Archives of The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 29, Number 7;   July, 2002

The Endangered Herper

by Amanda Fenrick

The major arguments of these groups are: 1) Salmonella is rampant among all reptiles and everyone who keeps one is seriously risking their life and the lives of their loved ones. 2) Reptiles are dangerous and are capable of seriously injuring people and even killing them. 3) Reptiles are not always kept with proper husbandry and are highly neglected abandoned and abused. 4) We just cannot by any means meet the needs of a reptile in captivity.

Salmonella is not the risk they seem to make believe it is. It is not present in all reptiles and not all of the time. Yes, salmonella is something we need to take precautions against, but those precautions are as simple as washing ones hands! Pregnant women avoid cleaning their cat's litter box, mothers tell their children not to let the dog lick their face. All animals have human health issues to deal with and good old fashioned cleanliness will usually take care of it. Statistics show that in this day and age, less people are washing their hands. The number one substance found on office keyboards and restaurant candy is human urine. If members of these groups against us are the sort of people who are deciding that hand washing is not their thing, then they definitely should not keep reptiles. We reptile keepers, however, are good old fashioned hand washers, and have few problems with salmonella.

Some reptiles are capable of serious harm to people. These include giant species of snakes and lizards, crocodilians, and snakes and reptiles with a venom that can seriously harm a person. These animals should never be kept as a casual pet and should be reserved for people who have had experience with less difficult reptiles first and are seriously committed to keeping such animals in proper and safe ways. Other than that, there are thousands of harmless reptiles which make wonderful pets. All should be kept with sensible safety practices, but few could cause serious harm.

Reptiles, as any animal, are sometimes kept by people who do not know what they are doing or do not care about the responsibilities of pet ownership. Does this mean all pet owners are bad and that the only solution is to ban keeping of every pet all together? Will banning reptiles solve the irresponsible pet owner problem? No. These people will just find other animals to keep poorly. In the meantime, people who really care about reptiles will lose. Many, many people keep their animals, reptiles included, very well. They love them and care for them and provide everything they need. Reptiles are special to reptile keepers and no cat or dog could fill their place.

Today we know 1000X more about reptiles than we did 30 years ago. We know how to house them, feed them, medically treat them -- we even know of a lot of special needs they have in order to reproduce their natural lives. People simulate hibernation, rainy seasons, microhabitats, and so on to meet all the ecological and evolutionary needs of their animal. They create deserts and rainforests for their reptiles to live in and research what temperatures or plants would be found in the creatures native habitat. What dog and cat owner has ever done that? Dogs, whose millions of years of evolution have driven them to be pack animals that are never alone, are constantly being deprived of pack companionship every day when their masters leave for work. We do know how to keep reptiles better than ever and many of us are doing it very well.

Pets add to our quality of life. Keeping them is a wonderful experience for us and, when done right, it benefits the animal with food, shelter, care, and long life. The human animal bond is a special one and much research is starting to focus on it. Such bonds are not limited to cats and dogs and it is not up to anybody to decide for others what animal they should form a bond with. The bond is incredibly strong and intertwined into our lives. Look at people who have severe allergies who keep the animals they are allergic to. They will put up with agonizing allergies or pay huge sums of money for solutions just to keep the animals they love. The bond is no different whether it be with a snake or a cat.

The real reason these groups are attacking reptile keeping is because they want to reduce their work load. To them reptiles are not important as pets. They don't want to waste their resources on protecting such animals and so they take the easy way out and recommend banning them. Well, I have a message for them. We are doing just fine on our own thank, you very much. In just thirty years we have drastically increased our knowledge of the needs of our pets. We educate the public and each other and have made huge progress in ensuring the proper husbandry practices of today's reptile keepers. New iguana keepers can come to us and learn how to keep their pet properly and safely, and we prevent pets from being abandoned. If a new iguana owner goes to the Rainforest Reptile Refuge, they are called down for it. They are shown a picture of a woman who received bite wounds from an iguana, and they are told that their family will succumb to salmonella unless the iguana is abandoned as quickly as possible. Reptiles do not need such help. If animal welfare groups do not want to associate with us then so be it. We are doing great on our own and don't need any help. Every day, more is learned and more people are educated because of the work of caring reptile keepers. We will continue to better the lives of the animals we love and we will not allow groups which get the heebie geebies when faced with a reptile or think it's too much work to ruin that which we love. If they can't handle reptiles in their efforts then they are invited to send them to us and the many other groups which care about these wonderful animals which we call pets and companions!