Granted, as I already agreed, environmental degradation by people has filliped many invasive species the world over. But, how do you explain the invasion of undisturbed islands by oh-so-many gecko species? In Hawaii, nearly half of the herp species reported as established by 1990 occur predominantly in UNdisturbed habitat. Invasive animals and plants alike have colonized the Galapagos, but those islands didn’t see any development until very recent decades. Why are Burmese pythons coming out of the middle of the Everglades?

It doesn’t take disturbed habitat to allow establishment of foreign species. It takes people getting the foreign species to the spot of invasion, disturbed or not. That is where irresponsible herp keepers have EVERYthing to do with the matter. Well, them and the unrestricted sale of multiple species that should not be permitted in petshops. I’ll use you as a comparative example (hope you don’t mind), albeit with limited knowledge based on that which I’ve read on this forum.

As far as I’ve seen over the years, many people who buy from you ask the million “stupid” questions first, get ready for their purchases, and then send money and receive an animal(s). After that, thanks to this forum, they have virtual 365 day/year customer support. Even that doesn’t weed out all of the irresponsibles. Even with your rather high market (expensive, compared to Niles, savannahs) species, some folks out there buy impulsively because a whim begot the urge for a less common monitor in the house. You can’t sort 100% of your clientele through emails or phone calls, nor do I suppose it is your job to. Unless you encouraged purchase by customers who are clearly not suited for monitor keeping, your sales approach should be viewed as valid. As in any market, a certain percentage of negligent customers is inevitable.

“Haha hi fRank. I really like the moniter you sent too me. He got hear just an hour ago. Hes’ really cool and he LOVES to be handeld haha how do you breed your moniters to be so tame? Hes’ doin great in my new Vishion Cage. I got it for part of my birthday present. Well I tell everyone your moniters are top notch because this one is the best I’ve ever seen. Thanks Frank peace out buddy.
Ben
0.1 leopard gecko
1.1 garter snake
1 red ackie
0 clue”

Now, let’s consider a different scenario where the above is the norm instead of the nuisance occasion.

Let’s turn your sold monitor species ($flaviargus, ackie, lacie, etc.$) into a species that ANYone can afford (say, Nile). Let’s turn your business into a public shop that anyone and everyone from the area can walk through. We in turn convert the MAJORITY of customers from marginally- to well-researched people (how else did he/she learn about some guy in the desert with a real life GOANNA ranch?) into true Average Joes. Finally, You change into either a teen who’s more knowledgeable about how an iPod functions than how a reptile functions working at a big corporate petshop for the summer or into a mom or pop petshop entrepreneur. Do you know anything about the monitors you paid $5 for and need to sell before the stress of your inadequate setups kill the animals completely? Do you care? Do your customers know how big the animals will get if they don’t kill them through negligence first? Do they care?

You don’t sell captive-bred Niles or savannahs, right? Have you ever? Why? Couldn’t afford to feed the adult breeders since petshop import prices would keep your offspring prices so low? Why should petshops across the nation be allowed to offer imposing species to customers who are usually not cut out for the responsibility? Why should conflicts derived from this scenario (like Niles in Florida) put a potential damper on your business? Why would you excuse it? Since legislators don’t normally distinguish between the source of species targeted for restriction, this has everything to do not only with irresponsible keepers and sellers, but with the responsible ones, too. Thanks for the discussion. Ben

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