# Do We Worry Too Much About Our Pets?



## spend_day (Apr 10, 2008)

DISCLAIMER
Right before anyone bites my head of this was just something I was thinking about last night, YES I am just as careful (because I love my animals and don’t want anything to happen to them) and no im not saying everyone should change there ways and run outside and rub the reps in cat faeces but………….

Are we too careful with our pets 

Today with reptile keeping (especially when keeping/breeding a lot of reptiles) everything seems to be sterilised, recommended, safe and anyone who doesn’t is pretty much equal to satan. I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else. For example. My small apple tree was cut down, so I used some of the braches in my anole set-up (fruit tree branches are seen as “safe”) I put them in the oven for over the recommended minimum time then in the airing cupboard for a week (just to cure them a bit) then ovened them again. Then after keeping them in my viv for a month or so I saw a thread that said you must remove the bark (pretty much saying or your animals will die) so out they come bark off, more oven time back in. now im seeing (on other forums and lists of safe wood) apple trees are now seen as toxic (because of arsenic in the seeds or something) but the whole tree is considered a death trap. Ive even began to read oak on some lists (YES OAK the safe staple of a lot of viv branches see link Harmful & Poisonous Plants: O-Z). Are we getting to the point where we are just too paranoid about what we put in our vivariums Im waiting for some1 to highlight the risks of paper towels and for them to become taboo. Ive been told eco earth (which I use with every single one of my animals) causes impaction and is pretty much as bad as the dreaded SAND, that was suppose to be the safe substitute for moss, sorry I got a bit rant-ish then. But you see my point. Is worrying what we put into our vivs getting out of hand or are we just doing whats best for our pets 

Next thing is disease, as captive breeding becomes more popular I have to ask (and this is a genuine question to people who know more than me) is sterile safe environments whats really best for the animals and future captive breeding, or are we just doing the whole cotton wool kids thing. Could there be issues such as poorly developed immune systems meaning the animals die if they smallest infection goes round. I thought about this a while back when I saw a thread in the snake section about how many deaths get put down to bad genes or “just one of those things” and I would really like an answer 

I was worried about posting this really as I’m probably going be branded a traitor and flamed to hell but I think its worth a discussion.


----------



## georgieabc123 (Jul 17, 2008)

no we dont were just trying to all do are best then theres the people who dont care at all about them:devil:


----------



## miss_rawr (Mar 18, 2009)

i think your right.
i got told off a friend i was going to kill my gerbil becasue i put a empty loo roll tube in his cage, but i've done that for years with all the gerbils they have and they love to run through them and sit on them ect...i do think its getting stupid yes becasue things people have done for years and not harmed an animal are now taboo....

all in all i love my animals dearly and i wouldnt set out to hurt any of them 
i want to do whats right by them but some things are getting a little stupid


----------



## spend_day (Apr 10, 2008)

georgieabc123 said:


> no we dont were just trying to all do are best then theres the people who dont care at all about them:devil:


yeah but are we gonna end up all in tubs wearing gloves and gas masks with unbleached undyed paper towel substrate and drinking boiled water form the purest spring in ireland 

i know there are people out there who dont care about there animals and like i said at the start im not saying people shouldnt care but surely someone can see my point.


----------



## miss_rawr (Mar 18, 2009)

spend_day said:


> yeah but are we gonna end up all in tubs wearing gloves and gas masks with unbleached undyed paper towel substrate and drinking boiled water form the purest spring in ireland .


:lol2: i can imagine a special suit coming out, MUST WEAR BEFORE YOU HANDLE A ANIMAL TO STOP YOUR GERMS BEING SPRED TO THEM!


----------



## spider22 (Mar 16, 2009)

i see your point and i do sort of agree people are paranoid about there pets i am guilty to i could see brown spots on my ghost corn i went mad checking every day coz i thought they were mites but they were just markings but some people do take things to extreams with there pets and then theres people who just dont care


----------



## spend_day (Apr 10, 2008)

miss_rawr said:


> i think your right.
> i got told off a friend i was going to kill my gerbil becasue i put a empty loo roll tube in his cage, but i've done that for years with all the gerbils they have and they love to run through them and sit on them ect...i do think its getting stupid yes becasue things people have done for years and not harmed an animal are now taboo....


did they say why, i did this with my mice as a kid and never had any issues 



miss_rawr said:


> :lol2: i can imagine a special suit coming out, MUST WEAR BEFORE YOU HANDLE A ANIMAL TO STOP YOUR GERMS BEING SPRED TO THEM!


we should do it we could make millions :lol2:


----------



## georgieabc123 (Jul 17, 2008)

like in et at the end when the government come


----------



## miss_rawr (Mar 18, 2009)

georgieabc123 said:


> like in et at the end when the government come


 yeh! just like that! :lol2:


----------



## miss_rawr (Mar 18, 2009)

spend_day said:


> did they say why, i did this with my mice as a kid and never had any issues


they said the gerbil would eat it and choke and die, basially 





spend_day said:


> we should do it we could make millions


gets working on suit! hahaha


----------



## georgieabc123 (Jul 17, 2008)

:lol2:


----------



## stuart89 (Mar 16, 2008)

Yes we do, and we worry too much about ourselves too.


