Have you ever lost the will to keep reptiles?

[Leeloofluff]

Hi all, I'm just seeing If anyone else has suddenly lost the will to keep reptiles? I have just lost a baby woma and now just feel like giving up. Despite my best efforts and all my time and money for pretty much the last year straight going to my reptiles I still lost her. I'm just hoping that the feeling will go away, or do you just give up after a serious of bad events?I'm not really looking for advice or sympathy, just seeing if anyone else got the spark back, how long did it take, and what caused you to lose the passion?

 

[Snowman]

you can't keep animals without expecting some to die at some stage. It's part of life (no pun intended).

 

[cypptrkk90]

my first snake was a coastal carpet python. i bought it as a juv and kept it for the good part of a year. One morning i found a mysterious lump near its heart and took it to the vet. it was put down that exact day, as surgery wouldnt save its life. after that incident i thought id be over reptiles forever, 2 years since that event im just beginning to get back into reptiles and i am looking at buying another python to kick start my passion again.

edit: the lump was a malignant tumor

 

[Leeloofluff]

That is horrible, I'm sorry about your coastal cypp. My woma developed a respiratory infection. I only noticed something was wrong when she had some sand caked around her face one day. I went to wash It off but she was bubbly and weezing with a mouth full of puss when I opened her mouth. But in the weeks before she was active, and eating. It came on so quick but was so bad. She had treatment..but it was a very bad case. It's got me terrified how easily they can die

 

[Seb84]

lost my first bearded dragon when it was 2yo, then when i found the right beardie started again
just remember everything that happens is an experience that you should learn form to gain more knowledge

 

[Chris1]

sorry to hear,...


i wanted to give it all up last june when my favourite beardy died from renal failure at 5 and a half years old,...

but since i cant dictate how other people would care from my beloved pets i couldnt do it.

2 weeks after she passed the 4 shingles that id been waiting for ever for (like 8 months or so) arrived, i had thought of cancelling them, but couldnt do that to teh breeder, they did help bring a bit of a sparkle back into my life,....!!

take your time, maybe look at a different species,....

 

[cypptrkk90]

thanks. aw thats so sad, im sorry to hear about your woma. will you be getting a replacement?

 

[K3nny]

lost 3 out of 5 chinese softshells when i started the hobby overseas, somehow a rat got through to the reptile room and practically beheaded 3 of em from their tubs

yes i did stop keeping reptiles, although not because of the loss involved, thats part of the hobby and you have to accept that.
I stopped after moving here to study as no one would be able to care for them properly after i left. I'm still haunted by the "what might have happened to them" scenario as some of them like the red eared sliders are pretty ordinary to other people, to me i hatched them from eggs and saw them grow, not to mention my first succesfull incubation attempt (i was given the eggs by my tutor who didnt know what to do with them, 3 out of 4 hatched).

As of now between my uni and trips back home the decision was not to have any pets around and i do enjoy the "freedom" i have associated with it, although i do hope to obtain some when i finish up my studies and land a proper job (i.e. completely self sufficient)

p.s. dont get a "replacement", all animals are unique creatures that should be treated as their own individual instead of filling an empty space that they may not live up to

 

[ozziepythons]

I know of some pretty serious and big name reptile keepers whom have had 'herp burn out'. There is a point where all the feeding, cleaning, breeding and selling just gets well beyond overload while trying to maintain a family and work committments. At a point they have said 'enough!' and moved on all but a favourite few specimens, keeping in mind they can always get back into it at any time, if they wish. Although one colleague of mine had herp burn out and got rid of all reptiles, cages and to this day hasn't a single thing left. I suppose when your a zoo keeper doing husbandry all day, the last thing you want to do is get home to do it all again!!

 

[Leeloofluff]

I don't think I could get another woma for a long time. My aim now is to make sure all my animals are healthy as RI is so contagious. The woma I had for about 5 months so did not wash my hands between her and a pair of jungles I had even longer. I noticed they had signs of illness so quarantined everyone, turned up the heat and have had them on antibiotics. They are going back to the vet tomorrow but I'm running out of funds, and all I can do is wait. Im bow going to quarantine for at least 12 months I think and wash my hands, feeding tonthe ect between each and every animal. Please don't flame me, I have been through enough I think. I will continue to care for all my animals no matter what it takes. But I certainly have had the burnout. Thanks for sharing everyone

 

[mad_at_arms]

I had a Eastern Beardie, He passed away last year, I still find it hard to come to terms with the fact that it was his time and I couldn't sway the inevitable. Mind you as far as i can establish he was about 15 y.o.
I swore never again, but life's funny like that.

 

[Dylie]

I had a my first ever beardie die on me. I had noticed he wasn't eating much, and I would have thought he was just brumating, if I hadn't seen the weird circle on his tummy, it was a different colour to the rest of his white or yellow scales. There isn't a Reptile vet in my town, we'd rang and checked but they referred us to the West Toowoomba Vet, as the man there worked with reptiles also. So the next day we took Custard to the vet out there, and after we got there (it was an hour trip) we left him with the doctor there, and it was really hard leaving him there, as I didn't know what was wrong with him, and the doctor said he hadn't seen anything like it before...

