I went to the meeting in Gainesville a couple of weeks ago. It was attended by Fish and Game people, conservationists, breeders, a zoo person, and Poppell (the person proposing the bill) made a short appearance too. Although the proposed law will start with a $100 annual permit for the "big" problems (the biggest pythons and also Nile monitor lizards), the last thing that Poppell said as he left the room was something like "this will be a great start and we can add on later". Since almost any species COULD potentially be invasive, I see this as a "foot in the door".



We may eventually have to buy a $100 permit for BPs, leopard geckos, or pretty much anything that could possibly be invasive if it escaped. That fee wouldn't stop the diehard keeper / breeder, but would pretty much nip beginning herpers in the bud before they ever get started. A great way for the humaniacs to slowly turn up the heat on our hobby so that we won't notice that we are being boiled alive, until it is too late.

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