Your view of the reptile hobby

[athms]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

I haven't read all the posts but this is pretty judgmental.

You apparently know EVERYONE in the reptile and hobby and why they breed. Right it's ALL about money. Get off your high horse and actually talk to those people instead of thinking you know why they do what they do.

People ALWAYS claim the hobby is so negative but what you see online is a FRACTION of the true hobby so climb out of the hole you're in and go live the hobby. Be apart of it instead of talking down to those that you know nothing about.

By the way, you can't breed morphs for just any species until they are brought in to captivity. Go hunt for some anoles and when you find an albino or axanthic or a purple one go and breed it. Don't just tell others how to live THEIR hobby by YOUR standards.

Asshat.

Well yes i have met every single person who has ever owned a reptile and i take pride in that. And if i fell off my high horse i would never hit the ground. And their are a certain few people who have successfully breed tiger salamanders on caudata fourm.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by athms

Well yes i have met every single person who has ever owned a reptile and i take pride in that. And if i fell off my high horse i would never hit the ground. And their are a certain few people who have successfully breed tiger salamanders on caudata fourm.

I never said tiger salamanders can't be bred. Go and read what I wrote. I said you can't just pick any species to breed for morphs because they are uncommon.

You need to have morphs appear before it happens.

My point is simple. It's fine to dislike a part of the hobby. I don't care because it doesn't affect my enjoyment.
It's just really disrespectful and rude to say it's a bad part of the hobby just because you don't like it.

[athms]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

I never said tiger salamanders can't be bred. Go and read what I wrote. I said you can't just pick any species to breed for morphs because they are uncommon.

You need to have morphs appear before it happens.

My point is simple. It's fine to dislike a part of the hobby. I don't care because it doesn't affect my enjoyment.
It's just really disrespectful and rude to say it's a bad part of the hobby just because you don't like it.

Yeah but you need to start somewhere

[CosmicOwl]

I think it's somewhat silly to pretend that a lot of people aren't getting into snakes for the purpose of breeding them. How often do you run into some 12 year old who has a normal and an amelanistic corn snake and is "working on a breeding project." They probably aren't doing it the money, but they watch SnakebytesTV, or read about the the big breeders and think it's an easy job.
There are plenty of people who are just in the hobby for the snakes, but there are also a lot of people in it for money or attention. The later two are the ones that drive the industry. They're the people with 100 or more snakes, who are constantly buying, trading and breeding.

[formica]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

I think it's somewhat silly to pretend that a lot of people aren't getting into snakes for the purpose of breeding them. How often do you run into some 12 year old who has a normal and an amelanistic corn snake and is "working on a breeding project." They probably aren't doing it the money, but they watch SnakebytesTV, or read about the the big breeders and think it's an easy job.
There are plenty of people who are just in the hobby for the snakes, but there are also a lot of people in it for money or attention. The later two are the ones that drive the industry. They're the people with 100 or more snakes, who are constantly buying, trading and breeding.

its the same with all animals tbh, animal welfare/kennels/rescue centers are flooded with animals which have been bred by some ignorant soul thinking they can make a quick bit of cash, or a careless owner who didnt think that neutering/castration mattered, and people who dont bother to research breeding properly

Its a terrible shame, that so many animals lives are reduced to misery for the sake of human ignorance and greed.

[psychocircus]

Originally Posted by formica

its the same with all animals tbh, animal welfare/kennels/rescue centers are flooded with animals which have been bred by some ignorant soul thinking they can make a quick bit of cash, or a careless owner who didnt think that neutering/castration mattered, and people who dont bother to research breeding properly

Its a terrible shame, that so many animals lives are reduced to misery for the sake of human ignorance and greed.

I agree it happens with all animals. The problem is that to many reptiles are still seen as "disposable," many are cheap to purchase, and people are under the impression that a small reptile= a small, simple enclosure.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen anoles in terrible setups. I don't blame the "reptile trade," as much as I do the "pet trade"

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

I think it's somewhat silly to pretend that a lot of people aren't getting into snakes for the purpose of breeding them. How often do you run into some 12 year old who has a normal and an amelanistic corn snake and is "working on a breeding project." They probably aren't doing it the money, but they watch SnakebytesTV, or read about the the big breeders and think it's an easy job.
There are plenty of people who are just in the hobby for the snakes, but there are also a lot of people in it for money or attention. The later two are the ones that drive the industry. They're the people with 100 or more snakes, who are constantly buying, trading and breeding.

