Posted by:
BrianSmith
at Tue Dec 9 17:47:54 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by BrianSmith ]
Thanks Rob. I was really concerned about this subject and was kind of cringing as I opened the can of worms the other day. But I felt from a personal standpoint that I HAD to know. And from a breeder's standpoint I feel it is my responsibility to know. Man, I tell ya, I had some second thoughts. More than once I even deleted the thread post only to rewrite it again. I was playing out scenarios of finding out that this were true and in essence crumbling the burm market. In this scenario I could see how despised I would be by other breeders. And so I was hesitant at first. But then my conscience surfaced and reminded me that the consumer needs to know the truth even more than I did/do.
But this is very promising. And I know that you would not hessitate to shoot straight here if the situation were any less promising than it apparently is. Because you are one person that is certainly not in favor of the furtherment of the burmese retail market and us breeders churning them out by the hundreds. Had some other breeder posted these results I would view them with a grain of salt worth of any real credibility or reliability. Simply because a breeder would be less likely to post anything less than promising on the subject. A breeder, who's livelyhood depends on the market remaining strong would be more apt to bury any bad and only report the good. You see my point? So thank you Rob for taking the time to do this. It's certainly a treasure trove of information.
>>Brian, I will have much more available, however, here are a few tidbits that should help your cause:
>>
>>Type of Burm source years at home/facility still alive?
>>
>>Normal rescue 5 yes
>>normal rescue 28 yes
>>albino rescue 6 yes
>>labyrynth donation 6 yes
>>green donation 5 (transferred) yes
>>albino rescue 12 yes
>>
>>Animals that were rescued but no longer residing at WDC (these burms were treated, quarantined and placed or euthanized):
>>
>>type source age (if known) still alive
>>albino rescue 4 no (death due to severe emaciation)
>>normal rescue 12 yes
>>normal rescue 8 no (death due to heavy internal parasite loads)
>>normal rescue 8 no (euthanized)
>>normal rescue 1 year yes
>>albion rescue 9 yeas yes
>>
>>So, these are our most recent cases but as i mentioned, once I have some time to pull up our data base, at least a hundred more will be available to see if there are any correlations. But, from the small sample above, I don't see this "myth" as being any more than that. With proper husbandry, sanitation and diet, there is no reason why a burm can't live well into their 20's, 30's and beyond....but, I have seen so many burms improperly kept that it doesn't surprise me to hear about these shortened life spans (even on this forum).
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"If I had 365 enemies it would only take a year out of my life to settle all scores." Mia Miselfani
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WOW!, it's a landslide! - BrianSmith, Tue Dec 9 17:47:54 2003