Rat scratched my snake's eye, please help!!!

[Warren_Booth]

No such thing as "taboo" being that case studies have shown that wild Ball pythons actually do soak themselves...if most "breeders" were required to case study or environmentally invlove themselves, I bet it would greatly weed out those just looking to make $ by flooding an already strained reptile market! I've noticed that there isn't much difference between alot of reptile breeders and puppy mills!!!

Interesting points raised here. I am a professor of evolutionary biology and much of my work relates to snakes. I would love to see those studies you refer to regarding wild ball pythons soaking. I have not seen them and when I search through academic literature I don't see anything that discusses soaking behavior in wild snakes. There are notes of wild caught snakes soaking, however that is not necessarily normal as the animal is removed from its natural environment.

Second, you refer to "breeders" being required to case study or environmentally involve themselves. What do you mean by this? Do you mean that a person that breeds a snake must know exact details of that animals natural environment, ecological parameters, behaviors under natural conditions, etc? If so, this is an interesting point as one could argue that captive breed animals are far removed from natural conditions. Hence the reason "captive syndromes" are often discussed.

Finally, because someone may own a lot of animals, does not mean that they neglect those animals, nor does it mean they all feel the need to breed every animal they own. With mine, I might attempt to produce one or two litters of boas a year, or a handful of python clutches. That is far from being a puppy mill.

Warren