I have been in this hobby for a really long time and I have yet to ever run into some 12 year old with a breeding project.

I do know it's predominant on the internet that people are seen getting into for breeding purposes but that's a minority to the amount of people in the actual hobby.

In fact this very forum is proof of such a fact. Very few people on this forum breed their animals or have goals of such to it.

[psychocircus]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

I have been in this hobby for a really long time and I have yet to ever run into some 12 year old with a breeding project.

I do know it's predominant on the internet that people are seen getting into for breeding purposes but that's a minority to the amount of people in the actual hobby.

In fact this very forum is proof of such a fact. Very few people on this forum breed their animals or have goals of such to it.

I agree, but it is definitely more prevalent than it used to be. Unfortunately this is what the public and often beginners see.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by psychocircus

I agree, but it is definitely more prevalent than it used to be. Unfortunately this is what the public and often beginners see.

Yeah I'm attempting to carry 4 conversations within a thread at once apparently....

I agree it's more prevalent but let's look at a different angle.

The hobby has to evolve somehow. It's how we as humans are. We are egomaniacs. This hobby started out as how to properly keep the critters we choose. Once we got a really good handle on that we then said "hmm let's attempt to breed them!! That will prove how awesome I am at this."

So we did.

As time has gone on we literally have seen the landscape of the hobby change from people using rain chambers and entire room set ups to captive breed ball pythons (true story) all the way to bins and no temperature drop at all.
Does anyone believe that at one point ball pythons were considered an advanced species due to the problems people had acclimating them to captivity? Nobody thought they were remotely as easy to breed as they are today.

Things evolve and change. We're passed the stage of simply trying to figure out how to keep them alive and we're on to the next phase. I believe this plays a part in the prevalence of seeing more breeding take place. It isn't thought to be as difficult as it once was.

[CosmicOwl]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

I have been in this hobby for a really long time and I have yet to ever run into some 12 year old with a breeding project.

I do know it's predominant on the internet that people are seen getting into for breeding purposes but that's a minority to the amount of people in the actual hobby.

In fact this very forum is proof of such a fact. Very few people on this forum breed their animals or have goals of such to it.

I doubt I've been in the hobby as long as you, but I still frequently see kids and/or new keepers talking about breeding. This site is the exception to the rule. Youtube and most other forums are full of people talking about breeding for the first time, or asking what kind of morphs they'll get if they breed X to Y.

What you're saying is probably true if we only consider the number of keepers compared to the number of people looking to breed snakes. The problem is that the majority of keepers will just have 1 or 2 snakes. Breeders or excessive collectors will have snakes numbering in the 10s or hundreds(much more if they have a large scale operation). They're the ones buying all of the new morphs and effecting the flow of supply and demand.

[thawes]

I wouldn't change too much...I would however like to see less fear mongering created by misinformed media, I would also like to see more parents keeping open minds towards letting their children enjoy reptiles (it's an excellent learning experience in so many ways). Besides all the hate and infighting we see within online forums, I think this "hobby" is moving forward positively. Whether you're a field herper, keeper, or breeder, it's something you do that you enjoy!

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

I have been in this hobby for a really long time and I have yet to ever run into some 12 year old with a breeding project.

Although you might not run into them, they're out there. My oldest boy (10), has been around reptiles his whole life and has a couple projects up his sleeve. I also know a young girl who has a few corn snake clutches under her belt.

Cheers
Terry

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by athms

Yeah but you need to start somewhere

You make no sense.

[athms]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

You make no sense.

You need to start somewhere meaning they didn't just find a pied ball python or a anery kenyan sand boa.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by athms

You need to start somewhere meaning they didn't just find a pied ball python or a anery kenyan sand boa.

Uhh you have NO clue on the history of this hobby.

That's EXACTLY how it happened and how it still happens today for the most part. Go read about the original albino ball python Bob Clark brought in. You can also read about the original pinstripe that BHB brought in, he talks about it on snakebytes too. Ralph Davis has his platinum ball python story up as well.

This isn't exclusive to balls either. Bob Clark talks about his original albino retic import too.

Very few instances of morphs popping up randomly in captivity.

Now go play in the kiddie pool while the adults converse.