Save Snakes - Boycott The Pet Trade

Save Snakes - Boycott The Pet Trade

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In recent years snakes have increasingly become popular pets. However, this popularity has had some very undesirable effects on the snakes themselves.</p>
<p>Many snake species, including rare and endangered ones, are harvested from the wild to be sent off to the pet trade. This depletes the wild population. Snakes are often caught by being stunned, and expert estimations suggest that for every snake successfully caught, ten others are killed during the process. After capture snakes are quickly shipped off to pet stores. Many of these die during shipment due to grossly unsanitary and inadequate conditions.</p>
<p>Once the snakes reach pet stores they are treated like products as opposed to forms of life, and many die due to the improper care they receive. These wild-caught snakes enter both the pet trade and private collections infested with both internal and external parasites. These parasites take a serious toll on the snakes' health and many of these die shortly after capture.</p>
<p>Most pet stores have staff that know little to nothing about the proper care of the snakes they keep. Snakes are frequently housed in setups with improper substrates, temperatures, humidity levels, and improper diets all which result in premature death.</p>
<p>Snakes have very cryptic habits and prefer to remain hidden under rocks, leaf litter, and other shelters. In pet stores they are routinely housed without any sort of "hide". This is so the animals will be in full view and will encourage a sale. Being denied a place of security causes a great deal of stress on the snakes and this can have detrimental effects on their overall health. <br />&nbsp;<br />Unfortunately many people fail to grasp the concept of pet ownership. Many individuals see their pets as something nice to own and do not understand that they have taken on the massive responsibility of caring for the life of another creature. Due to this, many people buy pets with little or no knowledge about how to properly care for them. Many receive the small bit of knowledge they do have directly from pet store staff which often, as mentioned above, do not know how to provide proper care to their animals. This leads to the death of millions of pets. Around 90% of pet reptiles die within their first year of captivity, even though many are extremely long lived. <br />&nbsp;<br />Those animals that do survive are often abandoned when their owners become bored with them. Exotic pets may simply be let go outside. Releasing exotic pets into the wild can upset the natural balance of the ecosystem. Here they can transmit diseases which wild animals have no defense against.</p>
<p>Due to the fact that snakes are continually abused and exploited by the exotic pet trade, it is strongly recommended that potential keepers do not buy animals from pet stores; but adopt a snake from a home that no longer wants it. Reptile forums and online classified ads are two places that can put potential keepers in contact with individuals who are looking to find new homes for their pet snakes.&nbsp; Adopting a snake that needs a home is a far better policy then buying one from a trade that has been extremely detrimental to them.</p>
<p>For more information on snake conservation, please see:</p>
<p><strong>SNAKE CONSERVATION 101</strong> <a href='http://snakeconserve101.weebly.com/'></a><a href='http://snakeconserve101.weebly.com/'>http://snakeconserve101.weebly.com/</a>

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