Responsible Reptile Keeping

Abstract

This report addresses the growing popularity and associated challenges of reptile keeping, with a specific focus on ball python ownership in the Netherlands. While reptile keeping can offer educational and psychological benefits for keepers, it also contributes to biodiversity loss, welfare concerns, invasive species, and public health risks. This project explores how design can stimulate and facilitate responsible reptile keeping in the Netherlands to counter these drawbacks, offering a constructive alternative to restriction- and reduction-based strategies.

Following the Double Diamond methodology, this project progressed through four stages: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. First, the context of reptile keeping was discovered through literature and field research in order to define responsible reptile keeping, analyse its societal impact, and to identify relevant stakeholders, trends, legislation, and past initiatives. The focus was then narrowed to one species as a representative case, the ball python. This allowed for a deep-dive within the reptile keeping context and a contextmapping study was conducted with ball python owners. During the Define stage these insights were translated into nine design scopes, areas where design can contribute towards stimulating and facilitating responsible reptile keeping. The most potentially impactful and demand-reductive design scopes were used as a design frame during the Develop stage. This frame determined the boundaries of the ideation process and two creative sessions. These ideas were synthesised into a roadmap involving multiple stakeholders, offering an inspirational and strategic overview. In the Deliver stage, one promising concept was selected from the roadmap to be further developed and to initiate the journey towards responsible reptile keeping.

As a result from the Discover stage, this project defines that responsible reptile keeping consists of four phases. The pre-purchase phase involves contemplated decision-making on whether to get a reptile. The purchase phase focuses on ethically acquiring a legally sourced, captive-bred animal. The care phase emphasises going beyond the basic needs to survive through enrichment. Finally, the end-of-care phase involves ensuring life-long care for the animal. This definition can be summarised as enabling reptiles thrive rather than survive.

At the end of the define stage nine design scopes were developed. Of these, scope ‘1. Impulsive purchases’, ‘2. Collecting reptiles and ball pythons’, ‘5. Enjoyment of ball python enclosure care’, and ‘6. Science-based information acceptance and knowledge sharing on ball pythons’ were prioritised due to their potential impact on reptile welfare and demand reduction. The ideas developed with these scopes became the foundation for the roadmap towards thriving. This roadmap spans three horizons:
Horizon 1: Establish the foundation - Lay the groundwork for responsible reptile keeping by ensuring reliable, accessible information and entry-level interventions are in place.
Horizon 2: Expand science-based keeping - Shift from basic survival to optimised care by promoting deeper knowledge and science-based practices.
Horizon 3: A contributing reptile community - Foster an engaged community that advances reptile welfare through collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and active contribution to science and conservation.

As a final result, the concept Royal: The Best You Can was selected from the first horizon as a promising first intervention towards responsible reptile keeping. It is a visually structured reptile profile combining a ball python persona with science-based care information. The concept aims to reduce impulsive purchases and improve care quality by making readers empathise with ball python needs and focusing on optimal care. Royal frames ownership as an effortful commitment, encouraging potential buyers to reflect before purchasing and motivating reptile keepers to do the best they can.

In conclusion, this project demonstrates how responsible reptile keeping can be stimulated and facilitated by identifying key areas for improvement through the design scopes, an inspirational roadmap toward thriving, and introducing the concept Royal: The Best You Can to lay the foundation for a more ethical and informed future of reptile keeping.