Reptile Industry Ethics - Flipping

"Flipping" is a term used in the reptile industry for the act of buying animals for cheap and turning around and immediately selling them for a profit.

In the reptile industry, there is a strong preference for purchasing directly from a breeder instead of from a flipper. Experienced reptile keepers tend to avoid flippers, whether it be in online business or at reptile expos. In my experience, it seems as though flippers prey on newcomers to the hobby who don't know any better and get excited by seeing someone who seemingly has great animals at low prices. Flippers typically offer no health, genetics, or sex guarantee. Once they have their money and the buyer has their animal there is no continued customer service.

How is this blog useful

Other people might find these blog posts useful because I am addressing ethical issues in the reptile industry that many people don't usually bother researching or thinking about. Culling and photo editing are issues that will come up as a reptile breeder and we want everyone to be as prepared as possible in the event of one of these issues coming up for the breeder.

Reptile Industry Ethics - Photo Editing

Photo editing is something that everyone does to some extent. For me and my business, MK Morphs, the most we ever do to our photos is crop and add our logo to the corner of the photos. It is very frustrating for those of us who are honest and don't edit our photos to enhance the appearance of our animals. I constantly see photos that are way over enhanced getting so much attention. It is extra annoying when you see photos of the same animals, in the same photo set, looking completely different! Here is an example. This breeder has a habit of getting carried away when hitting the enhance button.

This is an example of what these animals normally look like. Notice how the striping is orange.

The animal on the left is an animal from the group above. This is the enhanced photo. Notice how the stripe on the back now looks bright yellow instead of orange.

The thing is, it isn't even a subtle difference. You can tell that he is editing these photos to make them look better than they really do. He is making it look like these are the quality of the animals that buyers will receive, but they will be very shocked and disappointed at the difference when they see them in person.

Reptile Industry Ethics - Culling

A topic of conversation and much controversy in the reptile industry is culling. Culling is the process of removing certain animals from the population based on certain criteria. In the reptile world, there are many snakes and lizards that come into this world severely kinked (twisted and deformed skeletal structure) or fused together in unnatural ways. The general rule of thumb is that if the animal is able to eat, shed, and defecate properly, there is no reason to cull the animal and it can be placed in a pet home that would care for it. If there is simply no chance of survival, humanely euthanizing the animal is the best option.

Last breeding season two of my 12 ball python eggs had babies that were severely kinked. One had a missing eye, deformed skull and jaw, and an extremely kinked body. This animal made it out of the egg, but died a few hours later. If it had managed to survive I would have waited to see if it would thrive on its own. If it didn't, I would have made the responsible decision to cull that animal.

The second animal that was very kinked died in the egg. Here are photos that were taken of the body once I removed it from the egg. As you can see, there is no way this individual would have survived. I was glad it passed on its own so that I didn't have to put it down.

There is a lot of controversy revolving around breeding animals that are known to sometimes produce deformed babies, whether breeding scaleless snakes or lizards is okay, and whether or not the common types of housing for these animals are ethical. Even though these things can be discussed endlessly, the general consensus is that as long as the animals are healthy enough to eat on their own, shed on their own, and pass bowel movements, there is no reason for that animal to be culled, but that animal should NOT be allowed to breed.

AKC All Breed Dog Show - Tallahassee, FL - February 19-23, 2014

The Ocklocknee River Kennel Club (ORKC) is hosting the AKC All Breed Dog Show here in Tallahassee, FL on February 19 - 23, 2014! This dog show will be held at the North Florida Fairgrounds. This is a place for dogs of all breeds to compete in conformation, agility, and rally & obedience! I might end up having to work during part of the time, but to be able to go and watch my friends compete with their dogs will be fantastic! My friend Tabitha competes in agility with her two Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Baxter and Ziggy, and is on the board of directors for ORKC for 2014!

Also, check out Ziggy going through that tunnel on the flier for this dog show! These fliers can be found throughout the Tallahassee area.

This is what Corgility looks like!

Here is a video I found on YouTube of a Pembroke Welsh Corgi competing in the 2007 AKC National Agility Championship! This video really displays the types of skills both the dog and handler need to have to succeed at agility.

Bandit's Corgility Journey!

Corgility is what I affectionately call it when a Corgi competes or trains for dog agility. This is how wikipedia defines dog agility:

Dog agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs run off-leash with no food or toys as incentives, and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles.Consequently the handler's controls are limited to voice, movement, and various body signals, requiring exceptional training of the animal and coordination of the handler.

Bandit is my almost 5 month old female tricolor Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Here is a picture of her!

Even though Bandit is young, now is a great time to start working on some basic handling skills and exercises with her so that she can excel at dog agility in the future! A friend of mine competes with her two corgis and even was invited to the American Kennel Club National Dog Agility Championship! Anyways, this friend of mine has been working with myself and Bandit weekly on these agility skills. It is definitely much harder than you would think. It is a good thing that I am starting her early, because it takes years of training before most dogs are ready to compete. Some of the skills that Bandit has been working on (besides basic obedience training) include:

• Go-Arounds: This is where the handler sends the dog to go around an object. In training I have been using a post or a chair.
• Left/Right Spins: This is when the dog will spin to the left or to the right depending on the physical and verbal cues that the handler gives.
• Touch: Using a small round target, I am teaching the dog to go and touch the object. This will help when shaping her to other obstacles and to learn some of the more difficult handling skills.
• Flips: When executing the flip, it is when the handler turns 180 degrees and the dog stays on the same side of the handler. When the handler turns, so does the dog, but the dog "flips" away from the handler during the turn.

Well, this is about all I have for this first blog! I look forward to updating this blog as Bandit learns (and hopefully excels!) at Corgility.

-Marissa and Bandit