Utilization of Natural History Information in Evidence based Herpetoculture: A Proposed Protocol and Case Study with Hydrodynastes gigas (False Water Cobra)

Abstract

Herpetocultural practices are based on norms driven by economy of space and time for keepers, with little scientific inference backing their practice. In recent years, a subset of herpetoculturalists have promoted evidence-based husbandry that relies on science and experimental design to generate husbandry practice. A theoretical framework and protocol are proposed herein that enables any individual who has access to the internet the ability to use various outlets of natural history information (scientific literature databases, social media sources, and weather websites) and previously published husbandry reports as evidence to drive the creation of novel herpetocultural practice. A case study is provided which compares readily available information on the care of Hydrodynastes gigas (false water cobra), such as online care sheets for the species, with the proposed evidence based herpetocultural protocol founded on natural history information and published care and captive breeding reports. Results were assessed for protocol efficacy and determined that the natural history informed evidence-based approach increased animal welfare and generated new information specific to the natural history of H. gigas.

Getting It Straight: Accommodating Rectilinear Behavior in Captive Snakes—A Review of Recommendations and Their Evidence Base

“…Furthermore, there is no evidence suggesting that snakes benefit from smaller, less enriched enclosures or that they are unharmed by such conditions. Although further work is welcome, recent studies (e.g., [8,26,31,35,37,38,41,143]) strongly cross-corroborate other works to confirm that snakes naturally occupy large home ranges, utilize available space, prefer more spacious and diverse habitats, and commonly adopt stretch-out postures, and that such postures are important for the avoidance of harm and achievement of quiescence and comfort.…”

“…Numerous other experimental and review studies show that snakes display preferences for, and greater security in, larger more naturalistic conditions, and that such environments favor snake welfare (e.g., [28,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]). Environments that do not address normal biological and behavioral needs (e.g., regarding space, thermal, lighting, and humidity ranges, interactive enrichment provisions, and social elements (where relevant)), should be considered incongruent with snake welfare ('negative states').…”

“…Arena and Warwick, in press [39]; Mendyk and Warwick, in press[5]; Warwick, in press[27]; Warwick and Steedman, in press[40];Taylor et al, 2021 [59];Todd and Nowakowski et al, 2021 [60]; Hedley, 2020[53]; Kubiak, 2020[54]; Cadenas and Martinez-Silvestre, 2020[36]; D'Cruze et al, 2020[52]; Howell et al, 2020[9]; Learmonth, 2020[18]; Loughman, 2020[37]; Spain et al, 2020[38];Benn et al, 2019 [61];Lambert et al, 2019 [17]; RSPCA, 2019[62][63][64][65]; Warwick et al, 2019[8];Bacon, 2018 [66];Divers, 2018 [49];Mendyk, 2018 [3];Rossi, 2018 [50]; RVC, 2018 [67,68]; Warwick et al, 2018[51]; Newman and Jayne, 2018[69];Oonincx et al, 2017 …”

Environmental enrichment for reptiles in European zoos: Current status and perspectives

“…Although easily disseminated and more accessible, information distributed through non-reviewed sources, such as internet articles or word-of-mouth, has a higher probability of containing misinformation (Warwick et al 2013 ; Warwick 2014 ; Draper & Jones 2017 ; D’Cruze et al 2020 ; Mendyk & Warwick 2023 ). Thus, these types of sources are not only unreliable (Loughman 2020 ), but can become fertile ground for the perpetuation of folklore husbandry. To move towards evidence-based husbandry, a key distinction has to be made between husbandry practices that are backed by empirical evidence vs ones that are accepted only because of tradition (Arbuckle 2013 ).…”

ID please: Evaluating the utility of Facebook as a source of data for snake research and conservation

“…We addressed these hypotheses using various Colombian Facebook groups that engage in advocacy for snake research and conservation. Although Colombia lacks an active herpetocultural community (unlike Germany, Japan, China, Canada, or the USA; Heichler & Murphy 2004, Jassen 2018, Loughman 2020, Rossi & Rossi 2000, and most Colombians champion spurious adages such as "the only good snake is a dead snake" (Lynch et al 2014, Cañas-Dávila et al 2016, an increasing number of groups of academics, researchers, zookeepers, policymakers, and members of the lay public engaged in snake research and conservation efforts have developed robust initiatives aimed at altering the negative perceptions of Colombians towards snakes (Lynch et al 2014). This has resulted in the creation of a large, robust, and growing Facebook community focused on snake research and conservation advocacy.…”