Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32131452›Full record

ArticleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2020

Dropping the Ball? The Welfare of Ball Pythons Traded in the EU and North America.

Neil D'Cruze, Suzi Paterson, Jennah Green, David Megson, Clifford Warwick, Emma Coulthard, John Norrey, Mark Auliya, Gemma Carder

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed
3.0field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Neil D'CruzeWorld Animal Protection, 222 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8HB, UK.
Suzi PatersonWorld Animal Protection, 222 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8HB, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-6382-749X
Jennah GreenWorld Animal Protection, 222 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8HB, UK.
David MegsonDepartment of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, All Saints Building, All Saints, Manchester M15 6BH, UK.
Clifford WarwickEmergent Disease Foundation, Suite 114 80 Churchill Square Business Centre, Kings Hill, Kent ME19 4YU, UK.
Emma CoulthardDepartment of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, All Saints Building, All Saints, Manchester M15 6BH, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-8935-9092
John NorreyDepartment of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, All Saints Building, All Saints, Manchester M15 6BH, UK.
Mark AuliyaZoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Department Herpetology, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany.
Gemma CarderBrooke, 2nd Floor, The Hallmark Building, 52-56 Leadenhall Street, London EC3M 5JE, UK.
Manchester Metropolitan University · GBWorld Animal ProtectionBrooke · GBHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research · DEUniversity of Oxford · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Ball pythons (family Pythonidae) remain a commonly exploited species, readily available for purchase in North America and Europe. We assessed the housing conditions of more than 5000 Ball pythons across six exotic pet expositions and 113 YouTube videos. We scored provisions for hygiene, mobility, shelter, substrate and water provision, based on the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA) minimum guidelines. We found most entities involved in this commercial enterprise are not providing housing conditions that meet the minimum welfare recommendations for Ball pythons, either publicly or privately. We found that breeders and vendors typically utilised small and highly restrictive enclosures, with dimensions that prevented occupants from extending their bodies to full and unrestricted natural length. Our study also highlights that most vendors are not providing adequate written husbandry guidance to potential consumers, either at exotic pet expositions, on their commercial website, or on associated social media pages. Furthermore, our study also indicates that most potential consumers may themselves be unable to recognise unsuitable housing conditions that do not meet minimum animal welfare standards for Ball pythons. We suggest that more consistent guidance, adherence to agree principles and more potent operating models that are formally incorporated into relevant legislation would greatly aid existing and future efforts to safeguard animal welfare in this regard.

Indexed as

exotic petpython regiusreptilesocial mediawildlife trade

Identifiers

PMID32131452
PMCPMC7143053
OpenAlexW3009059818

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.