Ive noticed alot of ads from time to time for snakes and more so lizards that say "rehome to pet home only". I was wondering how people determine where they will be kept as pets as opposed to where they think they would be bred from? what is it about someone that enables you to trust them? and how would you approach it if you found they were being bred from? it strikes me as a very difficult thing to do, especialy as there are so many dishonest people around thinking theres "money" to be made from the hobby.
Hissy Missy
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To be honest, if I had an animal that I felt needed to go to a "pet home only" - i.e. it was NEVER to be bred under any circumstances - then I have one of three choices.
1. Keep the animal myself, for the rest of its life, where I can ensure this will be the case. This was my choice with Lesuth, a leopard gecko who became egg-bound; I will not risk her life or allow someone else to risk her life by breeding her, and I cannot trust that someone who took her on wouldn't try breeding because she's chunky, healthy-looking and attractive (and nearly a decade old now... not bad for a lizard one vet told me we might as well put to sleep straight away because there was no hope).
2. Rehome to someone I know personally and can trust explicitly. This was my choice with Piglet, a royal who hatched with a curled tail. It is curled enough that Piglet could not even be sexed - I suspect he's male, but it's a moot point. He was rehomed with someone who understood exactly what they were taking on.
3. If it's so bad that I can't trust someone I know well - and I can't provide adequate care for it myself.... then it will be humanely euthanised.
So I'd never post a general "for pet home only" post... because anything that I don't think should be in the breeding population won't be offered on the classifieds at all.
1. Keep the animal myself, for the rest of its life, where I can ensure this will be the case. This was my choice with Lesuth, a leopard gecko who became egg-bound; I will not risk her life or allow someone else to risk her life by breeding her, and I cannot trust that someone who took her on wouldn't try breeding because she's chunky, healthy-looking and attractive (and nearly a decade old now... not bad for a lizard one vet told me we might as well put to sleep straight away because there was no hope).
2. Rehome to someone I know personally and can trust explicitly. This was my choice with Piglet, a royal who hatched with a curled tail. It is curled enough that Piglet could not even be sexed - I suspect he's male, but it's a moot point. He was rehomed with someone who understood exactly what they were taking on.
3. If it's so bad that I can't trust someone I know well - and I can't provide adequate care for it myself.... then it will be humanely euthanised.
So I'd never post a general "for pet home only" post... because anything that I don't think should be in the breeding population won't be offered on the classifieds at all.
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I do not believe in "life at all costs".
If there is such a huge reason that the animal absolutely must never ever have the slightest chance of entering the gene pool that I can't trust someone else to take the animal on - AND there's a huge reason that I can't keep the animal myself, whether it needs expensive vet care or requires more time to care for it than my partner and I can provide / caring for it would be at the expense of healthy animals' care - then there is something so wrong with it that it is likely that the animal is suffering.
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How do I know that "random person who wants an animal for pet homes only" is actually going to stick to "for pet only" when in many cases it is not possible to spay/neuter the animal?
See, I also believe that, as a breeder/keeper, I have the responsibility to improve the overall gene pool. If a specific animal will not contribute to the overall health (not colour, not morph, but HEALTH) except in a negative way, I believe that the welfare of the captive gene pool trumps the ongoing life of a single animal with a defect.
But then, I have no intrinsic objection to using defrost reptiles as feeders either. There's no practical difference to euthanising THIS mouse to use for a feeder because it's got a wonky leg and euthanising THAT corn snake to use as a feeder because it's got a severely kinked spine... either way you're choosing which animals go on to contribute to the gene pool and which animals are food for others.
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I know what you mean. It wasn't that long ago, really, that I was saying "I can't have a pet that eats mice, even if it's frozen ones, because I think of mice as pets."i see what you mean now
see i suppose i was the bambi effect was setting in on me, i couldn't see why euthanize the animal if it's still living. now it's been explained, i understand and at least some animals still have a use once dead
thanks for taking the time to explain that
I won't say I'm without emotional attachment to my pets - Lesuth for example is still with me because I love her even if she doesn't love me back, and it was for that love that I wouldn't let the vet "it's only a gecko" give up without at least TRYING to save her.
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