Reptiles, pets or collectors items?

[silkie]

Reptiles, Items of material value, or creatures of joy?

(I hope I dont sound like a downer, I am just looking for some thougts and ideas from our world of reptile lovers... please feel free to disagree with me...)

Its great that the art of keeping captive reptiles is spreading all over the nation. But at what cost??

Remember when you were a kid and the simplest frog or lizard would satisfy the soul? It sometimes seems that the reptile hobby is like a trading card game. It sometimes seems to be all about getting the rarest and the best, and having more.

I am not saying its terrible to own rare and exotic color morphs, because it is really cool to have them. But what I am getting at is do we care about the animal itself, or about their appearances? Do we care about what we actually do have, or about what we will and could have?

I am guilty. I have lots of animals. This made me ask myself, is it better to have 3 herps that I totally love, rather than 15 for the sake of having them??

When a new bearded dragon comes out, with awesome colors, should I sell my old one so I can have the new one? A kid would love the one they already have, because it is their bearded dragon, color doesn’t matter just the fact that it is their baby.

The thing that is so cool about the reptiles that we care for and keep is that not only are they exotic, but we can hold them, get to know them and connect with them, it is so AWESOME!!

Or maybe reptiles are just cool "ornamental" collectors items, nothing like a cat or dog that we can love or be attached too. Are reptiles just items that are to be collected and traded constantly... how often do you trade your dog or cat for another one? Why invest in something we wont cherrish till it dies? Maybe reptiles are different and are more objects than they are pets...

I am not trying to say that it’s bad to go for the latest and greatest, or to dream of the "complete" collection. I just think that it is important to have enough LOVE for all the animals we do keep, for what they are and not what they could be.

Peace to all!!