Want to see some stressed out snakes? Take a look at the racks of adults who get a breath of fresh air only when their containers pulled out for feeding or cleaning. How about snakes being brumated for over a year just because their offspring are not wanted or needed and doing so lightens the work load and lowers the feeding bill? How about snakes kept in deli cups for a year? How about the stress some venders' snakes endure going from show to show? Those who know me also know that I am not referring to all breeders and vendors. But the items mentioned above were either witnessed by myself or described to me by the "guilty" parties.
I guess what really bothers me is that someone like the OP can be ripped to shreds for being cruel, the entire country the Netherlands can be deemed unfit to own snakes (OK. That may be stretching the issue a little.), and when someone who boasts of hatching thousands of snakes posts a photo it is invariably followed by dozens of ooohs and ahhhs, congratulations, and pm's arranging purchases. How can people who hold their animals in such high regard and feel so strongly about animal cruelty have such double standards? If these were dogs such large breeding operations would be called puppy mills and their operators would be shunned if not arrested. At the very least their animals would be taken away from them. Probably the result of a phone call from one of us.
What about the large number of "by-product" snakes that weren't fortunate enough to inherit the target genetics? Does anyone really think these thousands of snakes get placed in quality homes? Does anyone know that many of these baby corn snakes end up as food items for coral snakes, king snakes, cobras, and other animals?
I have snakes in racks. I check every container every day. If you have any doubts about my husbandry practices shoot an email to the only person I can think of whose opinion might carry some weight with some of you; Jeff Galewood, Sr. of JMG Reptiles. I have wholesaled hatchlings, and quite frankly it is bothersome to me. It is not, however, as bothersome as the fact that I see so many people exhibit double standards. If you care about snakes as much as you claim to start recognizing that the breeders some you hold in such high regard as not good stewards of their animals. Look beyond the fact that someone produces the coolest corns on the planet this year and hold them accountable to the same standards you hold someone to who cohabs two snakes and encounters a problem.
