I have been reading post all over the net as well as watching the shows I go to. In fact the last show I went to Fish& Wildlife stopped the sale of all turtles there. This was probally b/c to many under 4 inchers were being sold. People went home & told their who in turn went to the show to buy the cute little turtles & no doubt some child got sick & it worked its' way back to the turtle being brought there. I honestly wished they would have banned the sale of the venomous though. I saw so many gators,retics,burms., venomous,& other potential "hazardous in the wrong hands herps" being sold to people incld. some I know & tryed to talk out of it who obviously didn't need to be purchasing them. The problem is that the vendors don't bother to ask to if the person knows the basic of the animal/s that are being purchased or just don't care. I once watched a guy who can barely keep ball pythons buy a coral snake,canebrake,centipede & another venomous snake then turn around to ask me are these ok species to have. I promptly told him no but the thrill of the danger over ruled me. Needles to say the animals died to not being cared for husbandry wise for his fear of their escape. i've also adopted 2 burms.one reg.& the other a lab. from people who didn't know the got that big. Again to reiterate another post we as a hobby must police ourselves. Vendors should have prospective buyers tell at least the basic about the species they wish to purchase. If these are animals are continued to be sold to just anyone then the rest of will pay for thier mishaps. A gator was found in the city I reside last month & hopefully they don't clamp down on us as the law was already in place for no crocadilians(spelling). So please don't breed these animals & sell to just anyone. I like them but I honestly think that in the long sceme of things greed will ruin the hobby for those of us who know what were getting into. As opposed to the thrill seekers who just want to but it b/c it is big &/or dangerous. I keep my neighbors out of sight of my burms all they know is I have kingsnakes.

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• Public relations.....our responsibilty - Croc 2-3, Sun Aug 17 12:31:05 2003