# Reptiles are a low maintenance pet



## lbaker2656 (Jul 10, 2005)

I have just read with absolute horror an interview with Chris Newman (chairman of FBH) in Pet Business World news magazine. I quote "Reptiles are very low maintenance, so owners can safely leave them to go out to work or even for long weekends or holidays." I for one would never leave my reptiles on their own for 2 weeks whilst I go swanning off round the world. I wouldnt even leave them for a weekend. I cant believe someone in such a respected position would condone this kind of neglect. Reptiles are not low maintenance and certainly should never be left alone for long periods of time. Unfortunately as this is a trade magazine potential sellers of reptiles are going to pass this information on to owners who wont know any better and thus reptiles are going to suffer.


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## I am a scarecrow (Nov 18, 2009)

Well to be fair, in the grand scheme of things, some reptiles are relatively "low maintenance"- in want of a better word- compared to many other animals you could keep, in my opinion. 
I haven't seen the article, so can't really make comment on the ins and outs, but i guess it's aimed at a general public reader, who'd probably be considering "Beginner reps" cornsnakes etc.
Although i personally don't, as i keep numerous reptiles, I think you could leave a cornsnake or similar in a viv (assuming there's enough water) for a long weekend without major drama, whereas leaving, say a dog, for that period of time, is an absolute no no.: victory:


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## cokacola (Jan 11, 2007)

I think Chris is absoloutely spot on! 

The animal rights activists, who themselves have not perfected the art of keeping reptiles, and who spread lies about a subject they don't really know anything about, often argue that reptiles are "incredibly specialist" "require lots of time and effort to keep properly".

Say I have a corn snake in a thermostatically controlled environment, it's freshly cleaned, it's fed and it has a couple of water bowls. Frankly you could leave it for longer than a week with absoloutely no problems at all. Infact, the snake would probably appreciate the quiet. I often leave my snakes for a week, and have never had a problem.

Obviously when you start considering more specialist species of snake, such as those that require daily misting, or misting every other day - then perhaps a week would be too long.

Adult Leopard Geckos and Beaded Dragons would be fine if left for a long weekend too.


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## Dragon Wolf (Oct 27, 2009)

I don't see how going on holiday or away for a long weekend could work, unless you had a responsible person to check on your reptiles daily while you're away.
What if a stat went wrong, a bulb blew, or any other one of a number of things that could cause problems while you were away happened?
Also there are the daily things such as fresh water, food, etc that should be done.
In the past whenever I've been away for longer than a day I've had someone I know and trust pop in and check, feed, water them as required.

Reptiles may *seem* to be low maintanence pets, but on a day to day basis, with everything taken into consideration, they are possibly more demanding of your time than a lot of other more commonly kept pets.


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## cokacola (Jan 11, 2007)

Dragon Wolf said:


> I don't see how going on holiday or away for a long weekend could work, unless you had a responsible person to check on your reptiles daily while you're away.
> What if a stat went wrong, a bulb blew, or any other one of a number of things that could cause problems while you were away happened?
> Also there are the daily things such as fresh water, food, etc that should be done.
> In the past whenever I've been away for longer than a day I've had someone I know and trust pop in and check, feed, water them as required.
> ...


- Use a good thermostat. A habistat is so reliable, the possibility of it suddenly failing is extremely small and never worries me. However, if you are going away, you should have your set up so that it wouldn't really matter too much for a couple of days if it were to fail. If your animal has a sufficient cool end, then a heat mat running on full wattage is probably not going to be the end of the world for a day or two for example. It's so unlikely that the thermostat will fail anyway. I wouldn't set up a 250 watt ceramic in a 3 foot vivarium and leave it, because then you'd be in trouble if the unlikely did happen, and the thermostat failed.

- If a bulb blew, it wouldn't really matter too much, it would just be a bit cooler for a couple of days.

- Food is not a daily thing with most species upon reaching adulthood, and almost never with snakes at all. I replace my water weekly anyway, and I find it stays fresh. It's probably advisable to supply two water bowls, incase one is spoilt. At least then the animal still has access to clean, fresh water.

Reptiles are more demanding of my time than a lot of other more commonly kept pets???? Really? Have you ever kept a cat/dog/bird? I would say the pet corn snake in my example takes up such a small amount of time compared to my dog, that it's not even arguable.

I agree it's always best to have someone pop in and check, just to make sure things are going ok. But I reckon that's all they'd have to do, check. Unlike with a dog for example, where they'd have to take daily husbandry/enrichment measures.


