Worst enclosure photo on Zoochat

Hmm... I never saw that thread, as it was on the USA forum I think. However, what is the difference between this thread and the one that was locked?

 

My apologies for my assumption thinking you were the critic of the forum. I went back and found out it wasn't you, so I deleted the comment. The critics were Ituri, Fuzzball, and Jbnbsn99

 

Can't we all just get along?

 

A very popular song comes to mind...

"Why can't we be friends?
Why can't we be friends???"

 

If you look at more photos uploaded recently in the Reptile House, there are even more abominations in terms of reptiles. Hopefully the renovation will do the reptilians some good.

 

Aquariums for a single fish are bigger than that!

Maybe it is a temporary holding area, and this is really the enclosure for a lizard.

 

Cincinnati has a lot of below-average exhibits, despite their impressive collection, so I'm pretty certain that this is its permanent home, at least until the renovation.

 

I nominate this exhibit for a "Yorik".

 

The reason I had a problem with the original thread on this topic was because too often on this site, folks judge exhibits based on a single photo, knowing absolutely nothing about what the exhibit conditions truly are like. The recently posted black milk snake exhibit does indeed appear to be too small. Is it a temporary situation? Is it an education animal that is rotated out of that space frequently? In almost any situation there are factors to how good a situation is for an animal that simply cannot be communicated by a single photograph. If experts have criticisms, sure that's one thing, but most of what we get on here are uneducated guesses by people who have a casual familiarity with animal husbandry. (I'm not singling anyone out in this criticism)

 

By the way the substrate in all the side exhibits have been renovated already, the exhibit isn't as small as it looks and to add on to what Ituri said, there are hundreds and maybe thousands of worse snake exhibits out there and this one isn't as horrible as you may think.

 

I think that you raise valid points Ituri and that your advice should be heeded before people comment, but many of the comments made in this thread are by people knowledgable about animal husbandry and behavior. Chlidonias is an aquarist and has knowledge of snake space needs.

 

I'm not questioning anyone's credentials. I just dislike the usage of a single photo as evidence. I am hesitant to criticize anything I don't have first hand or at least in depth knowledge of.

 

Snake space needs? I didn't know there was such a thing . This exhibit may be sub-standard to people that aren't familiar with the "nowadays" reptilian care, specifically snake care, but I have seen much worse for a snake this size. Not saying its good at all, but looking behind that tank and into the back-rooms of any reptile houses in zoos, I bet people that think this is a "yorik" enclosure would be surprised at what they saw.

 

I think that is an excellent policy and your point is well-made. I will try and adhere to that standard too.

 

On the flipside, I would also caution against justifying something just because there are "worse" conditions elsewhere.

 

So wait. You will not be commenting/having an opinion on the American Olympic team because you are not there and are not a world class sportsman?

No, Ituri, I think that we are entitled to our opinions and being an online forum, we can and should voice those opinions in a respectful manner. You guys are FANS of sports the same way that many of us here who have no zoo credentials are fans of zoos. A bad exhibit or holding area does not require a PhD and 20 years experience to spot. Case in point: the kea exhibit and Giza Zoo earlier in this thread. Furthermore, as fans of zoos, we have every right to voice our displeasure at a PUBLIC display because this is what we, the paying public, see.

 

It's a slippery slope between criticizing a display, and criticizing living conditions. Often it comes with an explicit or implicit notion that the people who work very hard in the care of that animal simply don't care. I'm certainly not qualified to step into the judges booth at an Olympic event, I can't tell you if they are doing it right or not, I can only speak to whether or not I enjoy watching it.