So, you're saying that my posts don't have a shred of knowledge or fact, but ALL of your posts are simply repeating over and over "I do it this way and have for 40 years and don't have any problems with it, so it's the right way to do it.". You have no less insulted me by insinuating that I keep my burm in an inadequate cage, don't keep my temperatures and humidity where they should be, and don't have experience caring for animals than I have insulted you by insinuating that you should sanitize your cages more and quarantine for longer periods. I base my opinions of husbandry on what I have learned from veterinarians, rehabbers, hundreds of books, and thousands of websites. I take it all in, apply what seems to be the general consensus, and see if it works. It DOES.
I have yet to find any book, website, vet, serious breeder, or rehabber (that doesn't have money to save or time to save)that recommends what you have been recommending.
You can resort to pettiness all you want. But let me help you understand where I am coming from by giving you a few tips:

If you say “No offense” before saying something, you are going to say something that CAN be taken offensively, I.E. it IS a personal statement. To say, “No offense, but if you had to use your water bowl for soaking and defecating, then something’s wrong, blah blah blah” then you ARE saying that you believe something is wrong with my husbandry techniques. Don’t double-speak and say that I took it the wrong way. However, I’ve notice this trend of yours, and I’ll try to understand.

I do apologize that I jumped to the conclusion that you used aspen bedding, leaf litter, soil, etc. Understand that it was an easy conclusion from your sentences where you stating that you spot clean. Do you cut away the soiled parts? Or do you just remove piece by piece of newspaper until it isn’t soaked through?

Secondly, books and care guides are written by people who have done the tweaking to achieve optimal success in their animals. To throw them all out is idiotic. Why would you throw away useful knowledge and start at square one? If I take the general consensus of hundreds of sources of information, apply them to my animals, and find success in doing so, how DARE you bash me and say I do not have good husbandry skills?! I DO use them as starting points, have found what works well, and try to stick to it. It’s a little presumptuous to think that I do not.

Also, you “yelled” at me for saying “and with this last post you included that you don't remove all bedding once it has been soiled and peed on.”. Uh, DUH. You said that you spot clean, and spot cleaning is exactly what I said it was- not removing all bedding once it has been soiled and peed on.

You were also angry when I said “You said that you don't disinfect your water bowls or your cage very often”. Well, think of it this way. You said that people were fanatical (pretty much) if they disinfect their cages and bowls once a week. That lets me conclude that you do not sanitize weekly. I find anything less than weekly to be not often. I think we have different definitions for this word, and that is why it is a point of interest in this post.

I’m quite done with this conversation.
I did imply that I did not believe the ball python in a cage with a years worth of poop yet still perfectly healthy story. I don’t believe it because I have had to rescue animals that were in much less stressful situations that had major problems. I don’t believe it because nobody is going to monitor their temperatures and feed great foods but neglect the basics such as cleaning. Nobody is going to keep their humidity at a good level (which is hard to do with a screen top), and keep the water bowl full, but NOT remove putrid feces, especially for a year. When people neglect animals to such an extent, they just aren’t known to NOT neglect the precision areas like good temps, humidity, and regular feeding. It is unheard of, so forgive me for not believing it. If anything, neglect usually starts the other way around. The person doesn’t monitor temps or humidity, doesn’t feed often or well, and then stops keeping things clean.
The rest of my implications were based on the things you said. Re-read them and you will see that it is EASY to come to the conclusions that I came to.
I understand that you feel attacked. It’s okay, I’ll end with this post. But you should go back over the entire conversation with a less-biased eye. Neither of us has been exactly civil. Both of us hold strong beliefs on the subject, and I doubt that either of us will change the other’s mind.
Have a wonderful day, and the animation was cute.

Oh- and if it makes anything better… if I could, I would reword my first post to say,
“Wow she is so little and cute. On a side note, most people recommend that you quarantine your reptiles from each other for more than a week and a half.”

I realize that my “You really should” was quite strong, and I shouldn’t have said it that way.

Oh- and “GrotesqueBurgess” name comes from an album title and my last name. It has nothing to do with my character.

And last but not least: I actually wasn’t upset by your second post until I read the follow up post by Randy. Reading that post made me think that your post was meant to bash me, and I went on the defensive. So lets just blame it all on him :P J/K.

A cute picture from a rehab center I worked at to make your heart melt:




-----
~Sara~
4 Leopard Geckos
4 ball pythons
1.0 Black-lined plated lizard (Lizzy Butt)
0.1 Burmese Python (Pixil)
5 Rats
6 Mice
1.1 Gerbils
1.1 Dogs (Ozzie and Mandy)
0.1 Cat (Isis)
0.0.1 Synodontis Catfish (Big Spotty Fish)
0.1 Convict Cichlid
0.0.1 blood parrot cichlid
0.0.1 African Featherfin Catfish

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