230: Billy Sveen – Animals at Home Network

Exploring ethical captive management of reptiles & amphibians through the lens of biological science, conservation, and human nature. The Animals at Home Network is a herpetoculture-based podcast network that hosts: Animals at Home Podcast by Dillon Perron, Project Herpetoculture by Phillip Lietz and Roy Arthur Blodgett, Reptiles & Research Podcast by Liam Sinclair and Ellie Hills, and Animals Everywhere by Bryce Broom. Each show on the network brings all members of the reptile community together to discuss reptile husbandry, scientific research, breeding, wildlife conservation, and more!

Dr. Billy Sveen discusses his new scientific paper, Captive Equivalence As A Minimum Welfare Standard For Captivity-Managed Herpetofauna, highlighting the ethics of keeping herps in captivity in comparison to the wild and all that goes into considering the lives of each counterpart. For anyone wanting to improve their care in captivity, or even those wanting to start thinking about the ethics of their care differently, this episode is a must-watch. Dr. Billy Sveen notes The Five Domains of care in captivity and compares them to how the wild counterparts live, with considerations of survival rates, habitat losses, suffering in animals, and more. Billy also demonstrates ways that we as captive keepers can improve our care in enclosures, diet, enrichment, and other aspects of care to ensure that we are keeping our herps responsibly and ethically.

SHOW NOTES: https://www.animalsathomenetwork.com/230-billy-sveen/

SPONSORS:

Visit The BioDude: https://www.thebiodude.com/

Visit Zoo Med Labs here: https://zoomed.com/

JOIN US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/animalsathome

LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:

Billy’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creepersherpetoculture/

Captive Equivalence As A Minimum Welfare Standard For Captivity-Managed Herpetofauna: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f99c047fa9ceb071696ee9a/t/67ec2f45295d144305dc58f1/1743531845626/V7.1_001_Opinion_Sveen.pdf

00:00 Introducing Dr. Billy Sveen

2:07 Coming Up: Zoo Med ReptiTemp Dimming Thermostat

2:39 Coming Up: The Bio Dude Substrates + Bug Grub

3:14 Welcome Billy – Reptile Keeping + Projects

8:23 Captive Equivalence As A Minimum Welfare Standard For Captivity-Managed Herpetofauna

26:32 Zoo Med ReptiTemp Dimming Thermostat

28:03 Applying Welfare Standards

36:41 The Bio Dude Substrates + Bug Grub

37:42 Updating Captive Care To Improve Welfare + Defining Suffering

54:11 Survival Rates + Wild Caught Animals

1:03:17 Habitat Loss of Wild Herps + Natural Fallacies

1:14:56 Ethics of Suffering in Animals