Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello. i have owned reptiles since i was in the 3rd grade, i am now in my second year in college. i have some questions as i am doing a bit of a research paper on Herpetoculture. i was wondering if someone could tell me what Herpetoculture is? why reptiles are refered to as Herps? and also, if you dont know this then a website reference would be awsome, how did Herpetoculture begin? this is for a cultural anthropology class.
i have to relate cultural similarities in Herpetoculture and other cultures. thanks in advance.
~justin quesada
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0.1 flame race sandboa
0.1 anery 2/3 het albino sandboa
1.0 cal kingsnake
1.1 betta
0.1 ferret
1.1 hypo male, albino female cornsnake

HI Justin,

By your post, I think you are confused a bit.

Herp----refers to all reptiles and amphibians, not certain specific reptiles.
culture--refers to breeding them (like culturing bacteria for instance)

Aquaculture refers to growing things in water, horteculture refers to growing/reproducing plants, aviculture refers to reproducing birds (in aviaries), etc.

It is not a human culture, but it is the art of reproducing (culturing) them.

Herpetology is the biological science of reptiles and amphibeans. Herptocuture is the business of reproducing them.

Rodney

then perhaps i should go to the route of reptile ownership, which is a sub category of pet ownership. pet ownership has cultural significance to it. however, depending on how one looks at it, herpetoculture has cultural significance as well.
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0.1 flame race sandboa
0.1 anery 2/3 het albino sandboa
1.0 cal kingsnake
1.1 betta
0.1 ferret
1.1 hypo male, albino female cornsnake

Remember...even a pearl can be cultured!

Anthropologicaly speaking you have multiple options. The concept of reptile (as pet).

More refined a position, would be to hone it down to the world of snakes. From there you can also look into the various cultures that practiced (or still practice)snake worship, or the use of a serpent as either a connector to their diety, or as a symbol of their diety's anthesis.

You can also look into the area of snake revulsion (or fear) that is heavily exploited by the media.

And you can look into the mentality of those who do keep snakes because of the need to express themselves by (proxy) as having the biggest and badest critters (thus making themselves seem macho.

Then of course, there is the group that see snakes as fascinating representives of the animal world and keep them as pets, and/or promote their contribution to ecology in the wild.

There is a lot of room to play with.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

also, it has always been interesting to me, how the animals that are the most feared, are often the most beneficial.

For instance, bats are said to be the most beneficial animals to humans. They consume huge numbers of mosquitos, which in turn radically lowers the incidence of malaria--probably saving more human lives in history than any other species of animal. Yet, a large proportion of the public fears and hates them. And except for the very rare case of rabid bats, they are harmless.

Snakes are said to be number two on this list. They consume large numbers of rodents which would (if not controlled), cause plague outbreaks, consume the food we grow for ourselves, etc. And they are also hated/feared by the public at large, because of a minority of species that are toxic. (Most of which are also pretty much harmless because they have no "attack" mode and only bite to defend themselves when being molested (except for accidental events, like being stepped on--whick are also fairly rare.)

Rodney