absolutely massive snakes - these just aren’t really my thing. I like to be able to comfortably handle or observe my pets, and I worry I wouldn’t be able to provide large enough housing or food.
spitting cobras - venomous snakes are something I’m somewhat considering. From what I’ve seen, most cobras tend to be very flighty and energetic, and having a spitter would complicate that so much.
mambas - similar to above. Out of every captive venomous snake I’ve ever seen, mambas seem to be the fastest, the flightiest, and the most defensive. They would be so incredibly hard to safely handle, and their venom is so toxic. They’re beautiful snakes, and I love them, but if ever there was a snake I feared, it would be mambas.
dragon snakes - they’re so fragile, and there’s so little known about them. I wouldn’t want to make one suffer just because I want a cool pet.
sea snakes - aside from never having heard of anyone keeping sea snakes, I would worry about being able to give one enough space to happily roam. That would be a massive aquarium, and that by itself would be so expensive and time-consuming to manage. These snakes seem to have wonderful personalities, so I’m a bit sad about it, but hopefully I’ll be able to see one in the wild someday.
wild caught - this one is slightly debatable. I’m certainly not going to keep any wild caught snakes at the moment, and I absolutely won’t get any just to keep it as a pet. However, if in the future I end up needing to study a specific species, or I plan on starting a captive bred group of hard to find snakes, then I may consider it. It would absolutely have to have some kind of benefit beyond just being a personal pet for me to do it.
flying insects - this one isn’t snakes, but I thought I should add it. As with a few of the snakes, I would be concerned about giving a flying insect the proper space. I’ve seen people who keep moths and butterflies, and I’ve always wondered how they do it. How big are their enclosures? Are they happy? Do they need to fly to be happy?
I totally agree with this, I’ve seen some super stellar animals (mostly tarantulas, geckos, and gopher snakes) that I’ve wanted, but then I saw they were WC and the interest just…poof. Parasites, stress/trauma from being caught, poor adjustment, its all a risk.
The only exception for this for me personally are invasive animals, since while I totally understand needing to cull them, it feels unfair since it isnt their fault they are in the wrong place.
So WC and rehabbed animals like certain iguanas and day geckos seem better to me than culling them unless absolutely necessary
That’s fair! Imo, invasives fall under the category of ‘having some benefit other than just getting a personal pet’, since whether you cull them or keep them, taking an invasive animal out of the wild is helping the ecosystem. It would of course have all the problems that come with taking in a wild caught animal, but if you’re willing to get through that, then it should be just fine.
Taking in a rescue animal that was wild caught but came from someone that had kept it in captivity for a long time would also be fair, since I think at that point, you can’t release them into the wild. Aside from being conditioned to a captive life, it would also risk introducing pet trade diseases into wild populations.
Me I’ll never keep retics as the space they need is not something I could give it.
And venomous like cobras and vipers etc as I’ve no one to care for them if i go out of town longer than 2 days.
Same goes for large lizards like monitors and Regus.
Id love all the animals mentioned but it comes down to care needs.
There are many reptiles that i wouldn’t prefer to own but i wouldn’t call out or look down on for their choices. As i have always kept animals that many would not think as pets/family and i never appreciated people saying i was stupid for it so i won’t say another person is stupid for their choices.
Some animals i dont prefer due to limitations of space, adult size of the animals etc.
I don’t think having a healthy respect/fear of an animal is a bad thing afterall fear is a saftey measure built into most animals and humans.
Irrational fear/ hatred of an animal however harmless they may actually be based on sensationalism of journalists, people with motivations or superstitions or just lack of information.
In the end own what makes you happy so long as you care for them because its their lifetime you must be committed to and don’t abuse them if you are not ready for a commitment that will take time, money and care then no animal should be in your care. However life can change to where you may no longer be able to care for them that may be out of your control and hopefully you will find a caring home and not dump them in the “wild” not saying anyone here is like that, this is just a general thought of mine.
Boa’a (with one exception a dumerils I am buying from a friend so I know its healthy) I absolutely love my my pythons I would be absolutely would be devastated if brought in a boa and it carried IBD and wiped out my Pythons. I do not know if its paranoia or just being cautious.
Large Lizards, I don’t have the space and really not interested.
At this point any lizard they just don’t fit my lifestyle.
Any Venomous (includes Rear fanged including hognose) Stuff like Rattlesnakes and all is self explanatory. As for rear fanged venom my daughter probably has Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (Looks it up, I don’t understand it all)if she doesn’t have it, she is highly allergic to everything and I can’t chance her getting bit
Always better to errr on the side of caution than risk a life threatening reaction. While some rear fanged species can be mild to most people with some it could be life threatening.
For me i have hard fast rules in my home that nobody is allowed to open my tanks, ask me to show them ( as in i open the tank and flip thier hides) no harassment of my animals and the only way you can see them is if they happen to be in the open.
For children even with rules they may be temped to interact regardless of rules especially if they have access and may be unsupervised. So again its just best to not have a detrimental animal in a home with children unless you have secure locks and or a secure room in which they would have no access.
Dinosaurs…cause obvious reasons. I totally would if I could though.
Outside of that, I’d keep just about anything If the circumstances were right. I have 6 kids and they’re hands down the worst pets ever. If I can still love them and keep them alive, pretty sure I can handle just about anything
Anything venomous. I’m a klutz, and just not confident enough to own one. I enjoy looking at them and think they are beautiful, but I’d never be able to keep one.
Tarantulas, centipedes, etc. Anything with more than 8 legs freaks me out. I like to look at the spiders, but again, would never keep one.
Any sort of big monitors/lizards/tegus/etc, the upkeep is just too much. Once my beardies go, I don’t think I will get another. I love them, but they’re very picky with their requirements. Also, my boys are picky eaters.
I’d love a large snake, but we don’t have the room, and our boa is the biggest I would go…and I’m not keen on feeding larger prey like rabbits.
Hubs really wants a cham, but he lives vicariously through my bff…they just need a lot, and the short life spans just aren’t for me.
I’ll never keep anything but ball pythons because they weird me out and I don’t want to learn all about a new husbandry and all that fun jazz. I say this and next year my dumbass will probably own a dart frog because “it’s beautiful AND poisonous - just like me ”
Anything venomous that could severely hurt/kill someone. And turtles. Like seriously. From what I’ve heard is that them make more of a mess than you can ever imagine.
that was great