Why Don't People Know How To Do Research? *bit of a rant*

[Dracoluna]

Personally, I feel it's because many people think of pets as objects and not living beings. When faced with the 'maintenance' or 'repair' costs, they figure it's easier to just junk the animal and begin again. On some level, they realize that it is a living creature, start feeling bad, and hop online to be able to tell themselves that they made the effort. In my opinion, if you're going to get/breed an animal, you are responsible for that animal and every one you produce for the animal's lifetime. Granted, this means that if any kittens (used to breed and show cats) that I sold suddenly end up in a shelter somewhere, that I will find a way to bring them to my house until a new home can be found. Luckily, I've never had to worry about my snakes with this issue but the same holds true to them. We live in a throwaway society where animals are viewed the same as a new tech toy. People can get the animal and then there are hundreds of companies out there to accessorize your new toy. This hasn't helped the mentality that animals are living, breathing creatures that have needs and if people own them, they are responsible for those needs.

As for the conflicting advice online, I've found that if you spend enough time, dig deep enough, and use some common sense (official websites and scientific trials are better than asking a question of 5 billion people on yahoo), you can get some pretty sound advice. If all else fails, emails work wonders. Don't get me wrong, I love the forums, but if I want an in-depth answer, I will contact someone I know is having success with the species in question and ask. The worst that happens is they don't respond. Most of the time they do though and I have to trust that person in the end.

After that nice rant, I think it all boils down to common sense. Many people don't have it which is why the ones that do get so frustrated.