Reptiles kept as pets have precise environmental requirements that when unmet cause chronic stress and health problems, reflecting widespread welfare deficits in reptile keeping.
Reptile welfare in captivity is extensively compromised by misunderstanding of their needs and the provision of inappropriate environments. Unlike mammals, reptiles cannot compensate for inadequate environmental temperatures - a reptile in a too-cold enclosure cannot digest food, cannot fight infection, and cannot move normally. The chronic physiological stress of inappropriate temperatures suppresses immune function and creates vulnerability to disease. Metabolic bone disease - caused by inadequate UV-B lighting and calcium preventing proper vitamin D synthesis - causes soft, painful, deformed bones and is extremely common in captive reptiles. The appeal of reptiles as 'low-maintenance' pets is fundamentally misleading - their environmental requirements are exacting and unforgiving of neglect. Wild-caught reptiles suffer acutely from collection and transport, and the majority die within a year of capture.