MegF.
That's for sale???
There's a huge difference in breeding reptiles and the mass production of cats and dogs. Firstly, reptiles like snakes do fine in non-natural settings although all my animals are kept in naturalistic type cages. I don't necessarily agree that keeping in plain tubs is stimulating or the best for them, but they definitely aren't the social animals that cats and dogs are. Forcing a dog to live in a small cage and breeding them until they die is abusive. Cats are the same. They have a whole set of different requirements than a snake. Dogs are social pack animals. Snakes are not. I breed my snakes. I choose carefully what I decide to breed and only produce a clutch or two a year at most. I also breed my amazons, green tree pythons and I'm attempting to breed snail eaters. All of these are sold only to private parties. If I have to sell to a pet store I won't breed. I only sold some babies to a local petstore once because I was going across the country and couldn't travel with all the hatchlings. I knew the owners, I knew the reptile guy. I felt comfortable that they were knowledgeable and would care for them properly. Since then though, I've always sold to private parties or breeders either thru the internet, in person at my home or at a show. There is no guarantee that they won't breed, but that's not my job to police them. I can only be ethical myself. If I can't sell them immediately, I hold onto them and care for them until I do sell them. I've never been permanently stuck with any hathlings or litters. I think it is important for breeders to take responsibility for their hatchlings (or puppies or kittens) if they choose to produce. To just breed to sell to a reptile store is unethical in my book. I make every effort to be certain that the buyers of my snakes are knowledgeable, have full feed/shed records, can call me anytime there's a problem and could return an unwanted snake if they choose to. Never had that problem though. Since I rescue dogs, I have a very dim view of puppy mills. Not only are they inhumane, but they are marketing a dog as something it's not. False advertising and the person who buys from these unethical breeders are often opening themselves up to behavioral and health issues that they couldn't imagine.
