05-17-2013, 05:45 PM
With the temp being 93F with bright sun today...I headed to the pool, naturally. While there, I witnessed an incident of stress in a small reptile/ amphibian that I am sure would translate directly to any type of dart frog - relevant to our hobby and this forum. It started off like this...the pool gate opens and in comes mom and her two children, precious angels and perfect little snowflakes. God love them all ! I quickly noticed that childspawn #1 was triumphantly carrying a medium sized 'critter keeper' plastic enclosure with a single large male brown anolis inside and nothing else. The child was in pure joy with the lizard, as evidence by him removing the lid and taking the animal into his clenched hand many times. There was also a period of 10 minutes or so when the critter carrier and lizard inside was ceremoniously dunked in the pool and held underwater for several minutes, causing the enclosure to flood a bit.
My observations on Stress with the Captive Animal:
The lizard was more than likely held in the enclosure for several days as referenced from the child's narration at the pool. I'm fairly certain it did not eat or even drink during all that time. I also have no doubt there were very few hours where the lizard was NOT subjected to handling or rough play (most likely only when the child was actually sleeping). I observed the lizard to be in decent health otherwise, and it even maintained an erect posture in the center of the bottom of the cage throughout - not cowering or even flattening. Every time the child reached in to grab it and pull it out, it did not struggle, try to flee or move much at all. The child was even overheard to say 'look how much he likes me".
Conclusion:
I believe the animal was under a maximum amount of stressors - deprivation of food, water as well as rough handling. I suspect that energy and related resources used for escape and fight were severely diminished or even completely gone. This next theory is one that I could never advance without the direct observations taken today, having never pushed or subjected any of my own animals to that degree of mistreatment. I believe the animal's 'will to live' for lack of a better term, was diminished as well. From my strong background in keeping, breeding and observing hundreds of different herps, I'm fairly certain that I want to include that last possibility as to the animals condition. That's how strongly I feel about what I saw which I'm sure could be replicated with dart frogs or related species.
Thoughts ?
My observations on Stress with the Captive Animal:
The lizard was more than likely held in the enclosure for several days as referenced from the child's narration at the pool. I'm fairly certain it did not eat or even drink during all that time. I also have no doubt there were very few hours where the lizard was NOT subjected to handling or rough play (most likely only when the child was actually sleeping). I observed the lizard to be in decent health otherwise, and it even maintained an erect posture in the center of the bottom of the cage throughout - not cowering or even flattening. Every time the child reached in to grab it and pull it out, it did not struggle, try to flee or move much at all. The child was even overheard to say 'look how much he likes me".
Conclusion:
I believe the animal was under a maximum amount of stressors - deprivation of food, water as well as rough handling. I suspect that energy and related resources used for escape and fight were severely diminished or even completely gone. This next theory is one that I could never advance without the direct observations taken today, having never pushed or subjected any of my own animals to that degree of mistreatment. I believe the animal's 'will to live' for lack of a better term, was diminished as well. From my strong background in keeping, breeding and observing hundreds of different herps, I'm fairly certain that I want to include that last possibility as to the animals condition. That's how strongly I feel about what I saw which I'm sure could be replicated with dart frogs or related species.
Thoughts ?
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