well, I know that I've spent about 4,500 on my retics and caging, not counting food. Prehistoric Pets is a 2 million a year business (according thier web TV show), much of which is retics...it's probably not billions but it's substantial.



The bigger issue is that they're acting like these snakes are a threat to most of the American south...these snakes are TROPICAL! A reticulated python would be dead in nearly all of the country come fall or winter. These animals--retics, boas, burms, rocks, anacondas--have been commonly imported and kept for decades--the boas since at least the 50s, the burms since the 60s. That's a good deal longer than I've been alive...yet we have ONE area where there's any population, and even that population hasn't been studied at all--no population surveys to see if it's growing or not. So there's one population, and no one's really sure if it's substantial, or sustainable.



And as far as public health issues...a person every year or two is killed by these animals. Out of thousands or tens of thousands of these snakes bred and sold...every few years one of them kills someone. That's not by any means a public health crisis. On that basis, nearly everything that isn't a small rodent, fish or bird should be illegal. It's a tragedy, and when it happens, the keeper needs to be held liable for manslaughter.



I lean towards libertarianism...I don't want laws that are not easily defensible on both theoretical and factual grounds. This law is neither.

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