Moral Support

[Spechal]

I could use some moral support as I recently told a friend I have 10 snakes now and while they are all amazing and I would keep them regardless of wanting to breed, a lot of snakes require a lot of space if you want to let them "free roam" or have 40G Breeders/55G Longs filling your whole house and I told her about rack systems and tubs and she kind of lost it telling me that it was horrible to keep snakes to breed and in tubs/racks. I retorted with, "Where do you think snakes, rabbits, rats, cats, dogs, etc... come from; certainly not a factory ... breeders." I get them out and hang out and let her know they are pretty much sedentary and reclusive animals to begin with.

Anyways, made me feel meh and question what I am doing but I also feel like some people just don't understand. How do you respond to those sorts of questions and criticisms? I don't want to stop what I am doing as I enjoy every snake, despite my "real job" (DevOps Engineer) taking a lot of my time lately. I just want to have and make cool snakes to share with the world; maybe make my own line one day.

[Stout76]

Waste of oxygen to argue with people that don't know what they don't know. I'd tell them to pound sand. I can see where it might seem "wrong" with them in tubs but some actually do better in tubs. I'm not a a breeder so I'm not really a fan of tubs because I like to "check" on them. With that said I have my young Blood in a tub right now because that is better for him till he is an adult. I do what's better for the snake and not my feelings or what I like.

[artgecko]

I think you've got 3 issues going on here that might be contributing to how she responded:

1. General fear of or aversion to snakes.
2. "Breeders are bad" mentality that has been spread by HSUS and other AR groups. (i.e. if you breed any animal, you are evil).
3. Lack of knowledge of how ball pythons in particular behave and live.

Don't feel too bad about it. My entire family, save my husband, think that I am nuts for even keeping snakes and I don't exactly advertise how many I have or what I keep them in. I do make sure people know they are kept in secure enclosures, but most people don't want more info than that.

If you have this conversation again, I would emphasize to your friend that captive breeding, when done well, is a good thing with reptiles, as it lessens the need for taking wild-caught animals from nature and all the stressful / cruel practices related to it. Also, emphasize that you take excellent care of your animals (i.e. temps, food, cleaning, vet care).

Other than that, there's really not much you can do to change her mind.
People that breed pure-bred cats / dogs get this all the time from AR group supporters and people that think breeding for any reason is evil and we should all only be adopting.

[Bistem]

Next time that same friend brought up that same subject with me, I would kindly say "we disagree on this subject so I would prefer that we talk about something else".

Your friend has their opinion and it is very unlikely that you will change their mind.

I am not saying that this is definately your friend but some people just have this NEED to dictate how others live their lives and I distance myself from people who do that. You are in a great hobby that sadly most people in the world dont care for or dont understand. That stacks the deck against you from the start. Enjoy this hobby and enjoy the friends you have here and the ones you will meet in this hobby.

I would still be friends with the other person, I would just avoid this subject with them. I have a very good friend who is a die hard Democrat and I am a die hard Republican. I still consider him a great friend and I think that he feels the same way. We just usually talk reptiles and do not talk politics. This is kind of the same thing.

[PghBall]

I currently have 50+ snakes in my home (all in rack systems). My own mother has called me a hoarder lol. If someone starts giving me grief over keeping them in tubs I just try to educate them as best I can. I tell them to do some research on ball pythons in the wild etc. I explain to them that my snakes are healthy, well taken care of and that my racks provide the snakes the security they need to thrive. I've just learned to tune out the negative because honestly it is not worth the aggravation. The funniest thing I ever had happen was at a vet some years back. I had taken one of my BPs in to deal with a cut on her mouth that became infected and some older woman literally flipped out calling my snake the spawn of satan etc. She went on about how dangerous my snake was etc. I just looked at her and told her..ma'am, your dog is 10 times more dangerous than this snake. She took offense and started with her religious (not that I have anything against religion) spawn of satan, evil creatures etc until one of the vet techs kindly told her that snakes are God's creatures to and to kindly stop or they would have to ask her to leave lol. I'm glad that the vet tech said something because I was getting close to losing my temper and going off haha.

[Craiga 01453]

Ignorance is bliss, my friend.

As long as YOU know you're providing proper care for the animals that's all you need.

Don't let people rent space in your head.

[Slicercrush]

I agree with Craig, don't let others keep you down on something like this.

YOU know that you are providing your snakes with their proper care, and that they are thriving in it. Thats all that matters.

As long as you know your snakes are happy, don't worry about what anyone else thinks.

[tttaylorrr]

i have all my kids on my wall at work, so i accept any questions i get about them. i get questions like: they don't all live together, right? how do you keep them? and here's my favorite: you know there's laws about owning multiple animals in one home, right? i give a simple explanation of my rack system, and most don't ask more than that, but some of them continue with: well are they happy in that?

like...please, go ahead and show me what a happy snake looks like. you've probably never even seen a snake up close, and you're going to explain a happy snake to me. O~K~.

but instead, i just state that they are eating, pooping, growing and docile snakes. and i love them very much.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Maybe because I am old but I could not care less about what other say or think when it comes to how I keep my animals or the rest of my life in general.

I do not enngage in that type of conversation it's a waste of time and energy and I have better things to do.

People like that are not receptive to anything but their way.

[Skyrivers]

Thanks to breeders, many animals would not be around today. I read an article the other day where a snake breeder was dealing with a "last surviving pair" of a specific kind of snake. His hopes was to make babies and keep breeding them with hopes of reintroducing them to the wild one day.

I think you've got 3 issues going on here that might be contributing to how she responded:

1. General fear of or aversion to snakes.
2. "Breeders are bad" mentality that has been spread by HSUS and other AR groups. (i.e. if you breed any animal, you are evil).
3. Lack of knowledge of how ball pythons in particular behave and live.

Don't feel too bad about it. My entire family, save my husband, think that I am nuts for even keeping snakes and I don't exactly advertise how many I have or what I keep them in. I do make sure people know they are kept in secure enclosures, but most people don't want more info than that.

If you have this conversation again, I would emphasize to your friend that captive breeding, when done well, is a good thing with reptiles, as it lessens the need for taking wild-caught animals from nature and all the stressful / cruel practices related to it. Also, emphasize that you take excellent care of your animals (i.e. temps, food, cleaning, vet care).

Other than that, there's really not much you can do to change her mind.
People that breed pure-bred cats / dogs get this all the time from AR group supporters and people that think breeding for any reason is evil and we should all only be adopting.