hobby and handling

[marisa]

Samba, you are actually very correct. And shows my point well, they are whatever you make of them...a hobby....a business....a career....a pet...a zoo.....part time breeder....backyard breeder....etc etc..... No dictionary word can describe you, unless you make yourself fit that description.

Marisa

[Samba]

Thanks, Marisa, I apologize for not reading your posts (I'm at work and the posts are looooong) hehe. I personally think definitions are just generic. They are not meant to be ALL INCLUSIVE they are simply generalizations.
~S~

[Jeff_Favelle]

just because someone is breeding there herps does not mean they are taking care of there animals.... trust me.... I've seen some breeders operations

And just because someone successfully bred their herps and sold them, doesn't mean that they don't love reptiles and they don't take good care of them. Blanket statements do NOT work either way. I'm with Crannie and V.hb. Don't lump people together and don't say what the "majority" does, because I don't think we even know 1/10 of the amount of people that actually keep snakes. The people that post here on ssnakess.com is probably 1% of 1% of 1% of the people that actually own reptiles in Canada.

Keep what you want to keep and sell what you want to sell. As long as you take good care of it and are honest, who gives a flying FRICK what anyone else thinks? I know I sure don't. And I know that people and reptiles would be better off if people would worry more about THEIR OWN collections than labelling what other people do with theirs.

[Scales Zoo]

Keeping and breeding fish is considered hobby. They are not "pets", because they do not come when called (like a Dog, not necessarily like a Cat)

So, in this way - many people consider reptile keeping a hobby. It is similar in many ways to fish keeping, and I bet most of us started out with fish.

Proper temps, proper diet, aquariums, sit and watch them move about, grow them up to successfully breed them - what am I talking about, fish or snakes?

The main difference is snakes are ok with coming out and interacting, many fish do not like it (I learned the hard way, evenutally)

Ryan

[Jeff_Favelle]

Ok, I haven't read everyone's posts (sorry), but my question this: Why is keeping reptiles considered a hobby anyways?

Breeding or not, they are first and foremost my pets, my companions, and not a 'hobby'. A dog or cat owner who owns multiple animals because their animals have produced litters, typically aren't called hobbiests, they're called pet owners. They enjoy the companionship of those animals

Great point Samba!!


But even before I started breeding the reptiles I have, I still never considered them as pets. Pets, to ME, are usually mammals that you INTERACT with. Dogs, cats, etc etc. I equate reptiles with fish. Like collecting and building salt-water aquariums. That's a hobby. Setting up tropical terrariums to watch and view herps. That's a hobby. I don't think that they are pets. MANY people want them to be. They want their pet corn to love them and remember them and do laps in their swimming pool and think fondly of them, but they never will. They are interesting creatures to watch, observe, and take photos of. Like bird watching in the wild. THAT is a hobby. Pets are dogs and cats and pot belly pigs! LOL!

[Jeff_Favelle]

Damn, Ryan beat me to the punch.

And hey, Ryan, I'm going back to work, I'll phone you back tonight. Picking up snakes at the airport, and I decided to stop by and check out the email. BIG mistake. 2 hours later....................................

[Katt]

Why is there an aversion to being called a business or a professional?

[Jeff_Favelle]

Why is there an aversion to being called a business or a professional?

Why is there an incessant need to put a label on someone? are there going to be degrees of keepers now based on numbers of animals kept? Like going up levels in D & D? LOL! Just keep what you want to keep, and sell what you want to sell. Everyone quit worrying about everyone else for one week and go clean some cages or take some photos! LOL!

Its about the HERPS, not about the keepers!

[Nicki]

LOL! From your posts, it seems like most of you do genuinely love herps and caring for them, and I'm glad to see that. To be brutally honest, I don't care whether anyone anywhere is a hobbyist or a professional, but I just wanted to clarify that there techical difference in what the terms mean. That's all.

I love my herps. I take the best care of them possible. If they were kids or cats, other people would say I spoil them rotten! LOL

And obviously, "Its about the HERPS, not about the keepers!" is absolutely correct. I care way more about how safe and cared for my animals are than what you guys want to label yourselves. I just joined the conversation because I thought it might interest people to know the definition of what they were claiming to be.

Anyways, best wishes to all and your reptiles!

Nicole

[Jeff_Favelle]

Well said!

[Scales Zoo]

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
Damn, Ryan beat me to the punch.

Yeah, and it's scary we both came up with the same explanation (pretty much).

I view the difference between a business and a hobby "collection" by the amount of non breeding animals maintained. We have fewer "non breeders" than we used too, some people keep no non breeding snakes whatsoever, and others have collections mostly comprised of non breeders.

I'd say that is a pretty good guide.

Ryan

[Jeff_Favelle]

Indeed! Good points.