What are you ashamed of?

[Akuma223]

I've been wanting to post this question for awhile asking people what mistakes they have made in the past with their animals. Weather it be from lack of knowledge, laziness, or plain not caring what are you ashamed of doing or not doing in the past for your animals? In my short life I have done many things wrong for my animals in the past that I am very ashamed of. It took me losing a few animals to finally learn how to be responsible for the animals under my care. Anyone telling their story here is very brave for being able to share their mistakes with others. I will share my stories after a few others have posted theirs. Try and keep things civil please, no bashing.

[mykee]

I don't share my mistakes with others, I share what I learned from them and how to do it correctly.

[Lankyrob]

My most serious mistake was when i bought my first viv for my baby corns, i totally underestimated the size if hole needed for it to escape :) - will never make that mistake again :)

[BarelyBreathing]

I lost one crested gecko to cannibalization by a cage mate. It was 100% my fault, as I KNEW (and always recommend) that if you house cresties in groups you need to offer as many feeding areas as there are geckos. I had three hatchlings in one enclosure, and for some reason I figured that since they were so small they would be fine with just one feeding spot. Boy was I wrong. The dominant one was hogging the food, and the two others weren't getting any. One of the ones not eating ate the other one. That's my theory, anyway. :(

[mykee]

I'm ashamed that I ever befriended Aaron.

[SerpentLust]

I'm ashamed that I ever befriended Aaron.

I second that! lol

[Edmond Y]

Back then when I was twenty, I had a female mini pinscher, a very nice toy dog looks like a doberman. It was my first dog so I read a lot of books by local dog expert keeper becasue by that time I don't know english and no internet . I fed her Iams dog food and calcium supplement daily as advised. When she was three years old, I bred her with another male but result she die of give birth becasuse the babies were over size. I bought her to vet and she told us because Dog food plus supplement daily is over kill for a toys size breed. lesson learned but I lost my belove.
For those who seeking informations, don't just trust reading materials or internet source, but has to put your common sense and basic knowledge to make judge to an informtion source.

Edmond

[marvelfreak]

I wouldn't say i am ashamed because when i made most of my reptile care mistake years ago i had limited information. I will say i have made my share of mistake and have learn from them and shared them with other so they don't make the same mistakes. I have shared many of the stories of mistake me and a couple of my friends made over the years. I been into reptiles for 20 years this year and man did i make a lot of mistakes the first 10 years.

The biggest mistake i ever made cost me my entire collection to IBD, because i didn't use to quarantine. Got a new RTB and just put him in with a couple of other snake the same size. He had IBD and it wiped out all my Burmese's,Boas, and Balls i had at the time. I believe it was 11 snakes i lost to it.

I also made the mistake of keep as many as 4 snake together in the same cages. Plus i use to keep Balls and Boas of the same size together when i first started out.

If you learn from a mistake and take the steps to never repeat it then there's nothing to be ashamed of. If you don't learn from them and repeat them then you should be ashamed for you are nothing more than a fool.

[Ivalynfyre]

I'm really, really ashamed of how I took care of Diamond in the past. He went through months of no food, no clean water because I had gotten 'bored' of him. When he got burned last year, I really cleaned up my act. I know I can't abandon my animals again, especially because I have more of them. Even if I don't want to handle them some days, I still do whatever I need to do for them.

[StudentoReptile]

Looking back, I would say that the only real thing I could be ashamed of is that, early on, I would often lose interest in some of the herps I've kept. The novelty would wear off, and I would get bored with something rather quickly. It was rare that I kept anything for more than a year before selling it or trading it for something else.

I'll admit that my husbandry back then wasn't great, compared to what I know today, but hindsight is 20/20. At that time, I took the best care of my animals that I knew how. I'm not really ashamed of that, because 15-20 yrs ago, information was a lot more limited. There's no excuse for getting the right care info nowadays.

[Strutter769]

@ Marvelfreak - "If you learn from a mistake and take the steps to never repeat it then there's nothing to be ashamed of. If you don't learn from them and repeat them then you should be ashamed for you are nothing more than a fool."

Very, very well said, my friend!

As you probably know, I made a mistake out of laziness with my rack. Luckily one snake has been found, one of my favorites is still missing.

[Rogue628]

I wouldn't say i am ashamed because when i made most of my reptile care mistake years ago i had limited information. I will say i have made my share of mistake and have learn from them and shared them with other so they don't make the same mistakes. I have shared many of the stories of mistake me and a couple of my friends made over the years. I been into reptiles for 20 years this year and man did i make a lot of mistakes the first 10 years.

The biggest mistake i ever made cost me my entire collection to IBD, because i didn't use to quarantine. Got a new RTB and just put him in with a couple of other snake the same size. He had IBD and it wiped out all my Burmese's,Boas, and Balls i had at the time. I believe it was 11 snakes i lost to it.

I also made the mistake of keep as many as 4 snake together in the same cages. Plus i use to keep Balls and Boas of the same size together when i first started out.

If you learn from a mistake and take the steps to never repeat it then there's nothing to be ashamed of. If you don't learn from them and repeat them then you should be ashamed for you are nothing more than a fool.

I agree. I also made the mistake of housing two snakes together. They were fine until I got sloppy and put them back in their cage together right after they ate. Not sure if it was because one was still in feed mode or because the other may have still smelled like food, but one tagged the other. I got lucky and no real harm came to either of them. It was fortunate I was in the room when it happened. The one that got bit was all calm, but trying to get a 5' plus snake to let go of another wasn't easy nor fun. I still don't know how I managed to not get bit in the process. It took me a while to find the bite on the one that got bit and it wasn't bad at all. Needless to say that's the last time I put two together (it was two adult redtails...both female).

