Reptile Facts

Facts about Reptiles & Amphibians

 

Did you know that in the UK today there are as many reptile and amphibians kept as pets as there are dogs?  1.5 million households now keep reptiles or amphibians as pets, which equates to more than eight million animals.  The popularity of reptiles and amphibians as pets has risen dramatically over the last 20 years and continues to be the fastest growing sector of the pet industry – why is this?

Well, reptiles and amphibians do make really good pets for a number of reasons:

They are ideal for families as they can be left unattended for short periods without compromising welfare.

They are hypo-allergenic (no hair or feathers) and are suitable for households with allergies or asthma.

They don’t need much space (great for people living in flats), don’t need to be taken for walks and don’t need access to a garden.

They are environmentally friendly, don’t cause damage to habitat or have a negative impact on native wildlife.

Are they just a recent fad? No, actually the earliest record of a reptile being kept as a pet dates back nearly 400 years to 1625, when the then Bishop of London, William Laud, acquired a spur-thighed tortoise which he kept at the Palace of Fulham. When he became the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, the tortoise moved with him to Lambeth Palace where it outlived its owner by 108 years.

The first book published on keeping reptiles was produced by the German herpetologist Johann Matthaus Bechstein in 1797 and the first book on reptile keeping published in English was the Vivarium, produced in 1897 by the Reverend George Bateman. The Amateur Aquarist & Reptilian Review magazine started in 1924 and was published until the outbreak of the Second World War.

Statistically, according to the Home Accident Surveillance System (HASS), reptiles and amphibians are the second safest pets to keep only beaten to the top spot by tropical fish.