my OH doesnt agree with keeping reptiles..

[Lucifus]

Most of the arguments i have heard about reptiles is normally along the lines of:

• You take them from the wild.
• Not enough research has been done how to keep them.
• They are scary.
• They destroy reptile population in other areas.

What most people don't realise is that dogs/horses/cats have been domesticated for hundreds/thousands of years. They are used to being with humans. Furthermore the reptile trade has only really been popular for what....twenty years? In another twenty years im willing to bet 90% of animals available will be CB not WC or CF. We are at the midstage of a pet trade development. Its gone from being novel to being serious.

Furthermore in the past five years alone new leaps and bounds have been made on their keeping. Scientists, Zoo's and Keepers always find out new ways of keeping their animals that improve their life. In another five years more improvments will have been made. People may say "we shouldnt be keeping them until we know how" but if it wasnt for people keeping them we wouldnt know anything. Also the amount of people keeping rats/gerbals/dogs/cats incorrectly is scary, reptile keepers in general seem to be more educated.

The scare factor is a big thing, but many people find it easy to get over if they SEE someone handling an animal. Suprisingly lots of people are terrified of bearded dragons but if they see someone handling it they often come over to stroke it and ive seen a few people get a bearded dragon after this and has never looked back. Lets face it BD's are domesticated, its got to the stage where they crave human attention as many keepers will know.

On the last point keeping reptiles helps bring more reptiles into the world, just look at the Crested Geckos who came back from extinction because of the pet trade. Yes we do take lots out of their natural enviroment but as soon as we get a CB scheme up their population will bounce right back up and we can help them do it. None of our domestic pets were born in a cage, they were all taken out of the wild at some point.