All sides of this debate should drop the "cruelty" thing and leave it out of the conversation.
Fed? Healthy? In control of minute-to-minute location and activities? In an appropriate environment (large enough, comfortable substrate, with vertical space and things to paw it, be they insects, fabric, toys, or other organisms)? Not being treated cruelly.
End of story. Period.
Starved? Cruel.
Festering wounds? Cruel.
Trapped by a toddler and tail being pulled? Cruel.
In a small wire cage that they can't comfortably sit down in? Cruel.
Perpetually alone in a square room with a bare floor, food and water occasionally automatically delivered? Cruel.
In a home, with toys and humans and blankets, or outside with food and shelter, or indoor/outdoor - not cruel. We can debate which is better (I used to say indoor/outdoor, now I say indoor only), but we shouldn't call any of them cruel. They aren't.
Fed? Healthy? In control of minute-to-minute location and activities? In an appropriate environment (large enough, comfortable substrate, with vertical space and things to paw it, be they insects, fabric, toys, or other organisms)? Not being treated cruelly.
End of story. Period.
Starved? Cruel.
Festering wounds? Cruel.
Trapped by a toddler and tail being pulled? Cruel.
In a small wire cage that they can't comfortably sit down in? Cruel.
Perpetually alone in a square room with a bare floor, food and water occasionally automatically delivered? Cruel.
In a home, with toys and humans and blankets, or outside with food and shelter, or indoor/outdoor - not cruel. We can debate which is better (I used to say indoor/outdoor, now I say indoor only), but we shouldn't call any of them cruel. They aren't.