Dr. Campbell once told me that "some people grow out of keeping snakes and others never do".



My cousin once told me that he didn't think keeping animals "in jail" was right.



To answer the first, I really dislike the "holier than thou" attitude that it implies. "I've grown up and you haven't" is what it says to me, and I don't think its a matter of "growing up" one way or another but rather of preference. If you decide to focus your efforts on photography or research or something else, then that's fine and dandy. But its not "growing up", and to think such is simply "putting on airs". If someone else chooses to keep forever, then that's their business. Its a lot of work, particularly with a large collection, but it really can be a labor of love. A passion, and I think its wrong to knock other people's passions (at least so long as they don't hurt other people LOL).



As for the second . . . do snakes' experience "happy"/"sad" or are we just anthropomorphisizing? They aren't people and have tiny primitive brains lacking in cognitive function, so any emotional labeling we put on them is simply us projecting our own emotions onto them. Animal "rights" for fish and herps is just plain bizarre (even more so than "animal rights" for dogs and cats, and don't get me started on "companion animals" and "adoptions"!). I rather think that my well-fed animals are quite "happy" (in the physical sense) to get their meals and avoid predation, drought, etc. In the physical sense, my 21 year old corn snake has led a quite "happy" life - plenty of food and lots of reproductive opportunities - he's probably been far more reproductively successful than any wild corn would ever have been.



So . . . I'm not knocking you saying you don't keep stuff any more (although I had wondered) - that's your choice and good for you . . . but be careful in the way you word things so as not to imply things like "I've out grown it".





Troy

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