Pet vs. Breeder, "Tameness", and Exercise:

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

I hope you all have a fulfilling weekend coming up for the 4th of July! I find myself expressing gratitude for all of you in support of the work I do. It means a great deal to me! 

This weekend I will have a sale running in the shop for Grit, Spice, and Bloom. You'll automatically reciebe 15% off at checkout for America Day! Hope you all are doing well. 

Pet vs. Breeder:
I'm sure you have heard some people say things like "my breeders are pets first, breeders second." I've said this exact phrase before. At some point, this statement of Pet vs Breeder started to sound like a virtue signal to me at some level. I began to take it as a given that all of my "breeders" are treated the same as my "pets." It's like, well, yeah, of course! Isn't that the barrier for entry?
Recently, though, I've grown more soft to the cliché, especially since bringing in a few projects designed specifically to be long-term family pets and with no breeding in their future. The interactions I have with them are truly different, even if the base level of welfare is the same. I speak to them more often, I speak to them more softly, I spend more time just hanging around them. I don't know if this started from a conscious place; it just sort of happened that way. The regularity of it all has helped me make more dedicated efforts to do this more often with more animals. It has served as one more reminder that mindfulness remains the center of the bullseye in Herpetoculture. 

Another topic I think of frequently is the idea of "tameness." Tameness is essentially a spectrum. Sure, basic trends in animal personality differ from species to species and animal to animal, but the bare bones reality is that every single animal is an individual, and most of them have real potential for developing a trusting relationship with a keeper.  All those relationships won't always look the same, and more importantly the timeline of each relationship will be extremely variable. I use a photo of Mr. Gregro Mendell, my San Esteban Island Iguana, as an example. He came to me very skittish and flighty after spending his growing years housed outdoors. It's taken around 3 full years, but he is now a very mellow and trusting iguana. He allows me to pet him, to hand feed him, and to take him out and do visual inspections. This is a massive win in my book. both for me and for his experience of care. 

One final topic for this post:

I've increasingly been drawn to more progressive concepts of pet ownership from the dog, cat, and other domestic animal workspaces. One could argue that these ideas are actually rooted in a kind of humanism increasingly and justifiably being granted to animals, but progress is progress. One core idea that always hits close to home for me is the importance of exercise. Clearly, so important for humans, dogs, horses, etc, it must be good for reptiles, too.  Ways to get creative with interactions with your reptile:

• If space is an issue, a great way to compensate for a smaller enclosure is to utilize training time and/or exercise time outside of that smaller enclosure. The same idea if you’ve got an active dog but live in an apartment. Take them out, offer them the chance to rip around the room and explore, use treats to guide them across an obstacle course, etc. Get creative! 
• Something I borrow from working with my dogs is that the animal should get paid for its work. If the animal gets a treat or reward for working with you, it’s more likely to keep enjoying the collaboration. That reward is not always a treat they can eat, but perhaps interactions with other animals as a reward, time in the sunlight, a run through a favored obstacle course- many things can be that reward or payment!
• High-value treats are great and can provide useful leverage when working on new or difficult things, but just like with dogs, there’s no reason their typical food shouldn’t work as the treat. Probably healthier than a fat snack. If his food doesn’t engage him, he might be overfed or under-heated. 
• Challenging their skills, but do it slowly. Give them things they might not get in their regular cage, such as a spike in heart rate, difficult obstacles, unique smells and tastes, novel textures, etc. 

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you continue to find this work useful!

-Phil