Smol Dragon

In a lot of online reptile communities, people are starting to get the idea that putting human emotions onto the actions and responses of reptiles is inaccurate and frequently dangerous. But that’s not the only way that willful misinterpretation of reptile behavior can lead to dangerous situations. Another kind of anthropomorphism we should be talking about more is anthropomorphism of agency.

Agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. In the case of an animal, having agency means that they have the ability to make their own choices- where do they want to be, what do they want to eat, do they want to drink, etc. The ability to have this free choice is absolutely vital to the physical and mental well-being of any pet, but you have to remember that your animal is only going to be making these decisions based on what its wants and needs are- and as a pet owner, you are a caretaker. You have to intervene. Your pet is not a human. Your pet doesn’t always know what’s safe, because your pet is in a world that’s entirely alien to its evolution and way of being. It’s your job to help them interact with that world and to care for them, and sometimes that means interfering with what you perceive as their agentive desires. Case in point: This interaction, where a tegu apparently keeps getting into a bearded dragon’s vivarium. Assuming that this is true (and the human didn’t put the tegu in there for a photo op which is what I suspect actually happened here because the tegu looks uncomfortable), let’s dissect the scenario a bit.

“Ouzo always getting into Rocky Viv love the expression on Rocky face.”

Why is this happening? There are many reasons that Ouzo should not be in Rocky’s viv. (I have a feeling that Rocky shouldn’t be in his viv either, because it looks woefully inadequate for his needs, but that’s neither here nor there.) There’s a risk of cross contamination and there’s also a risk of, once Ouzo is larger, him deciding that Rocky is a snack. While Rocky seems pretty calm about the whole situation- he’s not puffing up or black bearding or anything like that, the tegu actually seems fairly stressed himself. Uncomfortable body language and tight eyes suggest that maybe Ouzo doesn’t actually want to be in Rocky’s viv. If he associates this area, these smells, and this other animal with unpleasant feelings of discomfort and stress, once he’s larger he might realize that he can deal with this stress by lashing out. This could be fatal to Rocky. There’s no reason that these two should interact- it’s not going to be enriching to either of them. 

But it would be enriching if they were humans. If they were humans, of course they’d want to visit each other. If they were conspecifics of a naturally social species, they’d want to visit each other. If the circumstances were different, this might be a right decision to make, but because the human didn’t consider the motivation behind why Ouzo might want to be in Rocky’s viv and assumed it was something they couldn’t or shouldn’t control, we have a situation that could turn volatile quickly- and we have an owner making an excuse for poor care. How many times have you heard someone justify their bad husbandry because “the animal likes it?” Animals can display marked preferences. A good pet owner is in tune with those- but also understands where these preferences come from. 

It’s clear that Ouzo should not be in Rocky’s viv. And it’s pretty easy to keep Ouzo out of Rocky’s viv. There’s three actors in this situation: Ouzo, Rocky, and the human. These animals didn’t put themselves in this position. The human did. The human made the choice to bring them into the home, to cage them how they are, and to allow these unwanted incursions to occur. The human is responsible for the actions of their animals- a pet owner has to allow freedom of movement within reason. Ouzo cannot teleport. Ouzo is only in that viv because the human let him be there. Let they who have the thumbs make the rules. 

also: rocky just looks like that, he’s not making a face, that’s just how his anatomy is

Poldi

thorsty