Scary creatures (Reptiles & Amphibians in general)

Member Name: wicked_witch

Product:	Reptiles & Amphibians in general
Date:	11/05/04 (6765 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: some types can be fascinating are rewarding

Disadvantages: keeping msot types only brings misery to itsself and its owner, expensive and cruel to keep most, potentially lethal, carry disease...etc

I find reptiles and amphibians absolutely fascinating and beautiful creatures. I do not understand why people can be afraid of them…they are as brightly coloured as birds and just as if not more interesting, and equally beautiful. Most of the accusations levelled at them (usually snakes) are unfounded…less than 3% of the worlds snake population is venomous, and most of the types considered dangerous, such as constrictor like boas and pythons are small to kill humans. It has also been found recently, that over half of what were reported as ‘rattlesnake bites’ actually were, from the descriptions of how the venom affected the person, scorpion stings, yet these fake rattler bites have led to horribly cruel rattlesnake round-ups where snakes are wild caught, left in a corral in the blazing sun and then stoned and squashed to death. If this were puppies you would be appalled.

It seems nowadays as many people are fascinated by these creatures as repelled by them. Such exotic creatures as poison arrow frogs and rosy boas are being kept in captivity. It is possible to get hold of, with the correct licences, everything from monkeys and lemurs to anacondas to (this must be the height of stupidity) crocodilians, gharials, alligators and caimans, although, of course, rules on keeping such creatures are dependant on the country in which you live, although I have heard of someone in Glasgow (mate of a mate sort of thing) keeping a boomslang (a beautiful but extremely lethal venomous African snake) illegally. I also know someone with a fantastic collection of scorpions, spiders, exotic beetles and (!) cockroaches (just to gross you out, some of the cockroaches are the length of his hand) and a positively terrifying African giant millipede that is bigger than I care to remember.

Health warnings are arising everywhere concerning these unusual ‘pets’. The larger lizards can inflict painful bites, while the bigger snakes do hav
e the option of eating you when they get peckish for something other than frozen chicken. Besides these issues and the keeping of poisonous animals, there are also disease risks. Reptiles often carry a form of salmonella. I don’t think it does them much harm, but because of this it’s unwise to have reptiles around the elderly or young kids. Of course, washing your hands after handling them, as you would with raw meat, pretty much nullifies these risks, however, for some reason, reptiles do carry quite a few diseases that can be transmitted to humans and vice versa…and what with the legal and illegal trade in wild species, the risk of bringing in tropical diseases grows quite high.

The animal’s welfare

Of course, there is something else to consider while learning all of this…the animals. Gone are the days when having a canary was seen as exotic…these days people make pets of everything from quails to monkeys, to skunks and sugar gliders, to the slightly less cuddly centipedes and frogs. In America it has become almost commonplace to hear about nutters in big cities keeping tigers, there is actually a site online where you can buy animals like monkeys and tigers. Not only is this a rather stupid idea for the owner, its unbelievably cruel to an animal who is supposed to roam hundreds of miles a day. The much more common exotic pets- reptiles, don’t fare much better.

Pet shops seem to take the attitude that if it aint cute with fur, it aint worth bothering about. Despite the monetary value of some of these creatures, there is a much higher instance of neglect towards cold-blooded creatures than mammals in pet shops. They are often kept in inter-species tanks, which can cause quarrelling, bullying and/or cannibalism, and often their cage size or feeding requirements are not met. In America the situation is much worse, the laws covering treatment of mammals doesn’t extend to non-mammals, and ther
e are even cases in the US of reptiles (usually iguanas) being ‘won’ at fairs in the same manner as goldfish! This neatly overlooks the fact that unlike fish, Iguanas can reach six foot long, unlike fish, iguanas are highly specialised and not hardy enough to thrive in less-than-perfect care, and unlike goldfish, iguanas can live to quite a few decades old. Oh, and despite being vegetarian, iguanas can be extremely dangerous and their strong jaws and tail can quite easily break a human arm.

