Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm a highschool student taking a "college-prep" English writing class at the moment called Expository Writing. Our current assignment is a 5-10 page argumentative paper. My choice was why reptiles are good pets. I chose this topic because many of my friends who know I have an 8 foot red-tail and a 3 foot ball python are a little apprehensive at times to come over, and have the wrong idea I think about reptiles in general. I talked with many students in my class asking me what they thought about reptiles as pets, and many of the responses consisted of "ewww they're slimy" or "I can't believe you feed it live mice!" and the list goes on. I am asking anyone out there who would be interested in leaving me some feedback here, why you think reptiles are good pets/what makes them better than others. Also, what are some of the negative responses you have gotten from people who find you have reptiles as pets, any in general, I'm talking about all reptiles. Not leaving any out, not just the big snakes and nile monitors or crocs, but the salamanders, newts, toads and frogs, turles, tortoises-the works! I want to know what everyone thinks here. Obviously the main goal of this paper is to educate anyone who reads it who has the wrong idea about reptiles in general, I want to know the positive AND negative responses everyone has gotten. All of your help will be greatly used and appreciated and when I finish the paper I might just post it on here and let you all know how it went. Thank you for your time and thank anyone again for your help

I usually take a comparison approach between reptiles and more "traditional" pets.
* Reptiles don't bark loud enough to bother the neighbors
* You don't have to housebreak a reptile
* They won't claw or chew up your furniture
* They don't bite the mailman under normal circumstances
* You don't need to worry about getting them spayed/neutered
* They don't require affection which leaves you able to ignore
handling or petting them for long periods of time
* With many of them, you only have to feed them weekly
* I'd much rather be bitten by most reptiles than most rodents
(Hamsters in particular have a very painful bite)
* If you want to leave for the weekend, no one needs to come
over to let them out
* Breeding reptiles doesn't add to an already over-crowded owner
market
Hope some of these are what you are looking for. Good luck with the paper.

Bryan
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Last night I was laying in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, "Where the hell is my ceiling?"