A responsible dog or cat breeder is expected to dote constant attention on their animal and treat it just as they would a non-breeding animal.
It’s much more expensive to buy one from a “breeder” and pay for the spay/neuter yourself, all the shots, etc. The shots are taken care of at the shelter.
However, many reptile breeders have such large facilities they have to hire people (in the dog/cat world this would be called a puppy/kitten mill) just to get work done. They’re kept in pretty small tanks, some even without hides. Can someone please explain this?
Tags: People
Not everyone has a heart. To some it’s quantity, not quality, and profit before proper care.
Have you read “The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World’s Greatest Reptile Smugglers ” by Brian Christy? It might interest you.
Reptiles are different in nature from cats and dogs. I don’t agree with breeders keeping the animals in incorrect housing conditions, but large facilities and employees aren’t going to be a detriment to the animal.
Reptiles are wild animals. They do not get “tame.” They do not “like” people. They can become used to handling and may appear to be fond of people, but they definitely don’t need them and are perfectly happy living without any human contact. Handling actually stresses out reptiles and they are often healthier with minimized handling. The conditions breeders keep them in are often healthier for them because they are more sanitary. When you keep large numbers of snakes and have employees to care for them, chances are they will be monitored fairly well and be cleaned regularly. An animal that is used for breeding generally is kept in good conditions else it might not be healthy enough for breeding.
Dogs and cats need people. To keep a dog in a cage without any human contact is torture to the animal. Reptiles, however, do perfectly fine with no interaction with their owners. It’s the people who choose to handle them.
Often the snakes in small enclosures are the babies. From what I’ve seen, adults are generally housed fairly well. Breeders don’t want a sick snake they have to pay to get treated. Babies are often kept on small, cramped rack cages, but this is done to keep them as sanitary as possible until they are sold. It doesn’t seem to cause detriment.
The suppliers who sell to chains like PetCo and PetSmart are the puppy mills of the reptile world. Since they do not have a brand name attached, they don’t have to worry about reputations. They keep animals in bad conditions and produce unhealthy babies. They will breed animals together with no regard to appearance or temperament and are only out to make money off of them.
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What do they say is at the root of all evil?
Quixotic has it pretty much spot on reptiles are like cat and dogs that require contact and that kind of stimulus. I only have real experience in the UK and here adults are kept in suitably sized enclosures usually in single sexed enclosures as well to stop unwated breeding. the small enclosures you see are likely for young snakes (p.s. a snake only needs the LxW of the enclosure to = the length of the snake to stay happy and have minimal stress problems also some snakes dont like wide open spaces (e.g. ball/royal pythons and most young snakes) and keeping them in the minimum/near minimum sized enclosure helps reduce stress) Hide wise most places I’ve seen use cheap cardboard box/tube hides and while I assume there are likely places that dont use hides the breeders aren’t gonna want alot of stressed aggressive ill non feeding snakes of there hands so I would assume the snakes arent stress but i dont know as i have non hands on experience with this
At the end of the day yes its a business while these people will try and keep costs/space used down (raking systems, minimum size enclosures home made hides etc) if they didn’t look after the snakes correctly they would have problems so its in there best interests to make sure there snakes are healthy
Most reptiles are fairly low maintenance. However, this does not mean that they do not need any care or attention. If you do not take care of a cat or dog for a short time you can tell they need attention. Reptiles do not show how they are feeling and are hardier, so it takes more time for someone to notice.
These animals need to be rescued and taken to a place where they can be taken care of.
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