I am strongly of the opinion that it is very irresponsible to sell specialised creatures such as these in pet shops…you don’t usually even see them stocking more specialised mammals such as chipmunks or ferrets, yet because reptiles aren’t cute and furry it doesn’t matter whether their highly specific needs are met. It is also insanely negligent to sell the ones that grow particularly large without warning and/or licences…I’ve seen many types of python on sale in pet shops, despite the fact that they grow to sixteen feet long (there are no notices about this on the cages). Its common to change the name of the breed of animal so it seems less threatening…common boa constrictors that grow to 12 foot are renamed red-tail boas. Its usually kids parents who buy these on impulse nagging sprees, and the pet shop employees do nothing to tell the children that ‘Monty’ could grow up to twenty foot long. When the creatures get too big to manage, they are sent to rescue centres, zoos, or dumped.

Thousands of reptiles end up like this, in the US its tens of thousands. If we were talking about tens of thousands of puppies there would be uproar, but again, the ‘creepy’ appearance of the poor things makes a difference to ‘animal welfarists’. Besides this, most people don’t have the beginnings of a clue regarding the care of these beautiful exotics in captivity…they are kept i
n cages too small or large, or the wrong height, fed the wrong foods, kept in company when they need to be solitary (in this case they often eat or kill each other), at the wrong temperature with the wrong lighting. All of this makes them susceptible to disease, injury and infection as well as misery and painful deaths.

As well as the suffering of the reptile involved, other species often suffer for it. The feeding of live bait to reptiles is extremely cruel to both species…the pain on the mouse/rat/chickens side is obvious, but did you also know if your pet isn’t hungry and allows the food item to run around the cage, said food item has been known to attack and harm your pet? Always feed your exotic pets pre (humanely) killed food. Of course, really you will never know whether your food was killed humanely or not…from the looks of the frozen mice and rats you get to feed large snakes, they are simply frozen alive.

Reptiles are the only group of animals whose lifespan in captivity is shorter than their wild one. This isn’t often due to deliberate ill treatment, usually its just ignorance.

Before you buy

Keeping a lizard or similar creature is not an easy task, it should not be seen as a fad or a fashion either. The fashion for snakes seems to have waned a little, it has been taken over by what I predict will become the latest pet craze- sugar gliders (tiny gliding squirrel type things), but it was the poor chameleons who suffered recently thanks to the Budweiser adverts. Just out of interest chameleons are some of the most difficult lizards to keep alive and aren’t recommended for anybody but expert herpetologists. Some lizards can live as long as parrots if cared for correctly…that’s up to forty years, (although most chameleons live approximately six in captivity). Are you willing to care for something for that long, that is if you can provide the correct environment for it to live that
long? The pet that seemed cool fifteen years ago could be a burden when you’ve got kids and a job to look after as well, and if its size matches its teenage years in feet you could have a rather large and scaly problem in getting rid of it.

You also need to consider such an animal’s suitability as a pet, and this can only be done by looking at the species you want. Reptiles such as geckos (except Tokay geckos, which are vicious little buggers), Uromastyx, dragons, Some skinks (not monkey-tails) and some types of monitor and iguana make fairly gentle pets, as do corn, garter and king snakes. The majority of iguanas on the other hand are surly until tamed (some individuals just never tame) and because of their size can inflict a good deal of pain though not death, (although when tamed they make quite charming pets if you have room for them, and they need a large one to themselves), most Tegus and monitors are impressive but vicious (the exception being rather slow and gentle Nile monitors), and of course most of the larger boas and pythons are capable of killing you, no matter how gentle they seem, they will never become tamed the way a pet dog is. Do you have the necessary fearlessness/idiocy (delete as applicable) to deal with a lethal creature? Don’t think you can train a snake like you train a dog…a reptile is a completely alien creature to you. It cannot be housebroken or trained in any way. It is a wild and potential lethal animal.

