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Posted by Colchicine on April 10, 2003 at 19:34:04:
In Reply to: Toads? posted by joshbrees on April 09, 2003 at 17:31:11:
I take this matter seriously and this is often hotly debated on this forum. Consider some of the information below, you can also do a search on this forum to find more discussions that include information from both sides of opinion.
The basic points you should consider are:
-Easterns can be switched to mice with no known detrimental effects.
-Amphibians are highly sensitive to their environment and subject to extreme variations in population sizes, removing breeding individuals or future generations can have detrimental effects on populations already stressed by lack of habitat, pollution and predation by your neighbor's cat for example.
-Anecdotal observations like "there are plenty of toads in my back yard" hardly qualifies as a testament to the population stability, nor does it replace legitimate scientific research. Only demographic studies can adequately reveal population numbers and stability and whether or not adults can be collected.
-Amphibians are usually treated inhumanely (*gasp* Heaven forbid I preach about animal rights of lower vertebrates! {preemptive strike to some of the other forum visitors}) when fed to hognoses. Being captured, bitten, envenomated, and swallowed alive is hardly up to the same standards we treat other animals. Freezing them is no longer a professionally accepted method of euthanasia either.
-Referring to the anti-amphibian poster below and the link he provided… the seller makes it a point to convey to potential customers the collections of amphibians are all done legally. But this is no guarantee that the collection was done in a sustainable manner since most state agencies do not give protection to amphibians. There is also no guarantee that the animal will be handled and transported humanely, that it will not be disease-free, that it will not be free of parasites, that it will not be free of any bio accumulated pesticides, herbicides or other pollutants, and there's no guarantee your hognose will be able to live a healthy life eating those animals.
I truly hope you'll make an educated decision and understand that hognoses do not need to be fed mice.
http://forum.kingsnake.com/hognose/messages/5596.html
http://forum.kingsnake.com/gator/messages/15344.html
http://forum.kingsnake.com/hognose/messages/5710.html