Since I began keeping again a year ago, I've discovered so much has changed about care and husbandry of snakes. I'm still learning alot and I'm constantly trying new things that work for those more experienced. IMO, there's always room for improvement with anything and I strive to be better and better.

[Akuma223]

The first mistake I made that I can remember (besides holding my rat patches by the tail when I was 6) is when I was 9 or 10 I got a leopard gecko. It was a complete disaster. I had no idea on how to care for her and she had a very short and miserable life. She got Metabolic bone disease, had stuck sheds, and a ton of other problems all because of my lack of knowledge. Another early one that I can remember are my bunnies. They Froze to death because of my laziness. I think I was 10 or 11. The last event that happened and the one that really opened my eyes is when Mr.ferret died. I got him on impulse (like most of my animals then) for free. I quickly got bored of him and neglected him terribly. It took me too long to come to my senses and give him the love and care he deserved. I remember at the time I had been researching thoroughly about having a red fox as a pet, something that has and is still a big dream of mine. I learned that it is extremely hard work and that I would have to have infinite patients in order to give such an animal the care and love it needs. I came to the realization that If I cant even be bothered to let bunnies into their house or give a ferret its love that there was no way in hell I would be anywhere even close to being qualified. I picked him up one day out side and told him I would give him everything he needed and that I would start to give him the love he deserved. He had to be put down a week or so later. I was 13 I think. Theres no way in hell I'll ever let any animal suffer like they did under my care again

[millertime89]

I'm ashamed of nothing. Have I made mistakes? Sure, but they've helped me grow as a person and as a result I don't feel ashamed by them nor do I regret them.

[USMCgunner11]

Back when I was in college, and first starting out with reptiles, I was so absorbed in my studies, work and regular life that I only did the bare basics. I kept their tanks clean and kept them fed on schedule but rarely ever handled them. As a result, they got more and more badly tempered.

I went through a divorce and out of necessity I had to get rid of the majority of my collection except for one BP which was my first snake ever. It was probably the hardest thing to do but was the best thing for me. I was able to just focus on him and his needs and I learned A LOT.

His temper eventually mellowed back out and I learned that I can't operate beyond my means like that again. That was about 4-5 years ago and I just recently started adding on again, one at a time. lol.

I would further like to add that I appreciate this site and all of you. You have helped me further my knowledge and I have put most of your recommendations into practice.

[Will0W783]

I am most ashamed of inadvertently allowing a snake to drown. My first GTP was a beautiful, semi-tame Merauke. She was impregnated by a male breeder I bought, but she had a problem with hypocalcemic shock due to shelling her eggs too early in the pregnancy. I gave her nightly warm soaks and calcium through an eye dropper, and the vet injected sub-cutaneous calcium and fluids. She was not doing well and was very weak. One night during her soak, I left the room for a few minutes...it was less than five minutes, but it was enough for her to drown. I had never expected that, but I guess she was too weak to keep her head on the rock provided in the soaking tub. I was devastated, and still feel like it's my fault she passed, but I never leave a soaking snake unattended now. :(

[mykee]

Aaron, that is quite the accomplishment.
You should have a dinner in your honour or something...

[mykee]

I`m not bickering, I`m commenting on Aarons accomplishment.
Bravo to him!

[Aaron_S]

congratulations, I wasn't allowed to have the animals I enjoy 10 years ago.
Lets not, stay tuned for the PMs from mykee.

I couldn't have any animals when I first really started asking (age 3). At 11 years of age I took it in my own hands and with my parents agreeing that I must do ALL my own research I took to the library (ZOMG BOOKS!!!) as well as the internet. Fortunately, I had google and other search engines to continually sift through information to find out more. I read cover to cover reptile magazines when I could get them. They were in pieces when I was done. I read them thoroughly for a very long time.

Moral of this is that you don't need to own an animal to learn all you can about them and quickly rush to a forum to get all the information fed to you.

[StudentoReptile]

Don't you just hate it when you check back into SSnakess.com, and you're looking at the list of unread threads, and you see one and you're like "Huh, that one really took off since this afternoon. I wonder what information I could glean in the recent 2-3 pages I've missed"....only to find out that 90% of what you've missed is pointless internet bickering?

I hate that feeling.

[Aaron_S]

Aaron, that is quite the accomplishment.
You should have a dinner in your honour or something...

Wayne, are you reading this? Talk to Jason. I should get a dinner! Very exclusive guest list. You'd be number one with Dorothy ;)

[Aaron_S]

Don't you just hate it when you check back into SSnakess.com, and you're looking at the list of unread threads, and you see one and you're like "Huh, that one really took off since this afternoon. I wonder what information I could glean in the recent 2-3 pages I've missed"....only to find out that 90% of what you've missed is pointless internet bickering?

I hate that feeling.


Whoa!!! Welcome to the NEW ssnakess.com ;)

[StudentoReptile]

Whoa!!! Welcome to the NEW ssnakess.com ;)

More like welcome to the internet, right?! :rolleyes:

[BigTimer]

More like welcome to the internet, right?! :rolleyes:

The internet, a place where length of forum membership > anything else :wacky:

[Aaron_S]

The internet, a place where length of forum membership > anything else :wacky:

The sad part about this is that I still give out VERY useful information and not just about one species.

The only thing I ever really get is "say it nicer". Nothing about the information given.

[mykee]

Yup. I`ll add that Aaaron signed up as a member her only 17 days before me, so I am firmly in the number two spot. Do I at least get a cookie

[infernalis]

OK, obviously shaving off the fight has solved nothing...