RSPCA Reptile Report

[arkreptiles]

Thought I'd post this report which really demonstrated the RSPCA's opinion towards the keeping of reptiles!!
http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/Sate...&ssbinary=true

[Esarosa]

Royal pythons only suitable for advanced 'qualified'keepers...are they having a laugh!?
The whole report is bloody ridiculous to be honest. I'm sorry but if theres one group of animal keepers that i've seen that go more out of their way than any other it's reptile keepers. They're constantly fighting the crap that's thrown at them via the RSPCA. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but where pray tell, do they get their statistics from. 15% are malnourished....have any keepers on here been approached by the RSPCA to use them for there statistics? I highly doubt it. And considering what a large chunk of the reptile community this forum has that should speak volumes.

I'm sick of organisations like this making up complete and utter crap about reptile keepers and exotics keepers with nothing to back it up or very very few cases to base it on. All because they're in the public eye and on the whole the population doesn't see what they are really like!

[edit to add] apparently low humidity will cause MBD. Do these idiots not realise that differen't species require different conditions? Which the majority of reptile keepers provide?! Apparently herbivorous reptiles are given cat and dog food...yes by idiots like the people who wrote this report who obviously didn't do two minutes research. Gah that reports really friggin irritated me.

[Fly]

Bear in mind the RSPCA only tend to see tha bad side of the Reptile keeping community. It's relatively rare that they visit keepers with healthy animals, it only tends to be cruely cases. This can lead to a slightly biased view of the community as a whole.

[Esarosa]

Originally Posted by Fly

Bear in mind the RSPCA only tend to see tha bad side of the Reptile keeping community. It's relatively rare that they visit keepers with healthy animals, it only tends to be cruely cases. This can lead to a slightly biased view of the community as a whole.

That is exactley the point though. If that is the side they see how can they come up with 15% of reptiles being malnourished..or are we to believe thats 15% of the reptiles that they physically see come through their shelters? Which overall would mean the real number would be significantly lower. It's complete and utter rubbish.

[llama_girl]

if anything...it shows that the people they come across need to be educated more. just because they only see the bad ones (which doesn't supprise me, they are meant to investigate animal cruelty) doesn't mean everyone is incapable of caring for their reps.
there are pleanty of dogs whos care requirements aren't met...does that mean they should be 'specialist' pets. No, it means either its owners need to read up (a lot) or they just dont care and shouldn't be keeping animals.

[cooljules]

Originally Posted by llama_girl

if anything...it shows that the people they come across need to be educated more. just because they only see the bad ones (which doesn't supprise me, they are meant to investigate animal cruelty) doesn't mean everyone is incapable of caring for their reps.
there are pleanty of dogs whos care requirements aren't met...does that mean they should be 'specialist' pets. No, it means either its owners need to read up (a lot) or they just dont care and shouldn't be keeping animals.

to me the rspca need to be educated more...totaly useless.

[longhaircavies]

I cant believe they say royals should be kept by qualified keepers, its experiance more than any crapy qualification that is best, any one can go out and get a qualification and it still doesnt they no what their doing and i think the RSPCA show that, just cause theyve done some sort of corse they think they no best, i bet hardly any of them have any experiance.
My first rep was a green iggy and he was fab. I think i did a fab job with him, only homing for a breedin program and my first snake was a royal which i think are great snakes for first timers.
The only thing which i agree with is that too many animals are being wild caught when there is no need as there are so many breed well in captivaty.

[MrMike]

I can't believe that report. Even though I am a new reptile keeper, I know I know more than they do, thats just from reading these forums for a couple months. And to think I used to donate to these guys, I'm sure they are good with fur n feathers, but with reptiles they need some serious help

[gopher]

That report is a load of bull'. Obviously all the problems they've mentioned are true for a small monority. But most rep. owners understand that their animals have specialised needs and they do everything they can and spend hundreds of pounds in order for there rep to be cared for properly and have a healthy life. Of course they can suffer from health problems as they mentioned. But how many dogs are obese? How many cats have fleas? Loads. So why then are they not campagning for these to be specialised animals.

As usual they are only focussing on the bad points to give herp keepers a bad press. Wkers.

[Sid.lola]

That it a disgustingly ill-informed report. It saddens me that most will believe every word of it and not question figures because the RSPCA is so well respected! pah!