Guess cats domesticated themselves & managed to get all over the world with no help?
Strange how outdoor cats look an awful like feral cats & strays. Maybe that’s why they get “stolen” by people who want to make sure they don’t get hit by cars, killed by predators, etc. etc. etc.
“Actual responsible pet owners” and “outdoor cat owners” are mutually exclusive, they can’t occupy the same category. Permitting a cat to free-roam is inherently irresponsible.
While feral cats do cause significant issues, owned cats are not blameless in the least. Perhaps it is Anon who should read some studies. Fortunately I have some on hand.
This study utilized a survey, asking cat owners to fill out a questionnaire reporting prey items their cat brought back, so these results are applicable to the owned cat population in Britain and not the feral. The study was performed over the course of 5 months, in the span of that time it’s estimated 85 – 100 million animals were killed by owned cat predation.
It’s estimated that 2.4 billion mammals and 12.3 billion birds are killed annually in the United States by domestic cats, although only about 11% of this predation is by owned cats. This may seem small, but when broken down that’s 264 million mammals and about 1.4 billion birds killed by owned cats.
There’s more studies, too, and this isn’t even getting into the sublethal effects of free-roaming cats! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you can care about more than one environmental issue at a time – you can be concerned about predation by feral cats and predation by owned cats.
If someone kills 100 endangered birds, does that make it acceptable for you to kill 11? Is removing 11 endangered species from the breeding population any less damaging to the species ongoing survival just because someone else killed more?
Also.. I don’t think there’s anyone who just cares about animals killed by cats and not also the massive environmental damage being caused by humans. It is possible to care about both issues at the same time. At least for me, I care about the environment, I care about ALL things detrimental to it.
Plus, being outside is a danger to the cat even if they didn’t have any environmental impact at all. There’s no reason to keep a cat outside when they can be kept happy and healthy indoors.
The introduction of non-native animal species to regions of the world where they did not exist by settler colonialists and the subsequent decimation of native animal species by these animals is absolutely an important issue to anyone who claims to be anti-imperialist and asking people to keep their cats indoors is not in anyway comparable to telling people to single-handedly stop global warming by recycling or whatever.
Mostly the ones that either have more capacity for harm or ones that are more sensitive in their requirements & are more likely to be hurt by beginner mistakes.
Ones with more capacity for harm include venomous reptiles, giant snakes, and large lizards such as iguanas, tegus, and monitors. If you really want to own something like that, you really need some experience in reptile behaviors, general care, and you need to have done tons of research on what to expect in terms of ongoing care, space requirements, handling, etc. Some of those, such as giant snakes, also require that you always have at least two people available for handling. If you get things wrong with this group of reptiles, at best you can get a really nasty bite. At worst, you die. Or else you’re putting someone else in danger with your mistakes. Not to mention that irresponsible owning & handling of these types of animals reflects badly on the entire reptile & exotic pet community.
Ones that are more sensitive would be things like chameleons. I know there are more than that…but I’m mind blanking & also reptiles are not my strong suit! But it’s best to have some background in maintaining humidity, heating, and how to handle tricky care requirements before taking on something that’s going to be less forgiving of mistakes. If you mess something up, the animal can die really easily. That’s unfair to subject an animal to just because you thought it’d be cool to have one.
Leopard geckos are a great choice for a first reptile and here’s why!
-Ease of care: they aren’t very demanding in terms of husbandry. You can just set a thermostat and thats pretty much it.
-Forgiving of husbandry errors: some reptiles will die VERY quickly with minor husbandry errors. Not leopard geckos. So long as you check up regularly and correct errors in a timely manner, they’ll keep surviving.
-Ease of acquiring their diet: plenty of pet stores sell crickets/mealworms.
-Ease of handling: look, I know not everyone wants to handle their reptiles. Some folks are completely fine with a hands-off, display-only pet. And that’s cool. But a lot of people want to hold their pets (also fine) and leopard geckos tend to be very docile and don’t stress out over handling. They’re a very curious species and frequently like to watch what I’m doing. I think they’re personable little lizards.
-Size: they’re small, so you don’t need a huge habitat for them.
-Ease of information: there are tons of care sheets out there, unlike some rarer species. Since they’re a commonly kept species, you have literally thousands of other keepers to talk to.
Other great lizard species for beginners: crested gecko, gargoyle gecko, fat-tailed gecko… i like geckos a lot, ok.
Bearded dragons and blue tongue skinks are also frequently listed as Best First Pet Lizards, but I disagree since they aren’t as forgiving of husbandry errors. If you want to get a beardie or a BTS, you gotta make sure your husbandry is on point. If you do your research and triple check everything, they’re fine. With a BTS, you’d also want to make sure you’re getting a Northern Blue Tongue Skink and not an Indonesian sub-species— they’re probably the most expensive animal I’ve mentioned so far. Still, I thought I should mention them because they’re great species.
Snake-wise uhh… corn snakes are probably the Quintessential Snake and they’re perfect. King snakes are another great choice, as are milk snakes. Ball pythons are generally listed as Beginner Snakes, but they’re more sensitive to husbandry errors than corns or kings. Rosy and kenyan sand boas are HUGELY underrated as snakes and I highly recommend them. You’ll also usually find western hognose snakes listed as beginner species, but they’re known for being finicky (especially males) and that can startle a new keeper. They’re also BIG on bluffing (making a lot of hissing and fake striking at ‘threats’), which is again kinda scary for someone unfamiliar with it.
I think the most underrated ‘beginner’ snake is probably the gopher snake. These guys have been bred in a STARTLINGLY BEAUTIFUL array of morphs— I also love their behavior. They’re one of my favorite species to encounter in the wild (and captivity!).
ifesbob 