underlying and comorbidities, the type of bacteria that infect reptiles and their resistance to antibacterial drugs, etc.). Unlike mammals, reptiles have a portal venous system of the kidneys, which is represented by a system of veins, through which much of the venous blood from the back of the body enters the portal vein of the kidneys, which breaks down into a system of capillaries isolated many toxic compounds, including antibiotics. Thus, the portal venous system of the kidneys, together with the portal venous system of the liver play an important role in the metabolism and excretion of most antibiotics. Taking into account the potential nephrotoxicity of antibiotics and the possibility of their rapid excretion from the body (due to the presence of the portal venous system of the kidneys), most herpetologists recommend parenteral administration of drugs to reptiles in the front of the body. Thus, when choosing and using antibacterial drugs for the treatment of infectious diseases of reptiles should take into account a number of morpho-functional features of reptiles, sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics, choose the right dose, frequency, method and place of administration, consider the possibility of complications.