Is it just me or...

[Wuntu Menny]

Does anyone else find the recent abundance of ready made herp food disturbing?

It seems that everytime I pick up a magazine, go online, or visit the local pet store somebody else is trying to sell me a new product specifically formulated to meet the exact needs of my animals. Its either that or the apparently enormous inconvenience of feeding insects or rodents to my herps that would normally prey upon these items. Now I need freeze dried crickets and of course the vibrating boogie bowl to animate them so the reptile thinks they're still alive.

Of course if I keep snakes, I'm now supposed to be feeding them processed, nutrient enriched, conveniently wrapped sausages that, if whiskers and a tail were attached at the appropriate ends, I suppose sort of resemble the prey they're designed to replace. There's also premade happy meals for beardies, day geckos, crested geckos, iguanas, uromastyx, skinks, and on and on and on...

I wonder if this is such a great idea to have keepers, especially newer ones, so totally dependent upon the marketing machine when it comes to the lives of their animals. It seems to me that this approach only downplays the need for prospective herpers to adequately research the husbandry requirements for their pets. Why bother with all that reading and Q & A when someone else has already done the legwork for you? Not to mention are these Mcnuggets really all an animal needs? How would I know? The only person telling me that they are is the one selling them.

I don't mean this to sound arrogant, but I try to learn as much as I can about an animal's habitat, dietary needs, etc. and attempt to replicate that as closely as possible with available resources. I can't imagine keeping them in the virtual reality that some advertisers want me to think is the only right way.

Any thoughts? Or perhaps suggestions on which orifice to insert these views?

WM