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By Nicki Jecha When I was a kid, I would beg my mom to go to the pet store so I could look at all of the nonhuman animals there. I would see all of the animals and think to myself, “wow they are so cute. I want all of them”. I still do that sometimes, but now when I do that, I think about the commitment it takes to have these animals. Most people do not take time to research the care that goes into keeping companion animals, specifically reptiles. This leads to a poor quality of life for the animals. The popularity of exotic animals is high enough that the exotic animal trade is still prevalent, and most reptiles are taken from the wild where they have a limited chance of surviving. This is why I think exotic reptiles should not be sold in pet stores.
Before talking about the logistics of why some exotic reptiles should not be sold as companion animals, let’s define what “exotic” means. According to Lianne McLeod, DVM, an exotic companion animal can be loosely defined as companion animal that is not a dog, cat, or farm animal. It is a companion animal you would not normally think of in a household. The key word in this definition is “loosely”. Defining a companion animal as exotic or not depends on the context you want to describe the animal in. Some people may not think of a bearded dragon when naming popular companion animals, so it would be considered exotic (the bearded dragon is the lizard in the picture above). Yet it is a common reptile to see in a pet store. I have more personal knowledge about exotic companion animals in pet stores because I work at a chain pet store. I spend a lot of time educating people on the care of reptiles because a lot of reptiles have more requirements than small animals (hamsters, guinea pigs, etc.). Reptiles all have different heat and humidity requirements we as caretakers have to adhere to, and a lot of people don’t know that. There are reptile enthusiasts that want to give those animals the best life, but that is not necessarily the target audience of a chain pet store. Lack of knowledge is a big component in the neglection of reptiles. The assumption is that you can walk into a pet store, buy a nonhuman animal you think looks cool, and then walk out with this animal and have he/she live a full life. This is not the case with reptiles. There are many common issues associated with reptile neglect including metabolic bone disease due poor diet, inappropriate temperatures and humidity, which can cause thermal stress, and inappropriate handling. |
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This is a website about nonhuman animals, written by human animals taking a Society and Animals class at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Archives
April 2024
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