After all the negative news in the media about reptilekeeping I came across this article. It made my day seeing that finally there was some positive messaging about it. Just wanted to share it…hoping one day our passion will not bee seen as craziness but as great and rewarding as it is, and our animals get the respect they deserve.
13 Likes
Saw this too, nice to see a reasonable take for once.
4 Likes
Though I thought the article was great in general, and cited some references (which isn’t too common really), they made one mistake that seriously worries me. They linked to an informational page on Salmonella in reptiles in such a way that it implies negative things about the source. Problem being that the source is ARAV (Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians).
ARAV is a source that it’s important keepers trust as it’s the number one reliable association for reptile veterinarians worldwide. Their whole mission is to better educate and enable reptile veterinarians so that they can take care of their patients better. Their roster can also be searched to find herp vets nearby.
Given the negative bias against veterinarians that herp hobbyists already have, I think this was a poorly thought out thing to have done. Framing ARAV in a negative light is pretty irresponsible. Implying that ARAV is against pet ownership or that they are saying reptiles are “riddled with disease” is not cool. Because of that I can’t be too thrilled about the article.
6 Likes
I have to be honest I didn’t click on that link yet so I understand your point now I did. At the same time I also think the article of ARAV and their mentioning of the advise of the centre for disease controle is maybe a little too strict.
If we indeed would follow their advise to not keep reptiles in a household with children under 1 year old then almost no young couple with a wish to start a family or have more than one child could ever keep reptiles. I don’t think a regular vet organisation will ever advise not to keep cats if you are planning to get children because of the risk of toxiplasmose. They simply advise you not to clean the cat litter box if you’re pregnant. Also a lot of us let a child less than five hold a reptile and never had a problem with salmonelle. Most salmonella infections still come from not well cooked chicken meat and raw chicken eggs. It was maybe wrong that they mention ARAV as critics, but I can understand that after their advise on salmonella they sound like critics. So it was an easy mistake to make if you’re not to familiar with ARAV (which I am not either to be honest). But indeed, they should’nt have put them away as critics.
2 Likes