Pet Reptiles-Are We Meeting Their Needs?

Abstract

The ability to meet the needs of each species in captivity is at the heart of the ethical debate on the acceptability of keeping reptiles and other animals as pets. Little is known about the ability of reptile owners to understand their pets' behavior and to meet their welfare requirements. In this study, we surveyed pet reptile owners in Portugal (N = 220) to assess their behavioral knowledge and the provision of essential husbandry needs. Although two-thirds of respondents (68%) scored very good to excellent in terms of knowledge of their pet reptile's behaviors, only 15% of respondents met four essential reptile husbandry needs (temperature, lighting, diet and refuge) and 43% met two or less. None of the respondents reported their reptile's welfare as very poor, and only a single respondent reported it as poor. Logistic regression model showed that while snake owners had fourteen times higher odds of reporting adequate husbandry provision, lizard owners had the highest odds of reporting good or very good welfare despite providing less of their animals' basic husbandry needs. These results suggest that many pet reptiles in Portugal live in, at best, 'controlled deprivation' and are at risk of suffering poor welfare throughout their captive lives. Moreover, behaviors indicative of poor welfare and captivity stress were considered 'normal' by up to one quarter of respondents. We suggest that the frequency of these behaviors in pet reptiles has led to their acceptance as normal, precluding the search for ways to prevent them. These results suggest that campaigns aimed at challenging the current norm for adequate reptile welfare are warranted.

Keywords: animal welfare; behavior; chelonians; companion animals; controlled deprivation; exotics; lizards; reptiles; snakes.

Figure 1

Frequency plots of owner-reported data for (a) temperature range and (b) light source in snakes, lizards and chelonians. The data indicate limited access of pet reptiles to environmental conditions directly related with survival. Bar plots displaying frequencies for all husbandry questions are available in the Supplementary Materials (Figure S1).

Figure 2

Proportion of owners considering selected behaviors normal (i.e., “normal for the species and associated with positive welfare”) in snakes, lizards and chelonians. Bar plots displaying frequencies for all behavior questions are available in the Supplementary Materials (Figure S1).