KEEP IT QUIET!

I hope the lesson of recent events has not been lost on anyone in the community. Once problems of any kind involving our herps make it into the media, our prospects for continuing to enjoy our hobby go down the toilet. So we must, at all costs, prevent this from happening.

How? Some ideas I've picked up from owning a retail pet business (and dealing with local and state governmental authorities) for many years:

Yes, fight anti-herp regulations/legislation-but obey all regs which ARE on the books. Every time someone's collection is confiscated, or someone's pet or child is injured (or worse) by their pet snake, that's one more free donation to HSUS. If an ordinance is passed in your town that makes your reptiles illegal, then move out of town, or get rid of them. Before you move, thoroughly check the ordinances and all state and local laws. If registration is required, or pit tags, or notification of emergency authorities-just do it, please.

Even if herps are legal where you live, don't do anything that will change that happy circumstance. Make SURE your enclosures are escape-proof, then make sure the room in which they are housed is ALSO escape-proof! If small children and large, potentially dangerous reptiles are to share the same building, then secure locks on both the cages and the room are more than a good idea ( I personally would go a step further, and not even keep potentially dangerous reptiles in the same household as young children, but I realize not all would agree).

Don't miss any opportunity to educate the public about the good side of reptiles and our hobby. Give talks, write guest articles and editorials, become involved at the local nature center. The only sure remedy for ignorance is education.

However, NEVER take your 9 ft boa on a walk through the local park. This single show-off impulse is probably responsible for more anti-herp ordinances than any other. Believe me, the local townspeople do NOT want to marvel at your awesome pet! In fact, they will probably go to almost any lengths to keep you from doing it again... including bringing it up at the next City Council meeting.

If all precautions fail, and there IS an incident involving your reptiles, cooperate fully and QUIETLY with authorities. A good lawyer will do you a LOT more good than an appeal to the public through the media.

Finally, it scarcely needs be said that no pet reptile should ever be released into the wild, anywhere-but I guess i just said it again . It bears repeating.

I believe that if we all had followed these rules over the last two decades, our situation now would be much improved.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Jungle Carpet Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase, Striped Desert, Newport, and Coastal California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

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