What A Shame!

[joshdhensley]

After reading Ronnie's thread adout the poor chams in the pet store, speaking to several individuals about the show in San Diego, and my own experiences in shops, I just wanted to say what a shame it is that for some people, the passion of keeping and breeding chams (and other reptiles) is gone. What used to be a great joy for some has been replaced by pure greed. You see in sooo many shops now, chams that are in crap, only because they are not a pet, but rather a dollar. You know the people that keep full grown panthers or veilds in a 20 gal glass tank with a heat rock and bowl of water didn't start out that way. Or, when you ask about the cham that is so dehydrated and starved that it can't even open it's eyes, the only response you get is "looks ok to me" or "it's just stressed". Somewhere along the way, they traded there passion for money... I hope to god that I never sell out that way. It's pathetic!

 

[laurie]

Josh i don't think those of us who truely love and enjoy our chams for what they are, not what someone wants them to be, will always provide the best care we can. If I every get to the point where I don't think each of my chams has all that it needs, I will start cutting down on the number of chams I own. I guess it boils down to you need to want what is best for the cham or you shouldn't have one.

 

[jojackson]

I could'nt Agree more Josh, Ive seen it to over the years, not just commercial, but private keepers/breeders who began with passion and healthy happy animals and ended with dollars and lots of sick and dead animals, traded away as expendable.
A major issue that so many new young keepers experience their first breeding sucess with something like bearded dragons, sell them and get $$$ in the eyes, buy or poach gravid animals for quick easy money, move onto other (more expensive and difficult to care for species) with the proceeds of the last, and so on, and along the way the animals themselves become less important than the money they hope to make.
This is not confined to the keeping breeding of reptile species though, this is the world we live in, $$$ is god.
Very few these days keep or breed purely out of passion, but these few are easily recognised also in the quality of care they provide, particularly breeders.
I love hearing reports of excellent private breeders who sell healthy vibrant animals at reasonable prices, are responsible in who they sell to and provide honest, useful and reliable information and are willing to provide after sale help and advice.
These make the hobby worth continuing. Im sure there are a few odd commercial breeders who earn similar reports, but sadly few, and I beleive most commercial outfits
you hear enthusiastic reports about are from people new to the hobby 5 mins.

 

[xanthoman]

after reading ronnie's thread adout the poor chams in the pet store, speaking to several individuals about the show in san diego, and my own experiences in shops, i just wanted to say what a shame it is that for some people, the passion of keeping and breeding chams (and other reptiles) is gone. What used to be a great joy for some has been replaced by pure greed. You see in sooo many shops now, chams that are in crap, only because they are not a pet, but rather a dollar. You know the people that keep full grown panthers or veilds in a 20 gal glass tank with a heat rock and bowl of water didn't start out that way. Or, when you ask about the cham that is so dehydrated and starved that it can't even open it's eyes, the only response you get is "looks ok to me" or "it's just stressed". Somewhere along the way, they traded there passion for money... I hope to god that i never sell out that way. It's pathetic!

bravo , well said

 

[AJA]

Nice post Josh. What also is sad is that if you try to 'rescue' the poor animal in question, you just continue the vicious cycle of buy and sell.

Don't even get me started on the puppy mills and designer dogs.

 

[luevelvet]

You know, while the Show in SD was going on, I went to a show here in Tampa. I have to admit, it was miserable at best. A 24x18x36 cage with 3 or 4 huge Melleri, one with his bloody horn hanging on by a scab. It was despicable at best. I did note who the dealer was so I vowed to never buy anything from them. I recall the same dealer treat brevs like dead crickets at a previous show in Orlando.

We also visited two shop that were in the surrounding area. One had illegal animals (American Alligator and Florida Gopher Tortoise) with "NFS" signs. Suuurrre. The other was a garage in an industrial park with a cage with 4 near adult male Veileds and one adult Senegals. Yep, in the same cage.

All Nicole and I could think of when we eded our adventure was, this industry sure has a lot of room for improvments....

Luis