Reptile-keeping comes of age

Download: Reptile-keeping comes of age (.pdf file)The laborious early years of reptile-keeping are over - and gone with them is the era of reptile "freaks", who kept lizards and iguanas in home-made glass cases with wire-mesh covers and electric light bulbs. Since the industry started to produce accessories that enable people to indulge their hobby without a massive outlay, keeping reptiles has become a respectable, family-friendly pastime. "Plug & Play" is the magic phrase, and many specialist dealers - especially those for whom reptiles are just one of many segments represented in their stores - see this as a good way of increasing sales in the reptile segment in the future too.It is only with the advent of modern technology that reptile-keeping has ceased to be the preserve of self-sufficient enthusiasts keen on improvising their own equipment and has become a hobby for all age groups and social classes. You don't need to have a large amount of technical expertise these days to keep reptiles. And thanks to the advances in accessory equipment, the expenditure required to care for them has been reduced considerably. To be sure, dyed-in-the-wool hobbyists and so-called "freaks" will carry on fashioning their own accessories in future; but the average dad, for example, who embraces the hobby mainly on account of the interesting pets available, wants solutions that function reliably and are preassembled as far as possible. Keeping reptiles is fashionable above all with the younger generation, not least thanks to the success of movies such as "Jurassic Park" and innumerable theme parks that offer an opportunity to explore the exotic world of reptiles.Complete vivarium setsOne important question for many recent converts to the hobby is whether the vivarium can be integrated smoothly into the living room at home. To make this possible, the industry now offers a wide range of cabinets in different sizes and finishes to complement glass and plastic vivariums and create a visually appealing feature of the living space. As with the trend in aquariums, many manufacturers also offer complete vivarium sets, but a complaint frequently voiced in the speciality trade is that the quality of such sets varies considerably. Fitting out a vivarium for the first time accounts for the main volume of sales in the reptile segment, because reptiles don't need toys, leads or feeding bowls. Ready-to-use food, livefood and care products should not be neglected as a source of…