dragonsncrap

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Hi, so recently I talked with my father about having snakes (and/or other reptiles in general) His opinion is that snakes shouldn't be kept as pets and should be seen as wild animals. "By buying one, you'll be supporting the market." he said "Where do you think these snakes are coming from?" clearly aiming at wild caught snakes that were the ones who got in the market in the first place. On which I replied "But these snakes are already in the market, they're not wild caught." (1/2)

(2/2) My father replied “If there is something from which people can make money, they don'tcare if the snakes are wild caught, they will continue going until those forests are empty.” I feel slightly ashamed of saying this, but there is a truth in this. This is one of the main reasons why I’m hesitate buying a snake. I can see his point and understand it. But what is your opinion, as a snake breeder, about this. Sorry for the long ask. Thanks 

Hey, so this is a whole can of worms and a full exploration of this topic is going to require that we delve into the ethics of keeping any and all animals as pets for any reason. I’m not interested in getting into all of that because it’s a huge and very divided topic, so let’s focus on the importance of buying captive bred instead of wild caught.

Yes, there are a lot of problems in the pet industry, including but not limited to reptiles, with wild catch and import/export. It’s big money and there are precious few laws to protect wild habitats and native populations of threatened species. As long as people want exotic pets, there will be people to catch them and sell them. So how do we combat this, aside from pushing local governments to protect habitats and ban export of wild-caught species? 

Simple. Shift demand.

To vastly oversimplify a very complex situation: Okay so let’s say that 20 people have decided that they want a snake and they’re absolutely set on getting one. Nobody will change their mind. One of those 20 people bought two snakes from an exporter who plucked these snakes from their wild habitat in accordance with local and international laws. The buyer knew what they were in for andthey got the snakes acclimated to captive life, they established a caresheet, they had them evaluated for health by a veterinarian and treated for parasites, and they were able to responsibly breed them and produce babies.

19 of those 20 people now have the opportunity to purchase captive-bred, healthy, well-established baby snakes. 1 out of those 20 people supported an exporter, but as a result there are now 19 people who have a choice to buy captive-bred.

So let’s go a step further and say that now we have an established captive population of this snake species, and color morphs start popping up. Now people not only want this species but they want Fancy Colors that are not available in nature. In the case of corn snakes and ball pythons, the number of wild animals collected is a teensy tiny percentage of the overall number of animals in the hobby because people would rather get a captive-bred morph than a parasite-laden wild caught “normal.”

This is all wildly anecdotal and hyperbolic, yeah, but the truth is that if we don’t establish captive populations (by legal means!!) then people will continue to buy wild caught animals, so we may as well establish and support captive populations. This has some other benefits, too, including conservation and the creation of carefully-managed “arks” that can help to re-establish a wild population in the face of habitat loss or similar catastrophes.

You, as a consumer, have a choice. 

You can choose to be the person who responsibly and legally imports a new species, researches and meets their needs in captivity, and helps to establish a captive population. 

You can choose to support the captive breeding effort by purchasing a captive-bred snake from a responsible breeder. 

You can choose to not keep reptiles.

All of these are perfectly acceptable choices.

Unacceptable choices include poaching or supporting poachers, impulse-buying species that you’re not equipped to care for, or attempting to demonize/ban all captive breeding efforts because you don’t believe in keeping animals in captivity. This is all very uncool, don’t do it.

[dragonsncrap]

National Geographic,2013.

Water is the foundation of many things in the world, even ants. Ants  do not need an excessive amount of water, they can often satisfy their craving for water just from the food they consume. … You can often find ants in your bathroom, or near a water leak, as these areas are usually moist.

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You guys still like Vega blels, right?

Red tailed green rat snake / Gonyosoma oxycephalum

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I'm gonna keep saying y'all but you can bet I'll keep using they/them, even though it gets points off on essays.

Teachers really be correcting "they gave their" to "he or she gave his or her" out here, it's nuts

boomers really won’t refer to someone by they/them pronouns because it’s “grammatically incorrect” but will say “y’all” four times per sentence

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Ecuador Frog-eating Snake, Diaphorolepis wagneri Photos by Matthieu Berroneau

Photos posted with permission; do not remove credit or repost.

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just so haPPY THAT THIS EXISTS

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Western plantain-eater (Crinifer piscator)

The western plantain-eater is a large member of the turaco family, a group of large arboreal near-passerine birds restricted to Africa. This species is a resident breeder in open woodland habitats in tropical west Africa. These are common, noisy and conspicuous birds, despite lacking the brilliant colours of relatives such as the violet turaco. They are 50 cm long, including a long tail. Western plantain-eater has a thick bright yellow bill, and shows a white wing bar in flight. The sexes are identical, but immatures have a black woolly head without silver streaking. This species feeds on fruit, especially figs, seeds and other vegetable matter. Western plantain-eater has a loud cow-cow-cow call, very familiar in west Africa.

photo credits: Peter Meenen, Sumeet Moghe

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Onward, steed!

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Roll to seduce

DM: A wood elf rides up on a black steed. She is regally dressed, and you see a sparkling wand imbued with crystals strapped to her side. She demands you lower your weapons and surrender to the Shadow Clan.

Our human fighter, immediately: How hot is she though?

DM: *makes an ‘okay’ gesture with his hands* Hot as fuck, my dude.

Human fighter: I wanna roll to seduce.

My Dragonborn sorcerer: Wait, Okay, we need to think about this for a second…. so is she gay or straight or what

DM: *rolls a D4* Asexual

Dragonborn sorcerer: HA!

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Real life anime food 🍱

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Snirts, Snake Shirts, preorders open for one more week!  Order a snirt and help support Prissy’s mom, me.

Etsy Shop link here!

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Have you ever cried because you saw a boy so beautiful?

Seriously though I love Loki so much. He was my first rescue snake and hes honestly just the best snake I could ask for. He’s the only one who will just chill out in my shirt with me while I draw or write.

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and the universe said i love you

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Since we’re coming to the last month of the year, here are the Top 10 Tumblr Controversies This Year

1. Popular blogger who was paid $120 by their followers to eat all the little fish out of their aquarium

2. Misha Collins tries to do an AMA but staff forgot to promote it on the top of the site like usual so he didn’t get any questions

3. Staff accidentally brings back post editing for a total of 5 minutes and John Green is immediately harassed and he is forced to delete all his posts.

4. Popular user starts rumor that baby was born and in dashcon ballpit but it comes out that there actually was a baby born in one of the dashcon bathrooms.

5. Disney claims copyright on 17 different users who had references to baby yoda in their URL and staff deletes all 17 of their blogs.

6. Voice actor of Dobby, Patrick Stewart, is sent massive amounts of anonymous harassment after declairing Dobby “deserved what he got in the end.”

7. Communismkills reveals that she eats her pizza without any sauce or toppings and also later reveals that she has scurvy

8. Sixpencee tries to bring back sixpenceeheals and copy pasted the old post about it but then deleted it 10 mins after posting

9. Popular rat blog dedicated to “letting her rats type the posts” “accidentally” posts a homophobic slur in all caps

10. Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary tried to sue the person behind the “I just want to get dicked down again =/“ post but they lose and the blog remains up

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