Hoarders (are you one?)

My mother has accused me of being a hoarder once, because of how many animals I have/had. All of my animals are well cared for, and receive vet attention when needed (except the rodent colonies). Heck, many of my animals eat better than I do. :D

I think it all comes down to what you can handle and the reasons behind so many pets. If you are someone that just keeps taking in animals, despite your lack of ability to care for them, I consider you a hoarder. There are people who just can't stop taking in animals and then have no way of caring for that number.

(Of course, I have 11 snakes and I definitely do not intend to stop there. :rolleyes: )

I don't have enough snakes to even consider myself an animal hoarder, lol. Only 3! No other animals since my BF is allergic to pretty much anything that has fur. Grr.

I agree with most people, that hoarders are people who are overwhelmed by all the stuff they have and only leave a little trail throughout their house. I could never stand that. If my desk gets cluttered I go on a cleaning spree throughout the entire apartment!

I have a general rule: If I don't use it in the past year, it gets thrown out.

I believe there are different levels of hoarding. Ive watched shows on that too. Alot of animal hoarders are people who are rescuing the animals because they love the animals so much but they dont have the resources to take care of them. They end up with sick, malnurished and over producing animals.

Then there are people who collect "stuff" and never clean or get rid of anything. One of my half sisters and her husband is like this sadly. They literally have a trail to walk through the house. Its sad but alot of these people do it to compensate for some other mental or emotional issue. There is not mush you can do to help these people until they are ready for help.

I think in the case of my reptiles I am not hoarding. In fact, I know I need to downsize a little. After the babies come and are ready to go, a few adults will be going as well. I have a number I want to stay at so if I need to part with a few adults to match whatever holdbacks I have then I will. Its a hobby and passion first and foremost. A side business second.

As for other pets. I have 2 dogs and one cat. Oh and 1 bearded dragon. The neighbor has 5 labs and I think they are nuts LOL. My house gets cluttered but I'm the type that gets tired very fast of junk laying around. I get so tired of it that I start throwing everything away that is not needed. I hold onto things that have sentimental value. I have alot of things that belonged to my dad and I still have a closet full of his clothes but I dont think thats an unhealthy thing. It took me 2 years after his death before I would go through anything and get rid of stuff but now im glad I dont have more room than I do. I like my space and I know my limits of filling that space. I believe if I had more room I would have more reptiles. As it stands I'm up to capacity without being overloaded.