A chronic collecting issue with the hobby

[Snagrio]

It’s called hoarding. I look at it this way. If a flood is coming can I take all the dogs, snakes an kids with me? If the answer is no, time for a bigger truck!

Sometimes you have to step back an just say no.

Good luck!

I hesitated to outright call it hoarding because the parameters of it compared to say, hoarding dogs or cats are a lot blurrier to define. It's easier and more manageable to have a dozen+ reptiles (give or take the species) than it is to house the same number of dogs/cats out of sheer logistics. Having 10 snakes won't turn your home into a wreck, but having 10 dogs more than likely will. There's also the matter of if the person in question is a breeder or pure hobbyist since the former would obviously naturally have more than average.

Of course, there's still plenty of examples of a reptile owner who has way too many to the point of being overrun and the animals suffer for it. But they're not nearly as obvious or common a sight as, say, the crazy cat lady who's house is falling apart and floors are covered in feces.