Is it legal to walk around outside with your snake?

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Originally Posted by Vanouri

I cannot show you over the internet just how my snake acts. I feel she is comfortable and go on that. I've read up on signs of stress and can see them in my other snakes who are not big fans of handling. They are not present in the one I take for walks. The only thing I could see as someone interpreting as stress is her activity level, perhaps saying she is too active and seeking shelter. However after having her for a year, I know this is her normal activity level outside the tank. She acts perfectly normal and looks healthy despite my taking her for walks.
Unless a certified vet corrects me, I will continue with my practices. Thank you for being understanding and not pushing your ways on us!

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No problem.

However...a vet's insight would be worthless. The only opinion of value is that of researchers who took the time and effort to publish peer reviewed research on this subject.

Then a certified Herpetologist or Biologist can tell me how to raise my snake, not someone over the internet. I'm sure vets have at least some knowledge on the subject as they must study each animal in order to take them as patients.

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Originally Posted by Vanouri

I'm sure vets have at least some knowledge on the subject as they must study each animal in order to take them as patients.

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You may be surprised how many vets are in the back of the office with a reptile book while the patient is waiting in the exam room. I can understand it to a point since there are so many snakes and so many different requirements.

I personally do not see an issue with it and Im not trying to suggest anything you are doing is wrong. Just sharing my opinion on vets. I have seen this first hand.

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Originally Posted by Vanouri

Then a certified Herpetologist or Biologist can tell me how to raise my snake, not someone over the internet. I'm sure vets have at least some knowledge on the subject as they must study each animal in order to take them as patients.

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I agree with KMG. Even reptile specialist vets often don't know a lot about less commonly kept species right off the top of their heads. General small animal vets know pretty much nothing at all about reptiles. I've even had one waive the office visit charge because he admitted up front that he had no experience with reptiles.

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Originally Posted by Vanouri

Then a certified Herpetologist or Biologist can tell me how to raise my snake, not someone over the internet. I'm sure vets have at least some knowledge on the subject as they must study each animal in order to take them as patients.

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I'm taking the time to read your posts very carefully, so please return the favor.

There are published, peer reviewed studies that deal specifically with this subject. In light of that, your insistence on having a certified biologist, proctologist, herpetologist or any ologist relay the information to you is perplexing. Especially considering most of them WON'T be able to help you in any way, shape or form.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

I'm taking the time to read your posts very carefully, so please return the favor.

There are published, peer reviewed studies that deal specifically with this subject. In light of that, your insistence on having a certified biologist, proctologist, herpetologist or any ologist relay the information to you is perplexing. Especially considering most of them WON'T be able to help you in any way, shape or form.

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I'm a bit curious as to why you think someone who has dedicated their life to reptiles or biology would have nothing to offer me. I'm not saying your peer reviewed studies are wrong...but who do you think publishes those? Thankfully neither I or my snake need to see a proctologist however.

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Originally Posted by Vanouri

I've read up on signs of stress and can see them in my other snakes who are not big fans of handling. They are not present in the one I take for walks. The only thing I could see as someone interpreting as stress is her activity level, perhaps saying she is too active and seeking shelter.

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Wow. Let me first apologize profusely for missing this the first time I read it.

You have read up on signs of stress in reptiles. That's excellent. I would love to discuss these signs with you in more detail.

There are 12 recognized signs of distress and 9 signs of comfort.

Let's list them together...I'll go first.

Sign of distress #1: attempts to escape/seek shelter.

Your turn.

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Originally Posted by Vanouri

...but who do you think publishes those?

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someone who has dedicated their life to reptiles or biology.

Do you know what it takes to have an article peer reviewed and published in a scientific journal? These are traditionally written by experts in their respective fields after extensive studies on the topic.

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Originally Posted by Vanouri

I'm a bit curious as to why you think someone who has dedicated their life to reptiles or biology would have nothing to offer me. I'm not saying your peer reviewed studies are wrong...but who do you think publishes those? Thankfully neither I or my snake need to see a proctologist however.

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They are not MY studies. They are studies by specialists in the reptile community that have dedicated parts of their career to studying reptile behavior.

A biologist or herpetologist most likely does not have a specialty in the field of reptile behavior. The can study a number of things, but there are only a few dedicated herpetologists that have extensively studied how captivity affects the behavior of certain species of reptiles.

My mentor, for example, held a masters in Herpetology and a Doctorate in Biology. His specialty was natural adaptations - feeding, mating, territory size - in locality animals of the west and southwest. He also dabbled in central and south american colubrids. He spent literally no time studying the effects of captivity on captive snakes.

Do you understand this distinction?

Herpetologists, specialty zoologists, and the occasional ecologist are the ones that would publish behavioral papers or papers that deal with an animal's behavior in the wild. A vet studies primarily physiology and pharmacology and, while they may have experience with reptiles if that is their specialty, unless they have a private collection that experience is primarily with sick or injured animals in a stressful setting.

Kind of like how a surgeon can operate on your brain, but if you have questions about the finer points of neurobiology and how it relates to behavior, you'd get better answers from an academic neuroscientist.

EDIT: Skiploder is 100% correct about how few people focus on how captivity affects behavior. Most people studying at this level have a pretty specific area of expertise, and it usually isn't captive behavior.