A major new study into global reptile and amphibian pet populations has estimated that there are 8.8 million reptiles being kept in the UK.
The Worldwide Reptile Super Survey was promoted primarily via social media and shared internationally by reptile social media influencers, pet stores, keepers, and other businesses, as well as on platforms such as Responsible Reptile Keeping and the Federation of British Herpetologists.
Data was collected between January and April last year, and the final report has just been published following the mammoth task of collating 7,650 responses from 74 countries, documenting 140,566 animals across 1,366 species. Responses were reviewed and analysed in aggregate to identify broad trends in reptile and amphibian keeping, including keeper demographics, species kept, specimen numbers, acquisition and sourcing, and related husbandry data.
Globally, the royal python emerged as the most-kept reptile pet, identified by 35% of total respondents around the world, and topped the list in the US, the UK, and the rest of Europe. The leopard gecko was shown to be number two globally (26%) with the crested gecko next on 24%.
In the UK specifically, the corn snake was named as the number two reptile pet, followed by the leopard gecko. A total of 26,889 animals were reported by 1,647 respondents in the UK, with a median average of six animals per keeper, leading to the calculated estimate of 8.8 million in the country as a whole.
