Its not about being nuked, is it? its about the understanding of the animals we on this forum love, or suppose to love, or like, or admire, or whatever reason we keep them.
In your post, you bring up, what they DO in the wild. This is the point I keep trying to make, what they do in the wild is a Direct reflection of what they ARE, both in the wild and in captivity.
They are the same snake, only with a different set of conditions. In nature, they are born(hatched) in an area, if they can find remember conditions that support them, use those conditions and make the right decisions, they will survive to recruit, if they keep making the right decisions, they live for a very long time. On my study site, I have individuals that are so old, they have totally lost their pattern, and with rattlesnakes, that could be many decades. I have wild individual gilas that I have watched for 32 years, and they have not aged. In both cases, they are still recruiting.
Their lives are all about making choices. Even simple choices like temps and humidity. These are made every single day of their lives.
Yet, once brought into captivity, we treat them like they are stupid and cannot do anything on their own.
The truth is, we give them things they have no way of understanding and they do not react in any way, so we call/treat them as stupid. In fact, we are speaking a different "language" and they simply do not understand. Therefore cannot make a decision. The reality is, we think we are smarter and force them to do what we want.
What is confusing to me is, you folks who complain about my approach, are the ones that often are pure this and local that. Yet, "WHAT" they do is what makes them pure this and local that. They look different, because they do something a little different, because the local IS a little different. They are not different so you can collect them and call them different.
What is important here is THIS, snakes have a wonderful superior immune system. They can and do survive from injuries that would kill a human many times over. And in nature, have not shown to be susceptible to disease, particularly common gram-negative bacteria that is so common in captivity.
In captivity, most of the health problems lead to two things, a suppressed immune system from improper conditions/choices. And all manner of behavioral problems.
These things are so easily cured its insane. If fact, its far easier to "do it right" then fix all the problems from doing it wrong.
Once you get the physical problems fixed, you can then turn your attention to what these animals are behaviorally. Then keeping snakes becomes FUN, EDUCATIONAL(they will teach you what they are) and very very interesting. All the while, you can keep the colors and morphs to your liking(eye candy).
You stated, you don't have the ability to do these things. But you do, you just don't understand what to do. Also many say, I have to many animals to do that to all of them. No one every said, anyone HAS to do something to all of them. How about start with one and learn, then decide from there. No need for A to Z.
As an older fella who has kept and bred KINGS, since 1964, I find the problem is interest, that is, keeping yourself interested in what your doing.
Another example is, you folks that keep pretty snakes, the truth is, they will all get old, lose their color and be UGLY for over half their lifespan. or do you plan on getting rid of them as they age?
As I have mentioned, this IS NOT REQUIRED, but some folks really want more out of their captives and want more FOR their captives. My rants are for them, maybe not you or Jerry.
I think your a good person, and surely the above paragraph may interest you, getting more out of your captives and wanting more for your captives. Consider, keeping a snake in a sweater box is about like burying one in a small section of its burrow, then giving it food and water enough to keep it alive and maybe have babies. Cheers
