In 1994, an average man began an adventure to transform his body into a work of art. After 700 hours of tattooing, piercing and surgical body transformations, including Teflon horns and sharpened teeth, Erik Sprague transformed into “Lizardman,” the country’s only reptilian performing artist.

He makes you gasp, cringe and stare in awe as he performs his 12 stunts—including fire manipulation and suspensions—around the country, making annual appearances at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando. Unfortunately for all those Lizardman fans, he is not single. He is happily married to his wife of three years, Meghan. He also owns five ferrets.

Lizardman is willing to share the softer side that lies beneath his rough exterior.

Here are five of Lizardman’s essential rules of dating:

When asking out a girl you need to be bold, without fear. If you have any piercing or strange body modifications like I have with my lizard tongue, do what I would do if I weren’t married.

On the first date always remember to be yourself. It will save you a lot of time and effort covering up the bullshit later on.

Also on the first date, don’t chicken out. Kiss the girl or boy. Get on with it! And I think you should absolutely have sex.

Create your ideal date. The best type of date is marathon sex.

Most importantly, never regret anything: not sex, not hookups, not any relationship. That is my motto.