| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Lincsfox |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 14:55:25
I took the kids to an open day at the local exotic pet refuge on Sunday. We went into the "reptile house" and I was amazed to see they had not only a number of snakes in each viv, but also a mixture of breeds. corns with kings and milks, royals with carpets, they even had a 14ft burmese in a display with a couple of rock pythons. The guy who looked after them said they had never had a problem co-habiting their snakes, but I find this a little hard to believe. Thoughts? |
| 16 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| austin_89 |
Posted - 23/05/2012 : 16:20:55
That's great :) |
| markmifsud |
Posted - 23/05/2012 : 13:55:20
convert vivs to rub stacks, space sorted. |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 23/05/2012 : 13:15:49
Very good news, unexpected :) |
| Lincsfox |
Posted - 23/05/2012 : 12:58:41
Me too Mystra, but she accepted they have limited knowledge, but also limited funds to rectify the space issue. I think their biggest problem is that they don't re-home snakes, so their collection is only going to continue to grow. It's a great first step and hopefully with a bit of work we can give the snakes a better life, and maybe even convince them to re-home a few. |
| mystra |
Posted - 23/05/2012 : 12:55:33
good result! Was worried they'd either ignore you or fob you off on a 'we know better' tone (when they obviously don't) |
| Lincsfox |
Posted - 23/05/2012 : 12:37:44
Well, I am very pleased to say that I've had a response from the refuge manager who has taken my comments on board and wants to talk further about how she can better house her snakes. A great result. However, it does mean that I will be pestering you lot with more knowledge than me for information.
Hope you don't mind :-) |
| Lincsfox |
Posted - 22/05/2012 : 10:58:37
Me too, it's really playing on my mind now |
| BlueDragon |
Posted - 22/05/2012 : 09:50:04
I hope you get a decent reply. I hope they listen to you and consider your comments.
Yeah, keep us posted : ) |
| adamasrc |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 22:06:40
let us know if you get a reply :) |
| adamasrc |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 20:36:58
PS. if you don't comply, bruce the bosc will be round, he won't be happy. |
| Lincsfox |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 19:30:44
OK, so I've emailed the below to the refuge, lets see what response it gets:
Hi,
Thank you for your response.
I am pleased to say that we attended your open day on Sunday and the whole family enjoyed seeing all of the animals. My 5 year old daughter especially enjoyed searching for the monkeys!
I did want to bring something to your attention though. I clearly have an interest in snakes, so I was particularly keen to see your collection. I was, however very concerned to see that you are housing several snakes in the same vivariums, and in some cases even different breeds. When I brought my concerns to the attention of your volunteer I was told that "Corns never eat each other". I didn't want to make a scene on the day and spoil your fundraising, however this is simply not true. Corn snakes can and do eat each other
Snakes shouldn't be kept together for several reasons. Snakes don't live in colonies and they don't enjoy another snake's company. They will be competing for hides, competing for warm spots, and they can stress each other out to the point that one may stop eating indefinitely.
With different species you will have size differences, disease transfer, and different prey size. I have attached a picture of a Boa eating and then regurgitating a now dead royal python (graphic I know but I cannot put this point across strongly enough), I also know of a royal python eating another royal python, where both of them died, and one of my friends had 2 corn snakes together for years before one decided to eat the other.
Along with the snakes eating each other, it also makes it impossible to monitor the individual snake's well-being with regard to urates and deification.
I understand that space is a consideration for your charity, and I also genuinely believe that you have the animals well being at the forefront of your mind, so taking this into consideration I would like to offer a solution.
I noticed that you have a store room to the side of the reptile house. I would propose that you use this to house the snakes in a rack, in RUB's (see picture attached) whilst continuing to display some of your collection in the glass vivs for viewing pleasure on open days. I would be more than happy to advise and assist on the erection of the rack, and I would also be happy to offer a donation to at least partially fund this.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts on my proposed solution, and would like to thank you for the work that you are doing in rescuing exotics.
Many thanks
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| n/a |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 17:54:46
Yes, any decent rescue place would want to do the best for their animals and rehome them asap.
Sounds as if this outfit is just showing off.
The RSPCA is a bit of an unknown quantity, but it sometimes will support a complaint and act - might be a good idea to contact them with your concerns - a good point to make is that kings are cannibalistic (have just googled to be sure; if that setup continues there will be fatalities for sure.)
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| Lincsfox |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 17:29:19
I know they struggle with space, and funds, but then when I emailed them about adopting one of their royals they basically told me to bugger off as they kept ALL of the animals that came to them for life, which seems a little daft if there is a chance of re-homing, especially given their space constraints.
The guy who was giving the talks seemed completely unknowledgeable and seemed more interested in his stories of his "fight" with the burmese earlier that day than any constructive info.
The more I think about this the more I think it's abusing the animals rather than assisting them, I think I'm going to email the refuge and air my views. |
| adamasrc |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 17:02:57
jesus, lucky i didnt see that, would have flipped.. animal refuge eh?! |
| ajokocha |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 16:01:02
Wow that is a bit much! Sounds like they have a good range of snakes, just a shame they appear to have a complete disregard for their welbeing! |
| n/a |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 15:53:39
Bloody hell, aren't kings cannibalistic?
Sounds to me like it was a case of an 'impressive' display of snakes without regard to the snakes' needs. Some refuge!
And a very bad example to future snake owners - plenty of people visiting would have gone away with the impression that it was okay to keep snakes like that. |
