you are not cruel at all. Some replies are just plain rude, like pooping in a linen closet and breeding in prison. There is a difference in being in the hobby for fun an learning as compared to this is what I do and I am the best. Don't take it to heart. I am new to this forum and find it rather amusing reading the "expert" replies that have nothing to do with the original question but a good scolding and finger wagging. :roll:
Sorry, in such forums we often tend to have issues based on cultural differences. The type of plain speech which is commonly used in Germany obviously often offends US americans. Thats not what was intended. However, the prison comparison I gave still fits. P. grandis are agile lizards which run and jump a lot. If however, movement in either direction is restricted to less than threefold the total length of an agile animal, this can by no means be considered approppriate or even close to that but in fact resembles restrictions seen in prison. And as I mentioned before, official recommendations in Germany translate into 100 US gallon or more for Phelsuma grandis and that in fact is what herpers in Europe do keep grandis in (whatch the short video, I quoted earlier)
When it comes to expertise written in quotation marks, I may shortly introduce myself to help in some respective clarification: I am holding a PhD in Biology and I also have written a book on husbandry of Phelsuma grandis which has received quite some positive reviews
(
Der Große Madagaskar-Taggecko von Ingo Kober - Buch - buecher.de).
When it comes to hands on experience, I may say that I do keep and breed grandis since 1984 and that the respective longevity record in my tanks is held by a male which lived with me for 22 years.
So, I dare to say that I know what I am talking about. And I also feel free to feel sad about conspecifics of my grandis which have to spend their (mostly short) life under inappropriate conditions.
I apologize for plain speech, which as mentioned above may originate in cultural differences, but I stick to the content of what I have said.
And I can not help saying that if there is something I do dislike than it is statements like:" I do keep my animals so and so and
they do well and like it", which are based on no further "evidence" but personal (and mostly biased or unexperienced) opinion. Much too often, upon closer inspection I do see suffering creatures in the hands of people talking like that. Sometimes animals still look normal and even can be healthy when it comes to plain physiology. But very often they are not and much too often I have seen such "happy animals" which were close to death and in fact died soon after "without any obvious reason".
Too longstanding experience with such people admittedly from time to time make me overrreact to the respective statements. But If somebody in the same sentence describes definitely inappropriate housing and still states his animals are fine, I could....I´d better stop here
Best
Ingo
B
