Keeping multiple occupants in 1 house?

[Julia]

In your opinion, would this sentiment extend to aquariums, reef tanks, vivs with more than one plant species, paludariums, etc.? All contain living things. Some contain both predator and prey.

I would add that what is best for them might be to be left alone in the wild.

I agree that is whats best is to leave them in the wild. But being humans we are curious and greedy and keep them for our own pleasure. For me what somewhat justifies doing this is giving them the BEST possible life in captivity. To me this means taking away the fear of predators, providing as large of a home as possible, endless amounts of food and clean water etc. Also very important is to breed animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. But of course most of them are in risk BECAUSE of people.


I apologize if I have offended anyone with my point of view. I know there will always be people out there who disagree...but my intention was NOT to attack anyone personally, it was meant as a general statement. Of course there are factors and exceptions to the things I say, keep in mind they are just my personal opinion. I think this subject gets me so riled up because of what I deal with on a daily basis. I try to rescue reptiles and amphibians who are being abused or neglected. Most recently I took in a Basilisk who was kept in a desert tank with a bearded dragon. The basilisk has severe eye infections and a heavy parasite load. He may be blind and will never be normal. This is an extreme example but things like that happen every day.

[JimO]

My apologies Julia. I'm a pretty dedicated dad and over-reacted to your comments, which I know you didn't intend the way I took it. I also would like to apologize to the rest of the members for my reaction. It's no excuse, but it's been a tough week already.