It has been said that by 2015 there will be more Bearded Dragons being kept as pets than dogs! Some of this surge in popularity is very probably due to the mass distribution of information via the internet. Social networking sites, specialist forums, commercial sites of retailers (like this one) and suppliers/manufacturers have helped disperse a vast quantity of information. But just how much of this information is any good? Just because someone has taken the time to write and publish something doesn’t necessarily mean that the information is either accurate or based on fact.

Before the internet, in order to disseminate information of any kind we relied on books and specialist publications. Your work was well researched, edited and scrutinized by your peers before being offered up for publication. Then your piece still had to meet certain criteria in both relevance and interest before anyone would invest in its publication and distribution. Basically you had to prove your work was accurate, relevant and of interest to the public before it went to print.

On the internet what matters most is where you appear on a search engine. Publish your information on the internet and if it’s there long enough or receives a lot of ‘clicks’ it will appear first on the page that follows your query. Try typing ‘Bearded Dragon Care’. The first page you’ll get is this....

Take a look at the menu bar. Baby Berdie? Not even a spell check? Check out the sponsored link below the menu bar.‘Are You Making One of These 37 Mistakes Which Are Slowly Torturing Your Bearded Dragon to Death?’ Wow, this is already scaring me half to death, let alone my Bearded Dragons! This links to a site selling an e-book on not killing bearded dragons. The lengthy advert finishes with this threat: ‘Let me be very blunt here. If you’re not even willing to spend $19 to take care of your bearded dragon, and to solve your bearded dragon worries forever, you are NOT FIT to own a bearded dragon. Click here to reserve your copy right now... Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed.’

Now let’s see what the main body text says: Bearded dragon can be great pet for lizard beginners and experienced reptile hobbyists, but they do require some specialized care. Bearded dragon care is a website that is dedicated to provide as much as possible care dragon information to the pet lizard owner.

Pet lizard bearded dragons are very docile reptile that breed well in captivity. This pet would be one of the best choices for any pet owner that would like to adopt a reptile.

Now, though I understand that online translators are not exceptionally accurate, you would have to agree that the grammatical errors here don’t promote a great deal of confidence in the rest of the content. The opening line could be understood as: ‘A bearded Dragon makes a great pet for a Lizard but experienced reptile hobbyists require some specialist care.’ While I agree with most of this I fail to see the relevance in what I searched for! What is amazing is that this was my first attempt at uncovering internet ‘trash’ on herpetology, and my very first attempt at guessing what a beginner might type into his search engine. ‘Bearded Dragon Care’ try it now, just for laughs.

Very occasionally I am teased into checking the numerous herpetology forums. Undoubtedly other professionals do the same. Here we have a classic case of Chinese whispers. A line on a forum is repeatedly misrepresented so that at the end of thread what was inaccurate in the first place is now preposterous. Information placed on a forum thread should always be viewed with trepidation.

Forums are also a popular place to vent personal frustrations by criticising and at times denigrate to the point of slandering people and institutions that have done nothing except perhaps disagree with a misplaced opinion. Most often these attacks are aimed at professionals who dedicate their energy to the promotion of herpetology.

A few worthwhile questions to ask before entrusting your animals care to the internet:

• Consider why the author is writing and publishing this material. Is it to sell a product that perhaps you don’t need?
• What are the author’s credentials, how can you be sure this information is verified and trustworthy?
• What do you know already and are you prepared to accept that this information is incorrect?

Balance all the information available to you and assess what makes the most sense. If in doubt, buy a real book, one with paper pages and a spine. You can bet that this information has at least been edited and checked before being published, printed and distributed. Besides you can also read it in the bathroom!