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## I am a scarecrow (Nov 18, 2009)

Dragon Wolf said:


> I don't see how going on holiday or away for a long weekend could work, unless you had a responsible person to check on your reptiles daily while you're away.
> What if a stat went wrong, a bulb blew, or any other one of a number of things that could cause problems while you were away happened?
> Also there are the daily things such as fresh water, food, etc that should be done.
> In the past whenever I've been away for longer than a day I've had someone I know and trust pop in and check, feed, water them as required.
> ...


I see your point, that stats COULD go wrong, bulbs COULD blow etc etc.

Using snakes as an example, as that's what i mainly keep... Mine only get fed say once a month, so unless i go backpacking or I get lost, that wouldn't be a problem. Water, you could put a couple of dog bowls in with them, I'm sure they'd be fine.

My point being, I could ask anyone to pop in, just check that the temps are still up on the thermometers and make sure they've not run out of water.
Whereas, if I had a dog, could i ask the same people to check in on it, feed it, walk it, let it out in the garden etc etc? Or even keep it at their house?


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## Dragon Wolf (Oct 27, 2009)

cokacola and I am a scarecrow point made 
We take our dog on holiday when we go away anyway, the point I was trying to make are that reptiles are not a "set em up and forget em type of animal" and believe me, I know people who view them as such, maybe not on here, but those sort of people are out there and if some potential new keepers, if they think they are that easy to keep, there will be even more needing to be rehomed when they learn differantly!


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## lbaker2656 (Jul 10, 2005)

As an addition to my post I have a bearded dragon, green iguana, corn snake and a cali king snake. Yes the snakes only get fed once a month and their water changed weekly. My lizards get fed every day, cleaned out every day and water changed every day. If you've ever seen the amount an iguana poops you would know it isnt feasible to leave it for 2 weeks! I have had a thermostat go wrong on a viv and luckily it was on a relatively cool day and no harm was done. Reptiles are not an animal you can just bung in a tank and leave for weeks.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Depends to an extent on the reptile, I have no problem with leaving my Corn for a week while I go on holiday, it gets well fed for the week or two before I go, then on the night before I leave.

I've never had a heat mat or a stat fail, but all my equipment is protected by RCDs, and should one fail it just means it has to spend a few days at room temp, which is no great hardship for a Corn.

Any longer than a week and I get someone to come in and check that all is well.

My turtles are even easier, just overfeed for a week or two beforehand, those that live outside either catch their own food or eat the veg in the pond, exactly as wild turts would do.

Other reptiles may be higher maintenance and would require attention, but they're a lot easier to leave for a few days than say a cat or a dog.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Maybe he was mistaken in thinking that reptile owners had a bit of common sense.

You can go away for two weeks and have a friend pop in to feed and make sure they're ok, with reptiles. If you have a dog or a cat etc they need more care and can't just have somebody nip in every now and then - Like Scarecrow already mentioned.

They ARE low maintenance because you don't need to give them constant attention like domestic pets.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Substitute the word "very" for "relatively", could be he was simply misquoted, having been interviewed for various publications I know only too well that a bit of editing can make all the difference to what you _actually_ said and meant.

Change a single word and you can go from an intelligent, authoritative sounding interviewee to one who seems like a complete idiot!


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## fishboy (Aug 7, 2007)

I'd go away for 3 days no problems, but longer if I didn't have the lizards/geckos/rabbits. As it is I get a friend to pop in and do their water and food. If it was just snakes i'd happily go away a week no problems. It's not like they miss me and as long as they have water.......


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

:gasp: but you need to give them fresh chilled Evian with a slice of lime every 30 minutes! you can't leave them with the same water for a week.. you :censor: (can't be arsed finding the one with a fork)


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## fishboy (Aug 7, 2007)

Graham said:


> Substitute the word "very" for "relatively", could be he was simply misquoted, having been interviewed for various publications I know only too well that a bit of editing can make all the difference to what you _actually_ said and meant.
> 
> Change a single word and you can go from an intelligent, authoritative sounding interviewee to one who seems like a complete idiot!


But a corn snake is very low maintenance compared to say, a dog. 

dog = 3 walks a day, feed twice a day, water twice a day, constant love and attention, grooming, socialising, training etc.

corn snake = feed 7-14 days, water every 2-3 days, spot clean whenever needed and change bedding every month or so. Socialising/walking/training not required.


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## fishboy (Aug 7, 2007)

Meko said:


> :gasp: but you need to give them fresh chilled Evian with a slice of lime every 30 minutes! you can't leave them with the same water for a week.. you :censor: (can't be arsed finding the one with a fork)



I give fresh water weekly to most of the larger ones with bigger bowls.


