“The study … shows how limited the evidence is, and how much more research is needed … before people can confidently claim that common captive care practices protect reptile welfare.”
In summary:
- Reptiles are readily available through pet stores and hobbyist sellers, where they are often marketed as “easy” or “low-maintenance” pets. A new scientific review suggests a much more complicated reality.
- The paper reviewed decades of research on captive reptile welfare and found that the evidence base for reptile care is still surprisingly small.
- The authors identified just 72 papers, representing 75 studies, that tested a change to captive reptile care and measured its effect using at least one welfare-related indicator.
- Reptiles are commonly kept in a wide range of captive settings, including zoos, laboratories, farms, classrooms, rehabilitation centres, and private homes, using practices that historically relied on tradition, assumptions, or anecdotal advice, often called ‘folklore husbandry’, rather than strong scientific evidence.
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Reptile welfare research is growing, but major gaps remain
The review found that reptile welfare research has increased over time, which is encouraging, but the available studies are not evenly distributed across species or settings.
This is a serious gap.
Many reptiles are kept in private homes, where care can vary widely and oversight is limited. Without research that reflects the conditions animals actually experience in homes, expos, breeding operations, and other commercial settings, it is difficult to know whether common care recommendations truly support good welfare.
Most studies looked at enclosures, not the full picture
Nearly half of the studies focused on changes to the physical environment, such as enclosure size, furnishings (such as climbing structures, hides, caves, or ledges), lighting, or substrate (e.g. bedding, flooring, litter, etc.). The most common changes noted by the researchers involved adding or changing enclosure furnishings.
These factors are especially important for reptiles because their bodies and behaviour are closely tied to their surroundings. Temperature, light, humidity, shelter, substrate, and opportunities to climb, burrow, bask, hide, or explore can all shape their well-being.
But the review also found that fewer studies examined other important areas, including human interaction, enrichment, or social contact with other members of the same species.
Measuring welfare in reptiles is challenging
The paper also highlights a major challenge in animal welfare science: how to tell whether a reptile is doing well.
Behaviour was the most commonly used welfare measure, appearing in more than half of the studies. Behaviour can offer important clues, such as how animals use their space, whether they hide, explore, bask, or show signs of stress.
But behaviour alone may not tell the whole story, especially for reptiles, who may mask signs of illness or distress.
Physical measures, such as body condition and growth, and physiological measures, such as stress hormones, were used less often. The authors note that only three studies included all three types of welfare indicators: behavioural, physical, and physiological.
For animals with complex and species-specific needs, relying on one type of measurement can leave important welfare concerns hidden.
What does this mean for exotic animals kept as pets?
The study does not show that captivity can meet reptiles’ needs. Instead, it shows how limited the evidence is, and how much more research is needed before people can confidently claim that common captive care practices protect reptile welfare.
Wild and exotic animals retain complex social, physiological, and behavioural needs, even when bred in captivity. The VHS opposes the sale and keeping of exotic pets and advocates for stronger protections to prevent animals from being kept in environments where their needs cannot be met.
The findings also support the need for a precautionary, science-based approach to exotic animal regulations. The VHS has called for a positive list framework, which would only allow species to be kept as pets if they are proven suitable based on animal welfare, public health, safety, and environmental criteria.
Animals deserve more than guesswork
Reptiles are sentient animals with needs that are often poorly understood and difficult to meet in captivity. Animal care should not be based on what is convenient, traditional, or profitable. Rather, it should be based on strong evidence and on the animal’s well-being.
When it comes to reptiles and other exotic animals, compassion means looking beyond the enclosure and asking a more fundamental question: should these animals be kept as pets at all?
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The VHS would like to thank the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada for providing funding to support this work.
Read the original study here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159125003296
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