Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[monkey25]

I've trawled quietly through as many of the snake and lizard posts as I can and they seem VERY hard to take care of properly, a lot of learning, a lot of taking from others experience and a lot of different personalities (something I wasn't aware snakes had )

Now with all that in mind, and being the mind-set that I am I wonder who rescues snakes? There seem to be thousands of them in the UK and I'm sure there's a lot of cases of snake boredom but I never see them advertised on the rehoming sites I go to

What are the cruelty and neglect cases like? And where do they go? Is there one main UK body or is it just lots of private induviduals doing the best for their species. What are the rehoming policies?

This is an area I'm really very into and I'm keen to find out more so if you could spare the time to post I'd appreciate it (am doing my own research too - am not that lazy!)

[Peter Parrot]

There are plenty of sad cases involving snakes unfortunately Anna. Quite a few people doing rescues too. Tanya used to do it, not sure if she still does.

There is an organisation linked to the South Wales exotic animal group that I am a member of that does good work too. It tends to be the more commonly kept species such as Corn snakes, royal pythons boa constrictors as well as plenty of iguanas and red eared terrapins that suffer the most as people buy these "Prestige" pets on a whim at times.

Snakes really aren`t that difficult to keep as long as you stick to a few basic rules. Unfortunately far too many of the people who want a status symbol "show off" pet put this as the priority rather than the animal`s needs as I am sure you know all about in the dog world
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[monkey25]

It's very common especially in the breeds I deal with Pete. I think it's much the same thing - people look at someone elses' animal that said person has put a lot of time and effort into crafting into a great specimen of its breed and think 'I'll have some of that'

Then they get bored when they realise every day with a Bull breed is like being a Sargent major.

Another dumb question - was just reading about snakes not feeding and people offering advice for changing the temp on the viv etc. What do you guys do if you have a power cut?

[cornfan]

I don't actively rescue snakes and would never advertise myself as a rescue centre or anything like that. I have my own collection that I love dearly and they come first and quarantine is a serious issue for me. However, every so often, a snake comes my way that someone can no longer care for. More often than not I don't want to keep this snake as I've a large enough collection as it is but I know an awful lot of people through my club that can then take on the snake on a permanent basis so that reptile will only spend a short time with me if possible until it can be delivered to or collected by the permanent home.
When the reptiles have come to me it's generally been a case of somebody contacting me directly through one of my websites asking for help and, so far, I've always been able to find permanent homes. Quite often that reptile has bypassed me completely as I've been able to arrange for the new owner to speak with the old owner directly. This, to me, seems like the best option all round for the reptile and the people involved.
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Regards, Tanya

Reptile Lover

[monkey25]

What problems can a rescue snake arrive with? Parasites? Diseases and such? Do you see many injuries?

You sound like you work in a very similar way to me - much as I'd love to have a house full of slobber machines my two take priority (that and I'd have to sleep in the shed, am forever tripping over a canine of some description)
So I try to rehome direct whenever I can.

Do rescue snakes ever come with behavioural issues? Can snakes be - for want of a better word - retrained?



Am curious George today.

[Peter Parrot]

Rescues can be;
a) Malnourished and dehydrated
b) Infested with mites
c) Injured , most commonly burnt due to inappropriate heating methods
Or a combination of all of these scenarios or worse even.


Power cuts, I have never experienced one that lasted anywhere near long enough to cause a problem. Overheating this summer has been more of a potential problem!

A long lasting power cut would of course be a problem, especially for incubating eggs. Depending on the level of committment and size of collection, then I suppose generators would be looked at.
_________________
YSBRYDOLI POBL, GWELLA LLEOEDD
INSPIRING PEOPLE, IMPROVING PLACES
www.btcv.org
Visit our website - Gwelwch ein Gwefan
www.btcvcymru.org
Llinell Gymorth / Helpline: 08702 40 48 41

[Peter Parrot]

So Tanya, you are in effect operating a "Placement" service rather than a rescue. I bet that works well. Fair play to you. Please don`t everyone bombard Tanya with rescued corn snakes now after my blurting that out!


Sorry Tanya!
_________________
YSBRYDOLI POBL, GWELLA LLEOEDD
INSPIRING PEOPLE, IMPROVING PLACES
www.btcv.org
Visit our website - Gwelwch ein Gwefan
www.btcvcymru.org
Llinell Gymorth / Helpline: 08702 40 48 41

[Scott W]

Exotic pets are overall far easier and take less time & money to keep than say a cat or dog, this probably helps keep the re-homing cases down.

I would say that boredom is probably the biggest cause of unwanted pet reptiles, as overall they don't do much and don't need human interaction like mammals etc.

The other downside to rescues etc is the fact that reptiles can survive a long time in sub-standard conditions so quite often people don't give them up to better homes when they should (I'm guessing a dog could look terrible in a matter of weeks due to even minor neglect...reptiles can take months).

As Peter say regarding potential probelms with rehoming reptiles but overall, if a rescued reptile survives the first week and feeds, then it is ready to go on to another home. Some can be more aggresive than others but that's more of a case of the reptile needing time to become accustomed to handling etc rather than saying it needs training.


as for Power cuts, touch wood not had one any length of time that would worry me (anything more than 48 hours and I may start to plan for action).
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[raptor]

I'm probably fortunate that I live (at least compared to you guys) in a fairly warm climate. We turn all our herps heating off at night, allowing only the ambient temperature, so a power failure isn't really too much of a problem, especially with species like diamonds, that dont do well in the heat. When most aussie keepers shut down completely for winter, to promote pre-breeding brumation, power failures aren't going to be too much of a concern, other than triggering an extra shed, and upsetting feeding schedules for a short while. Most of our problems tend to be losing interest or people being unaware of how big a given species will get when they buy it. Injuries tend to be dehydration or burns from incorrect/ improper heating.
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[Peter Parrot]