Reptile owners criticised for neglecting animals’ welfare

Enclosure sizes for reptiles often fail to meet the minimum legal requirements © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

Many reptiles are kept in improper conditions in Switzerland, with owners unaware that legal regulations exist for the animals’ welfare, according to an animal protection organisation. An online tool now aims to raise awareness of how to look after the animals correctly.

The “calculator for taking care of animalsExternal link”, launched by the Swiss Animal Welfare Association (STS) on Tuesday, enables owners to calculate easily and quickly minimum legal requirements, enclosure sizes and facilities recommended by the STS.

Reptiles are popular pets in Switzerland, the association said on Tuesday. Hermann’s tortoises, corn snakes, leopard geckos and other reptiles live in 3.5% of all households, so in around 132,000 households.

Following an anonymously conducted survey, the STS wrote of “worrying results”. It found evidence of at least one violation of animal protection legislation in half the 97 reptile homes it examined.

‘Need for education’

The most frequent violations concerned climatic conditions. “In a third of enclosures the temperature or humidity is not measured.” These parameters are crucial for the health of cold-blooded reptiles and should be known to every keeper, it said.

Enclosure sizes also often failed to meet the minimum legal requirements. In addition, ultra-violet lighting, which is important for the animals’ health, was often inadequate.

“Overall, the survey shows that there is an urgent need for education at the national level on species-appropriate reptile care,” the STS said.

“It is the duty of private pet owners to learn about the animals’ needs beforehand. This is especially true for reptiles, which require effort to look after,” it said. “Spontaneous purchases should be avoided in this case.”