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## fishboy (Aug 7, 2007)

Dragon Wolf said:


> cokacola and I am a scarecrow point made
> We take our dog on holiday when we go away anyway, the point I was trying to make are that *reptiles are not a "set em up and forget em type of animal*" and believe me, I know people who view them as such, maybe not on here, but those sort of people are out there and if some potential new keepers, if they think they are that easy to keep, there will be even more needing to be rehomed when they learn differantly!



No they aren't but there can be different levels of maintenance required and some are extremely low compared to others.


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## pam b (Mar 3, 2005)

lbaker2656 said:


> I have just read with absolute horror an interview with Chris Newman (chairman of FBH) in Pet Business World news magazine. I quote "Reptiles are very low maintenance, so owners can safely leave them to go out to work or even for long weekends or holidays." I for one would never leave my reptiles on their own for 2 weeks whilst I go swanning off round the world. I wouldnt even leave them for a weekend. I cant believe someone in such a respected position would condone this kind of neglect. Reptiles are not low maintenance and certainly should never be left alone for long periods of time. Unfortunately as this is a trade magazine potential sellers of reptiles are going to pass this information on to owners who wont know any better and thus reptiles are going to suffer.


Now in all fairness Chris never actually said *2 weeks * in his quote now did he!!!! Or expanded on it further.
I would also say, as i class myself a friend of his, that he is very aproachable, would be mortified that someone has taken his comment in such a bad light and that rather than attack him you should perhaps take the time to PM him and put your mind at rest directly from the horses mouth.
Although to be fair he'll probably come and do this directly in the thread.


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## Chris Newman (Apr 23, 2007)

lbaker2656 said:


> I have just read with absolute horror an interview with Chris Newman (chairman of FBH) in Pet Business World news magazine. I quote "Reptiles are very low maintenance, so owners can safely leave them to go out to work or even for long weekends or holidays." I for one would never leave my reptiles on their own for 2 weeks whilst I go swanning off round the world. I wouldnt even leave them for a weekend. I cant believe someone in such a respected position would condone this kind of neglect. Reptiles are not low maintenance and certainly should never be left alone for long periods of time. Unfortunately as this is a trade magazine potential sellers of reptiles are going to pass this information on to owners who wont know any better and thus reptiles are going to suffer.


I have not seen the article as published, but here is my reply to the questions asked [see below]. In comparison to traditional mammalian pets, cats/dogs etc, I think many species of reptiles are considerably lower maintenance. If a vivarium is correctly set up I have no hesitation to suggest they can be left for long weekend. 


*Q1) Your seminar sessions focuses on 'Reptiles as an Opportunity' - can you tell me a little bit more about this? Who is your seminar targeted at, and why should they attend, what will they learn?*

For the past decade reptiles have been the fastest growing sector of the pet industry, indeed today there are probably more reptiles kept as pets than dogs! The seminar is going to look at the most popular species, what makes them ideal pets and what retailers who are thinking of moving into this sector need to know. Keeping reptiles and amphibians as pets has moved rapidly from a small, specialist sector into mainstream pet keeping, with a whole range of new products, tanks and products now available and the seminar will give the attendees an overview of what they can offer their customers. 

I also hope to give an insight into some of the future trends which may be coming into the reptile sector, in particular reptile set-ups which are designed to enhance contemporary living, with new, modern styling and of state-of-the-art technology which make today’s vivaria a real focal point in the home. Community vivaria, paludariums and nano-vivaria are all set to be big in the reptile market and retailers need to be aware of exiting new market developments. 


*Q2) How big/established is the reptile market in the UK? Is this expected to expand in the near future?*

The UK reptile market was worth an estimated 150 million in 2008, and is still growing. I expect the reptile market to reach parity to the aquatics industry within the next decade, so it still has huge potential growth. More and more people are realising that reptiles are the ideal pets for today’s lifestyle with increasing numbers of households choosing them. Reptiles are hypo-allergenic (no hair, dust or feathers), clean and easy to care for. They are also amongst the safest pets, which can be an important factor in households with young children.

Reptiles are very low maintenance, so owners can safely leave them to go out to work or even for long weekends etc. They are also environmentally friendly, unlike many more traditional pets (principally feline) which have a severely detrimental effect on native wildlife. Increased interest in environmental issues has inevitably led to more pet owners wishing to make informed and responsible choices and keep animals which can be successfully maintained in the home without introducing hostile aliens into the natural world.