The next day I called up and asked how my beardie was going, and he said he appeared to be fine, and that he'll call me as soon as he knows more. The next day he called me up and told me that my beardie had passed away, and I was literally lost for words, and I was crying, I had to give mum the phone to talk for me.

The doctor said that he still wasn't sure as to what was wrong as he had never seen anything like it, and he asked if he could do a biopsy and I allowed him, and he still didn't know what it was, he took samples to the uni he taught at and found it he had an abscess on his tummy but he wasn't sure what caused it.

Sorry about the huge story here, but basically then and there, I was thinking about giving up on reptiles, especially since he was my first one (I'd had him for 2 years). Anyway, 5 weeks later, mum came back from brisbane with two hatchling beardies for me and I just fell in love, and they were the best present ever, they got me right back into reptiles.

Just give it ago, get another snake, but maybe get juvenile, or hatching. I think it helped that they were a lot smaller and I could watch them grow myself, it just increased my confidence with reptiles again.

Best of luck!

 

[KaotikJezta]

When I first started keeping I had an EWD juvie die on me. He was my first ever lizard and he was just starting to get friendly. His enclosure was next to my bed and every morning I would look up to him looking down at me. I came home from visiting my son for the day and he was dead. The vet and the breeder had no idea but suspected he maybe ingested something hard. I was devastated. I had a pair of angle heads and seriously considered selling them and for a long time I didn't get anything else, then we moved to SA and had to sell everything we had (my ex had beardies and my son had a bluetongue, and we had frogs and turtles) before moving to Melbourne. I got my EWD girl as soon as I got here but it is only this year when my ex fell on hard times and gave me his snakes as a thank you for helping him out that I really started to get back into the whole thing.

 

[alrightknight]

Ive only just got into the hobby, and am dreading the thought of ever having a burnout. hopefully this isnt to common in the hobby.

 

[PythonLegs]

The worst is trying to sell anything. The stupid questions. The constant attempts to haggle. The thousands of tyre kickers. Thats the most common reason for burn out..I'm down to one snake now.

 

[ingie]

I used to keep geckoes. One day I came home and one was dead. I couldn't think of any reason for it to be dead and the others were all fine. Every day after that I kept coming home and feeling depressed and checking to make sure the others were still alive. I worried that they would all be dead every day while at work. It caused me so much stress that I gave the remaining ones to my friends and decided no more geckoes. Then, I recently had a sick Boyd's Forest Dragon that didn't make it I felt so sad that I re-homed all my bearded dragons and decided that the only lizards I will keep are Monitors as they are so hardy, and my first love.

 

[ozziepythons]

Ive only just got into the hobby, and am dreading the thought of ever having a burnout. hopefully this isnt to common in the hobby.

It happens when the passion for reptile keeping snowballs into obtaining and keeping many specimens of multiple species a keeper 'just has to have'. This can get too much for some pretty quickly, as impulse buying is rife among herpers and the classifieds have many reptiles for sale keepers wish they hadn't bought in the long run. If your sensible and plan what you want and never indulge in more than you can care for, you'll be a happy keeper unlikely to burnout.

 

[Crystal..Discus]

If my alternator hadn't decided to die, I would be over with a bottle of vodka and the saddest movie I know. I do have a car at my disposal (read: Boyfriend), so if it gets too much or you run out of funds, we'd be more than happy to baby sit your babies until you can re cooperate. Goku is always more than welcome back, and there's room on our heatcord for some of your babies.

Bambie was a wonderful little snake and a stunning animal, it's a shame he had to go this way. You showed him love and affection though, and did everything you could. That's what sets a great keeper apart from the crappy ones.

Just send me a text if you need to talk (I can call you back.)

 

[frogface]

year ago i got 3 beardies 2 girls and a boy 1st the girl died because the pet store didnt have crickets and my parents said i hav to do every thing my self including expenses, and didnt hav cash that week, the next girl died because i put a box of crickets in their terrarium while they were sleeping i didnt notice the crickets were on her just before bed i saw the girl and her lips and nose area were eaton her legs and hand werrer mutalated and the side of her stomach was eaton too i was heart broken i started crying and thought stuff this no more then next day i picked up the boy and he gave me that kinda feeling like hes a invinceble guy and a mad friend so i said giv it another try then ovcourse now hes 11 months and looking littlebit orange and is a healthy good boy by the way is it a problem if at 11 months hes only 1-2 cm wider than he was wen i got him

 

[snakeynewbie]

I had a lovely pair of beardie's many years ago, the female became ill and got into a vicious cycle of not eating or drinking, the vet I saw was wonderful and taught me how to inject her with something(can't for the life of me remember what it was now bt I seem to recall there was an antibiotic plus fluids as she was dehydrated), I basically became her life support for weeks and them one day she just passed away. We were never sure what happened as she seemed to just fade so it may have been a cancer or an organ failure of some kind.

I was so upset I couldn;t get another lizard to eplace her and the male was really out of sorts without his girl around any more so I ended up finding him a home and I didn't have reps for a long while. Then after a few years I got a few blue tongues and now further on I'm getting a snake and I'm all excited about the prospects for new enclosures at the property we've just bought. Eventually tjhe love will return