"Kevin I for one stand behind you and Nerd 100% this hobby would not be what it is or where it is if you never had the vision. Keep up the great work and continue to be at the front of our loved hobby."

If you mean turning a hobby into a greedy pyramid bubble driven faux market, then YES indeed Kevin and NERD contributed in a big way along with several others! WAY TO GO!!! I believe marketing $18,500 ball python morphs as speculative investments at a time when people were using a record amount of cheap credit to pursue the next get rich quick bubble was responsible for much of the attention and "interest" be it good, bad, and ugly.

The "MARKETING" of herps as "INVESTMENTS" attracted attention from .gov types because of the apparent big bucks being tossed around as people HELOC'ed the snot out of their homes and ran up the credit cards in pursuit of getting IN ON TOP of a particular project. For .gov this presents a problem in the form of an underground economy in which the .gov feels it could be left out of the loop in extracting it's share of the loot via taxes and such. The .gov solution for such underground economies is abolition or to bring the "industry" to it's knees to the point herpers will beg for .gov regulation in exchange for the ability to continue working with the most marketable species.... ball pythons.....etc! Right now the .gov is in the drivers seat as it has the herp world in a state that it can go down either road with relative ease.

Herpers have already shown a willingness to throw other species under the bus as long as the most "MARKETABLE" are left alone. This plays into the hands of those that would like to have the herp "industry" highly regulated with a hefty dose of fees and others taxes on the trade in herps.

Most likely the .gov may find it is more profitable to accept sizable donations from animal rights PACs such as HSUS that seek an out right ban on all herps. With and unlimited supply of hollyweird celebs to donate money and publicity, as well as the media propaganda machine such as AP on their side, such groups could generate more money than could be extracted through a regulated herp "industry". The politicians go where the money is, and in our case the herp world is dwarfed by the "professional" lobbiest on the animal nutters side.

It is my BELIEF that the burm situation in FL is a scapegoat to hold the herp world hostage until the .gov make up it's mind as to which direction is most beneficial to the political class. The animal rights groups already had a bead on the herp world as the INVESTMENT bubble in morphs of various species exploded exponentially in the 2000-2006 timeframe. The burm issue was then brought to the fore front around 2007ish only making matters worse but hardly representing the BEGINNING of the current crop of lobbiest and legislative attacks against the lawful keeping and breeding of herps.

The urinary expulsion contest taking place in this thread between the "studied" herper and the "commercial" herper only serves to affirm my BELIEF that in the end the politicians will choose a combination of the path of least resistence and the path that leads to the most money in their campaign coffers. It will take time but I see an eventual ban on keeping many, most, or all herps as inevitable based on past, present, and the future direction the herp community seems to be trudging towards.

These are of course my BELIEFS based on FACTS as they appear and OPINIONS as witnessed from 20 years of keeping all kinds of herps and getting to know many types of herp keepers. The bottom line is it may just be to late to change the course of events to unfold. Not trying to be defeatist, but realistic, especially after having heard of the vast interest from politicians from many other states as Tallahassee claimed victories over herp keepers in the last several years! GAME OVER!

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