Field collecting absolutely everything???

Some of you may never have field collected.  Some of you may only field collect.  Some of you are doing this for new bloodlines.  Some of you are doing this to increase the variety of your collection.  BUT, some of you are doing it to increase the number of dollars in your wallet.

This post is directed towards those who are collecting every living animal just to make a dollar.  Perhaps your excuse is that you're just trying to recoup the cost of your trip.  But when you take animals that have little or no chance of survival outside their respective niche, then that is totally irresponsible, and you may be contributing to the loss of a species.

This rant comes from seeing some Horned Lizards being exhibited for sale at a recent reptile show that we attended.  Most people know that Horned Lizards (horny toads to most people) almost exclusively eat ants.  So...new owner...did the seller tell you that?  Do you know where to get ants?  And how many ants does it need to keep weight on and thrive? 

If you see this at a show, perhaps you should tell the show sponsor that this is not appropriate.  But the damage has already been done when the animal is removed from its habitat.  The person who took it is not going to drive back to return it.  They're probably not going to try to find those ants for its diet either.  They'll just try some other insects and let it languish and die while in their "care" if they can't find someone to buy it.

So, field collect if you want, but with integrity.

 

Crocs in winter...

See anything?  Nope, and they're NOT hiding under the snow!

We just got about 10 inches of snow.  Of course the crocodile which inhabits the larger enclosure has been shut inside since the middle of October.  The alligators, which inhabit the two smaller enclosures have been in since about the first of November. 

We would never leave these animals out year round, even when snow is not in the forecast.  Being in a latitude that does have variable weather, we have made accommodations for them inside a heated building.

This being said, we recently heard that there were some people in more temperate climates (think Arizona or Southern California for example) who are worried about their animals being outside since they too are experiencing a cold snap.  I can only say if it were me, I'd be bringing them inside, regardless of where they needed to be housed (e.g. tortoises in the bathtub?)  Even if they were all in cardboard boxes, at least they would be in a controlled environment. 

The time to worry about these things is not when it happens, but when you take ownership of the animal(s).  If you keep them inside, for the (usually) short duration of the inclement weather, your house may develop an "odor", but again, a cheap air freshener is still better than trying to replace your reptilian pals. If you elect to build heated enclosures outside, perhaps your electric bill would go up, but that would probably be far less than the replacement cost of your collection.

It's just common sense.