Do you think we overdo it?

[Chip]

I was just telling the story of triple-shocking my swimming pool to sterilize climbing branches! They were from a heathy oak tree downed in a storm, but had lichen and moss on them. Heaven forbid they come in contact with my captive cornsnakes (even though I live in their natural range.)
How about this, you run across a nest of mice around the yard or in the woods. Oh, only feed those to the w/c's, wouldn't want to give any parasites to your captive breds.
And if you use bark as a substrate, better feed in a separate container, can't chance a bit being swallowed.
If that baby regurges again, give 'em ten days then offer a pinkie head or even pinkie-pump 'em, slit the eggs for them if they take too long, etc, ad nauseum.
Now I know survival rate in the wild is MUCH lower than in captivity, and I'm not about to get started on how we let so many snakes live that were never meant to pass their genes on. That's another post. But anyone else out there look at our caring husbandry of these sturdy animals and wonder?

 

[Neil]

If we choose to keep snakes as pets then we choose to take care of them and keep them as healthy as possible. What if that piece of wood had parasites on it and what if an animal ingested too much substrate and died? Oh well, at least they were living a 'natural' life. And what's this about feeding live mice to w/c? I'm sure a majority of w/c owners only do this while making the transition from live to f/t.

 

[bmm]

No because captive snakes are a totally different world from WC.

1. Substrate kills many wild snakes. I am not aware where the data would be but the fact is even more than half healthy specimens in the wild die from encoutnering such problems. Why even "Test" it with a captive snake? No point to it. IMHO.

2. Snakes in the wild manage to handle a parasite load because they are not stressed out. A snake brought into a home will be stressed and parasite levels can sky rocket, killing the snake. A captive snake getting fed dirty mice with parasites has the same problem, eventually the load will be too much for it. Again, why even take the chance?

I hardly think the captive methods people take now are ENOUGH let alone letting more things slip in there. Wild snakes cannot ever ever be compared in any fashion to captive snakes. As captive snakes are automatically living a different life by just being in your house, not to mention an enclosure, house noises, etc.

bmm

 

[Chip]

Hmmm, agreed

I hope my post isn't construed as "we do too much, let's stop!" By all means I (and presumably everyone out there in cornsnake cyberworld) do all I can to maintain healthy "happy" animals. My husbandry of w/cs does differ from my captives, though. I'll feed them a field mouse in a second! I house them seperately (I house everything seperately, but I mean in a whole different rack), will feed them prey items I'd never consider for my c/b's, would be far more likely to introduce that tree brach with less sterilization, etc. And I have only experienced problems with 5 snakes, all high end morphs purchased and kept in almost clinically sterile conditions.
Obviously stress is a huge factor. Parasite loads are seldom noticed on recently captured snakes. Ectoparasites such as mites have never presented a problem for me, but I know of folks who have had outbreaks with w/c animals showing no sign of infestation when the snake was acquired.
My snakes are kept in a quiet room to themselves at optimum temperatures, given fairly large cages, hides, fresh water, and only handled for once weekly cleaning, immediately after which they are fed clean f/t mice of the appropriate size. How much less stress could they have in the wild with predators, rival animals, an ever-changing climate, and hit-or miss feeding opportunities with parasite loaded mice and lizards on substrate much dirtier than newspaper?
Just trying to spark a good-natured debate, not suggest we are wasting our time with the lengths we go.

 

[CAV]

I'm going to straddle the fence

I see the arguements on both sides of this issue. Do we pamper c/b animals more than anything found in the wild? Sure. Is it necessary? Maybe. Will I do everything in my power to protect and care for the investment that I have made? Without a doubt!

This is really an issue with every domesticated animal. All pets are just wild animals that have been "humanized". Most pet owners wouldn't dare let Fluffy eat roadkill, but will go out of their way (and often outside of their budget) to ensure fancy feasts are served. And how many people have paid a vet to perform medical procedures that cost many time more than the replacement costs of a new pet?

Does any of this really pass the common sense test? No. Will we as pet owners continue to do such things? Absolutely.

 

[Tim Madsen]

As for slitting eggs, I don't do it. If it can't get out of the egg itself it's chances of being a healthy animal are small in my opinion. I think I get your point, people do tend to faun over their snakes. I don't think that is a bad thing. But it does seem to get a bit extreme with some folks. IMHO

 

[Anel & Dirk]

Howzit Guys

I think the reason we take the care we do of our captives is becuase they could actually need it!

Now I'm a very recent snake owner, but why do we give nutrients like calsium and stuff to our snakes?

Because they can't get it from the enclosure.

Just like when they would get sick in the wild they probably have natural ways of healing themselves (to an extent) they don't have everything they need in enclosures so therefore we can't afford them to get natural illnesses like from bark and stuff.

This apllies to other captive animals so why not snakes?