Zoos and aquariums talk a lot of responsible pet ownership, but there's another side of the equation that I feel gets ignored - responsible pet sales or adoption. What responsibility does the person or business supplying an animal to a private individual have?
That was a question that was brought to my mind by the second-ever Madagascar leaf-nosed snake that I'd ever seen.
The Madagascar leaf-nosed snake is one of the most unusual-looking of snakes. It's a long, slender, arboreal species, but what makes this snake different from so many other long, slender, arboreal species is its unusual sexual dimorphism. Part of it is coloration - males are brown on the back, yellow on the belly, whereas females are gray - but mostly it's to do with their namesake leaf. The nose of the male looks silly enough, being long and pointed, whereas that of the female is, well, leaf-shaped - long, flattened, and somewhat frilly. They're one of the sillier looking snakes, but before you laugh too much at them, be sure you're a respectful distance back. They're also venomous.
Not super venomous - they won't kill you, and being rear-fanged, it would be a bit harder to get a tooth in you - but still not something you want to go and get bitten by.
Being such unique looking animals, you'd think that they'd be popular zoo animals, but they're a bit delicate and somewhat hard to care for. This is especially true because of their diet - the eschew the rodents that most snakes feed, and require lizards, such as anoles, with most snakes being unwilling to make the switch to dead prey. They've also proven very difficult to breed, so almost every specimen you'll see is wild-caught from Madagascar, with all of the baggage associated with a wild caught animal (temperament, diseases, parasites, etc). Not that you'll see many specimens. I worked with this species, a single female specimen, over 20 years ago, when I was first starting off in the field. I didn't see another one for 15 years.
I was in a pet store in a small city where I used to live. This pet store had a reputation for having lots of herps that it probably shouldn’t be selling, but it was the only pet store in our town, and I needed to get feeders for my personal pets from somewhere, so I was forced to go. I always made a point of walking the aisle to see what they had this month – a horned lizard? A sailfin dragon? – when I was stopped in my tracks at the sight of the leaf-nosed snake. What surprised me all the more was the fact that nowhere on the label did it mention the fact that the species is venomous. Besides the obvious safety concern, venomous reptiles were illegal as pets in our state.
Also, it didn’t say anything about the specialized care – I could imagine some idiot trying to finger-feed it a pinky mouse.
On my way out of the store, I mentioned those concerns to the cashier. Next time I came back, the snake was gone, but to what end I do not know.
There are far more egregious examples that I could think of - such as selling primates or big cat cubs - but this struck me as a very irresponsible act on the part of the store. Sure, once the animal leaves their shop, they have no control over what happens to it, so they can claim that their responsibility has ended. Still, before it leaves the door, it is their responsibility, and they should make at least a minimal effort to make sure that the animal is going to a situation in which it will thrive - or, better yet, not stock some species at all - there's plenty of better animals to choose from for pet ownership/
While selling this venomous snake is an egregious example, this lack of honesty in exotic pet sales remains common even in very common species. E.g., how many red-eared sliders, African spurred tortoises, or other chelonians are sold as juveniles without being told what their adult size and lifespan are?
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