Also consider, if a reptile is particularly vicious or difficult to care for, then it obviously isn’t happy to live in captivity, and you cannot justify keeping such an animal in misery no matter HOW cool it looks. It’s worth considering that a human home is a completely foreign environment to a snake. Being so recently domesticated they still have all their wild instincts, and they are used to being in a jungle/desert with no humans around. They don’t really know who you
are or what the hell you are doing, no matter how friendly they seem. You just look like a very big, and very stupid lunch.

Do you have the space to keep such an animal? A gecko tank won’t take up too much room, but a cage designed for an adult boa constrictor will not be found in your average pet shop, and contrary to what you think it is not safe, ethical or practical for either you or the boa to let it roam the house. Many people let these larger reptiles roam their house, but this isn’t really clever. A creature like an iguana could perhaps have a room of its own, but to allow it to roam the entire house you would need to keep a constant hot temperature (unhealthy for you, your family, your wallet and any non-exotic household pets) and iguana-proof the house (they are great at breaking things and harming themselves), and letting a potentially lethal animal like a large boa or python have the run of the house is asking for it…they are not as tameable even as lizards and ALWAYS remain risky no matter how gentle they seem. So you need to design an enclosure for your animal…and if your animal is a thirty foot reticulated python you have a rather large problem.

Are you going to have a problem feeding a carnivorous or insectivorous reptile? The vast majority of lizards eat insects, whereas snakes eat mice, rats, and lizards, or if very large, chickens, rabbits and even pigs. Can you deal with the idea of keeping a tank of crickets and a box of mealworms in your house? While ‘complete’ diets for these animals are now available, they aren’t recommended as the sole food. Besides the ‘ick’ factor of feeding insects, some people have a problem feeding snakes cute furry frozen things. Frozen mice, rats and chicks are not a nice sight. They need to be kept frozen (your partner will love this) and warmed to room temperature. Don’t make the mistake of using the microwave unless you want exploded rod
ent all over it. Larger snakes, as I’ve mentioned will need chickens and rabbits, and if you are psychotic to take on the biggest of the big- anacondas or reticulated pythons, you will need to feed it things like whole pigs. Or of course just get it over with and offer yourself on a plate. Your beloved ‘pet’ wont know the difference.

Finally, what do you know about the animal? Each type of reptile is different and you need to research its needs thoroughly. If the animal you want isn’t readily available captive-bred you may have to resort to a wild-caught specimen, which will probably be diseased anyway, quite apart from the fact you’d be supporting an inexcusably cruel trade. If you cant get your first choice captive bred, PLEASE choose another breed instead of condemning a wild animal to a life of misery. If you don’t fully understand what the animal eats, what size cage it needs, what vitamins it needs, what light and heat it needs etc, then you might as well kill it with your bare hands.

If you want to keep herptiles and be a good, responsible owner of them, start with something gentle and small like bearded dragons, leopard geckos or corn or garter snakes. If you want to keep something a little bigger as a first lizard, then blue-tongued skinks make lovely first reptiles if you can get hold of a captive-bred, but I wouldn’t advise anything larger than four foot for a first snake, because they are less docile and tameable than lizards on a whole (and more likely to genuinely mistake your hand for food due to poor eyesight).

Ask yourself why you want one. If its because they’re cool or the latest thing, or worse still, to scare people, then I will hunt you down and imprison YOU in a glass tank. The only right reason is that you find them fascinating and beautiful and that you want to give one a good home instead of letting it go to some moron who doesn’t know what they are doing. <
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If you do decide to get a pet reptile, then get one either from a breeder or an animal shelter. Don’t buy from a pet shop it encourages a horrific trade.

Dead set?

Well, if I haven’t managed to put you off buying a herp yet (salmonella, bites, tail-whippers and constrictors…what a lovely choice of pets), I can at LEAST point you in the right direction, species-wise. Here are some ideal beginners species…in general they are the ones that adapt to captivity better than other, more specialised reptiles.

