This most important book fully examines the welfare of captive reptiles and discusses the positive and negative implications of general husbandry and research programmes. The editors, acknowledged experts in their own right, have drawn together an extremely impressive international group of contributors providing clearly written and comprehensive accounts of aspects such as physiology, physical stress, diet, veterinary and environmental issues, normal behaviour, psychological stress and informed design in research.

Inhalt

Introduction: Health and welfare of captive reptiles. Physiology and functional anatomy. Biology of stress: interactions with reproduction, immunology and intermediary metabolism. Nutritional considerations. Veterinary perspectives and techniques in husbandry and research. Naturalistic versus clinical environments in husbandry and research. Normal behaviour. Effects of ontogenetic processes and rearing conditions. Behavioural consequences of husbandry manipulations: indicators of arousal, quiescence and evironmental awareness. Psychological and behavioural principles and problems. Ethologically informed design in husbandry and research. Miscellaneous factors affecting health and welfare. Index.