*Q3) What kind of experience do retailers need to maximise the potential of the reptile market? Will they need special qualifications?*

It is important that retailers considering stocking reptiles should be given access to the latest information about products available, latest husbandry techniques and trends in the market place in order to maximise their potential. It is hoped that seminars such as this will help get the information out into the market place. I am already involved in running training for retailers and it is important that we continue to offer as much education and support to retailers as we can. I would also welcome further opportunities to expand this programme and offer an accredited qualification and the reptile trade are currently investigating the possibility of introducing such a scheme in the very near future.


*Q4) How important is ensuring the future of reptiles - are there many threatened species or do owners need better advice/ experience to ensure a long and enjoyable time as reptile owners?*

Some species of reptiles and amphibians are under serious threat in the wild, mainly due to habitat destruction and land clearance, but also due to over collection for food or traditional medicines. Today 95% of animals sold in the trade are captive bred and the trade in wild-caught animals for the pet-trade has declined dramatically. Ironically the move from wild caught animals to that of breeding them in captivity has had an adverse effect on wild populations as sustainable utilisation of wild resources is a cornerstone of conservation. I have in mind one day to start a new campaign “buy a frog and save a rainforest” 


*Q5) Can you tell me a little bit more the Federation of British Herpetology Society? What does your role involve?*

The FBH is an organisation which represents the interests of reptile clubs and societies in the UK. In my capacity as Chairman, I sit on many committees and attend meetings and conferences to give a political voice to our members, whose legitimate interests and concerns would not otherwise be aired. The burden of legislation is increasing in all aspects of our lives, pet keeping as much (if not more) than any other and we need fair representation if sensible and appropriate laws concerning our hobby are to be formulated. The anti-pet lobby have an increasingly loud voice political in the UK and pet keepers need to redress the balance or the face a burden of unnecessary bureaucracy which could force many clubs (and keepers) out of existence.


*Q5) Your personal experience with reptiles - when did it begin?*


I have always had an interest in animals and natural history and this led to an early fascination with reptiles and amphibians. I have kept reptiles as pets throughout my life and I am pleased to say my own children now share this interest as keeping and interacting with animals is certainly a life-enriching experience.


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## lbaker2656 (Jul 10, 2005)

_It actually says in the printed article "long weekends and holidays" now the typical holiday is a week or two weeks. Although not directly said by Chris this is the impression the magazine has given. This may be fine for snakes, but it isnt for most lizards. My main concern is that inexperienced sellers will pass this information on to new owners (who may not do their own research) and think its ok to leave their new lizard for 2 weeks whilst they go to spain. Not every reptile owner is responsible, there are people out there who buy them on a whim and go by what the sellers say. If the seller doesnt know any different or hasnt bothered to research it this is just perpetuating bad keeping. Perhaps a more detailed article needs to be written with the pros and cons of leaving them? _


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## eco_tonto (Aug 1, 2008)

Chris does allot of fantastic work for our hobby, evidently he has been misquoted, however if he hadn't, how about cutting him some slack.

This is a man we should all be supporting 100% as it is in the best interests of our hobby, very few other people put them selfs in the firing line of the antis as often as he does, and if sh*t ever really hits the fan i know it will be Chris representing us all.


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## blood and guts (May 30, 2007)

lbaker2656 said:


> _It actually says in the printed article "long weekends and holidays" now the typical holiday is a week or two weeks. Although not directly said by Chris this is the impression the magazine has given. This may be fine for snakes, but it isnt for most lizards. My main concern is that inexperienced sellers will pass this information on to new owners (who may not do their own research) and think its ok to leave their new lizard for 2 weeks whilst they go to spain. Not every reptile owner is responsible, there are people out there who buy them on a whim and go by what the sellers say. If the seller doesnt know any different or hasnt bothered to research it this is just perpetuating bad keeping. Perhaps a more detailed article needs to be written with the pros and cons of leaving them? _


Think you will find the typical holiday is only 1 week, and those of us with many pets less still! im going away for 10 days this year and that is the longest holiday ive had in a very very long time. 

Sadly there are those who will not reserch there pet correctly, these are the same idiots who would leave there cat home alone for the same lenght of time and are a minority of animal keepers. 

Good timers, stats and so on can make it easy to leave most reptiles for 3-4 days no problem and a friend keeping a eye, changing a water bowl and throughing in some food makes it longer still with no problems.

But i guess some people simply either do not have the experience/knoldege to see that or simply so paranoid every thing has to be wrapped in cotton wool!


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## zoe6660 (Jun 3, 2007)

every pet needs daily care and the same with reptiles, easy or hard i dont care when i went camping with the one dog from friday night to monday morning my friend ryan pop over to look after them and done a good job too, i worryed for them days i cant see how people can just up and leave them "pets" and not get someone to check them.


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