Lizards

Leopard geckos- common and cute little pets, these geckos are relatively cheap, quite small and very easy to care for as lizards go. They are also very hardy and thus good for beginners. Their care requirements are basic, they can be kept in a twenty-gallon tank (that’s enough for two of them), and their feeding requirements are easy to meet, they don’t need any lighting, as they are nocturnal. If you would like to see them better, invest in a red or blue bulb, as these lights don’t bother them.

Bearded dragons- cute things with smiley mouths and horny skin, beardies are probably the most commonly kept lizards after the leopard gecko. The babies often die due to feeding problems, inadequate calcium or insufficient lighting unfortunately, but if you get a beardie past this stage you’ve got a really good lizard pet, they seem to enjoy being handled and along with a few iguanas, are the most ‘pet-like’ lizards as they become cheeky and friendly and are even known to ‘sulk’ if they don’t get cuddles as often as usual. Unlike leopard geckos which can thrive on little light and less vitamins, you really need to ‘stuff’ beardies, especially babies, with specially made reptile multi-vitamins and calcium and UV light, otherwise their bones literally turn to mush which is very painful for them, and eventually fatal. It’s th
e lizard form of osteoporosis (metabolic bone disease). They are quite large at around sixty centimetres and need a good four-foot of tank, as they are quite active.

Blue tongued Skinks- a slightly larger choice here, but if you’re after a bit of a bigger lizard then a skink is a good place to start. They are very friendly, and fairly hardy as well. They are harder to find than beardies and geckos however, and are unfortunately often wild caught, so do ensure yours is a captive bred. An ideal bigger starter or maybe second lizard if you have the room for a nice big tank for them.

Snakes

Corn Snakes- The most commonly kept first snake, corn snakes reach about three and a half to four feet and are ready eaters, a lot of snakes have a problem taking pre-killed mice (you should NEVER feed snakes live mice) but this one is a bit greedy really.

Ball pythons- these make ideal first pets SO LONG as they are ready feeders. If you go for a ball python get the seller to feed it while you are there so you can see if it is eating or not. They only grow to five feet at the most so are manageable.

King snakes- these are beautiful snakes with gorgeous colouring. Once you get past the first stage of finicky eating king snakes (they prefer eating lizards, snakes and amphibians and need training to take mice) make good first pets. Milk snakes are cousins to the king snake. They are very attractive; most species are red with bands of black and white or yellow. They are very fussy feeders however and it takes a long time to train them to take mice.

Garter Snakes- These are small semi aquatic snakes. They aren’t great to handle, so are more likely to bite than ball pythons and corn snakes, so you might need to invest in thick gloves until they are tame, although they always remain jumpy, and are brilliant escape artists, unlike corns and kings, they aren’t really handleable snakes. They sometimes have initial feedin
g problems…they really live off lizards and amphibians in the wild, so need to be trained to take fish; they also like a small pool in their tank for swimming. No snakes are really ‘pet-type’ animals for holding, and if you don’t mind that garters are amongst the wildest, then they make easy pets.


These species do not make first good pets, and in fact probably shouldn’t be kept in captivity at all

Green snakes- small, but very fussy eaters, difficult to keep and always wild caught because they don’t breed in captivity, thus very wild and usually diseased. Wild-born reptiles in captivity often die young from stress.

Burmese pythons- Obviously they are not intended for your average pet keeper. In my view you should need a license to obtain one. You would also be insane to want one. They grow to twenty feet in length and could quite happily eat you. You will have to kill rabbits and chickens in order to feed them. People HAVE been killed by these creatures, PLEASE don’t get one. They are not meant to be kept by amateurs. A boy of fourteen was killed and eaten in America by a snake of only eight foot…less than half its potential size. No matter how friendly they seem you can never trust them, and even if they are gentle juveniles they tend to get a bit wilder when they grow up. And a twenty-foot, lethal wild animal with extremely sharp fangs and strong muscles is not something you need roaming your home.

Reticulated python- these snakes reach 32 foot and are the longest in the world…longer than the up to 30-foot anaconda (the anaconda is a lot fatter though). There is another op on them in this category, it makes very interesting reading. They can be very lethal, so the same goes for them as for Burmese pythons.

