Problem in our industry

[DLLNP]

I was going to post this as a reply to another thread but then realized I was typing away on a tangent that might make a decent discussion. The topic of this discussion is the amount of herps we see that are kept in terrible conditions due to poor husbandry, etc.

This is a problem that arches across the entire industry. I would be willing to bet that the percentage of herps in poor care is higher than most other pet industries (and there are a lot of terrible cat, dog, etc owners out there!)

There are people in the world, like all of us here that are incredibly passionate about reptiles. People like us are not looking for a "pet" as much as we are looking for a complex project that brings along the beauty of the natural world with it. I think we all get enjoyment out of replicating our animal's natural environment through perfect husbandry, and enjoy the challenge of doing so.

THEN... there are people who want pets... they are not interested in cracking a book to see what the natural history of their animal is or even looking at a basic care sheet sometimes. They want a new pet and that is it. They will feed it, water it and feel like they have done their job because they are not looking for that "complex project" that we all tackle everyday.

Reptiles have two characteristics that make them subject to a high percentage of poor care: 1) they general have more complicated husbandry than your average pet and 2) most have a long lifespan (even when kept in poor conditions). Just look at the classifieds in your local area... I am sure they are similar to mine: full of animals 2-5 years old (with lifespans well over 20+ yrs) that are no longer wanted. It happens all the time.

Is this a problem that can be fixed? Or will it always plague the reptile community? It is my opinion that breeders need to be responsible for the animals they sell by making sure they are headed to a good home.... I think most breeders actually do this all the time. Some definitely don't (the ones producing 1000's of animals per year don't have time to do that) and the local pet stores obviously don't do that either. Share you thoughts!

Dillon