----------



## spend_day (Apr 10, 2008)

stuart89 said:


> Yes we do, and we worry too much about ourselves too.


 that was a short and somewhat cryptic answer, care to elaborate


----------



## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

Yes alot of people worry too much IMO.
I basically got told my ferrets will die of a bacterial infection because I dont disinfect everything daily.

I got told they will die from bacteria from hay/twigs/leaves/bark that I put in their hutches. FFS, they live in rabbit burrows in forests!
I get told they will die because I dont cook meats before feeding it to them....
I get told with the guinea pig that he will get sick or die from contaminated hay because I put it on the floor of the cage.
I got told the rabbit will die because I use clay cat litter in his litter pan (the litter pan that has a mesh grate over it, I might add)
I got told the rabbit will die because pretty much 99% of his diet is hay and grass (the other 1% is pellets, lettuce etc)
I got told apple tree has to be put in the oven on 200F for 90 mins before feeding it to his. 
I could go on....Its mad...


----------



## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

stuart89 said:


> Yes we do, and we worry too much about ourselves too.


I've got to agree. I cant breath without being told how detrimental it is too my health to inhale near smokers/certain types of metal/in plastic factorys/in the paint aisle of B&Q (I'm not kidding, last time I was in B&Q some lady was given people a lecture on how bad it is to inhale in the paint asile because of fumes!) blah, blah, blah.


----------



## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

some people worry too much..
OMG my new critter hasn't eaten / can you smoke in the same town as a snake / how long should i defrost a mouse for / i clean my viv by using reptile friendly disinfectant, then boiling water, then i take it to the dry cleaners before keeping it in a sterile environment for a week before putting the critter in it / i'm picking up a new rep and traveling half a mile, should i use a heat pack to keep it warm / etc etc etc.


----------



## spend_day (Apr 10, 2008)

spend_day said:


> Next thing is disease, as captive breeding becomes more popular I have to ask (and this is a genuine question to people who know more than me) is sterile safe environments whats really best for the animals and future captive breeding, or are we just doing the whole cotton wool kids thing. Could there be issues such as poorly developed immune systems meaning the animals die if they smallest infection goes round. I thought about this a while back when I saw a thread in the snake section about how many deaths get put down to bad genes or “just one of those things” and I would really like an answer


anyone know anything about this bit, just something im interested in really


----------



## ratboy (Jan 10, 2007)

It probably balances up with those that don't worry enough.


----------



## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

spend_day said:


> anyone know anything about this bit, just something im interested in really


I think some people forget snakes are WILD animals. They dont get disinfected floors every month do they? They sometimes miss a week or two of feeding, no? They eat animals that are in theory full of parasites aswell. I guess some people think "I wouldn't be able to live with that bacteria around me, why would a snake?" yet some dont think of the fact that they will eat raw chicken, rats, mice, gerbils, degus, quail, piglet, rabbit etc and they thrive on it...


----------



## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

spend_day said:


> apple trees are now seen as toxic (because of arsenic in the seeds or something) .


It's actually cyanide in the seeds, inner bark and leaves.

Many fruit trees use cyanide compounds to ... "deter"... things from eating the parts they don't want you to eat.

I personally would prefer to use stripped branches OR use non-toxic woods like willow or birch.


----------



## spend_day (Apr 10, 2008)

Ssthisto said:


> It's actually cyanide in the seeds, inner bark and leaves.
> 
> Many fruit trees use cyanide compounds to ... "deter"... things from eating the parts they don't want you to eat.
> 
> I personally would prefer to use stripped branches OR use non-toxic woods like willow or birch.


well i was almost right with arsenic. is birch safe? theres loads of them in some woods not far from me might have to go have a gander


----------



## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

As far as I'm aware, birch (and indeed beech) are safe.


----------



## skimpy (Nov 22, 2006)

no we dont worry too much. what bothers me is the thought of someone being so careful then setting up mousetraps to catch prey for their reps. i know people who do that, and it's not safe, introducing possible disease threats. 

my son caught salmonella, they all thought it was the snakes, turned out it wasnt, but they still tried to blame the snakes, as the strain of salmonella came from rodents, which are in the reptile food chain. i had to argue that they were frozen, and therefore sterile. 

i suppose what i am saying is, you can never be too careful. imagine if something happened to one of yours, and you spent the next 6 weeks over analysing your mmovements and behaviour with your reps. thats what i did, and it turned out to be a waste of time.


----------