Boa constrictors- these grow to twelve foot in length and will happily try and eat you, although they are a bit small for such antics (don’t hold me to
this, these snakes often bite off more than they can chew so to speak), but they are still huge animals and need PROPER care and massive enclosures, and they bite readily. Pet shops often dishonestly sell babies as ‘red-tail boas’ to take parents minds away from the fact that these are boa constrictors. Any boa labelled Columbian boa, red-tailed boa, Emperor’s boa, Guyana red-tail, South American Boa or Amazon basin boa is the real deal, a giant man-eating motherf**ker.

Other gigantic snakes- goes without saying really, if you want to keep your head attached to your body. Keeping an anaconda or similar is just stupid, although I’m sure you’d need a license for one anyway.

Crocodilians- these have become part of the latest craze in America, although over here you need a license to keep them. Crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials are what I’m on about here, and the idea of this being kept by anything less than a zoological expert trained to look after them is complete and utter insanity. Even the smallest ones are extremely wild and vicious. The average size is also about 1.5m so they aren’t something you can readily find a cage for. Unlike snakes they are quite active and need a pool to swim in as well as plenty of dry land. The smallest caimans reach four feet, but they are still highly vicious and not pet animals at all.

Green Iguanas- these are beautiful lizards, but they require very special care, can be vicious and grow to six feet. Many do make funny and friendly pets in good hands, but their size, finicky diet and trickiness of taming them means they really need an owner who has dealt with lizards before. If you get a sweet-natured iguana and can provide it with plenty of space, fine, but there is every chance you’ll get a wild beast that will never be properly tamed…and those wild beasts are very strong and can damage you considerably. There are other types of iguana avai
lable as pets, which are a little smaller, such as desert iguanas, but they are often wild caught. Green ones also need a room-sized enclosure; you can’t just let them roam your house.

Chameleons- yes they are beautiful. Yes they look cool; unfortunately most don’t live past a year because they are so hard to care for. Leave then where they belong, they need very specialist environments and expert care in captivity.

Monitors except the Savannah (which is a lot gentler and a good second lizard), and Tegus- large and very aggressive. ‘Nuff said.

Gila monsters and Mexican beaded lizards- Beautiful, also the worlds only known venomous lizards. ‘Nuff said.

Venomous snakes- ‘Nuff said.

Turtles, tortoises and terrapins- in a word, don’t. These are highly specialised animals that need very careful care. Keeping a tortoise in your garden isn’t nice for the tortoise. Their wild populations are in jeopardy, and as they are hard to breed in captivity, are often wild-caught. They don’t make good pets for kids because, even without the special requirements they need, they are actually quite boring all they do is waddle, sleep and eat, cute as they are. Turtles need aquariums, although it’s cruel to keep them in anything less than pond-sized.

Final word.

All in all, I’d say reptiles shouldn’t be kept as pets at all. Pet shops are often known to tout the Burmese python or Boa constrictors as a suitable first snake, despite the fact that it turns into a gigantic snake. This is not only immoral as it might lead to the death of a human; it’s cruel for the snake to be confined to a little tank. In general all reptiles are wild creatures, and they will never be domesticated like dogs or cats, or even to the degree small animals like hamster tame to, they will simply tolerate being kept. If you can POSSIBLY stop yourself from buying one of these you are p
robably a lot more responsible than me…although I don’t keep ones that don’t need someone’s help, I’d rather I had the willpower not to keep them at all. If you really are dying for one, then be responsible…DON’T actually die for it (i.e. avoid anything dangerous), learn about its needs and habits and care for it accordingly, give it as much space as you can, keep it for its ENTIRE life instead of selling it on when you get bored or it gets too big, and don’t keep something that you cannot care for…this not only goes for dangerous sized animals but delicate creatures like monkey-tail skinks and chameleons. The trade in these gorgeous wild creatures is not only killing the poor animals, it is killing the environment, wild populations, and more than a few irresponsible pet owners along the way.

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