Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am very upset today, my family and I have purchased our first home in a little town and we just found out that bearded dragons are an exotic animal and against the town's by-law.

My sweet 6 year old daughter has not stoped crying and I am just beside myself. I am sure there is this by-law simply because who ever petitioned it was uneducated!!! Our sweet beardie has complimented our family and we love him so very much. My daughter would only say that he needs to go to someone who will love him as much as we do. As it turns out I have a cousin who will take exceptionally good care of him and we will even still get to see him but it feels like we are being torn apart and expected to just leave part of our family behind. I do not even know how to make this okay and I am worried that our beardie will take a lot of adjustment without us.

First and foremost I would like to say: "Screw that law!"

This is your house and who would actually know, let alone enforce this stupid law. This is a bearded dragon, not a alligator. I'm sure that law pertains more to dangerous exotic animals.

Keep your daughters dragon, what law are you really breaking? I equate that law to Jay Walking. What if you had a pet frog in a fishtank, this isn't any different, ignore the law and enjoy your pet. Don't let ignorance by others deter you from doing the what's right.....Keep the dragon!

Shaun Roberts

second that!
who is going to enforce this law? some one you know? they would be the only ones to know...
It is not as if you need to take your beardie for a walk around the block!
I live in a 'no pet' apartment
I have 2 beardies...
I jay walk... when I figure the dangers are acceptable...
keep your beardie!
laws are made to be broken and amended, to suit our modern way of life.
Not as if you are breeding them and releasing them into the town!
KEEP IT
cheers

i too say to keep your dragon. who cares if theres a law against it? whos going to come into your house and check to see if there are illegal animals? plus its caged. we have lived in numerous apartments where animals werent allowed or we had to put security deposits down for them, but since they were caged they were allowed with no problem.

i think this law pertains more to other exotics as gators, big cats, monkeys, large monitors, etc.

in my state, Virginia, different counties and cities have different laws for pets. in my city, springfield INSIDE of Fairfax County, sugar gliders are legal. but 15 minutes away in my sisters city if Alexandria, still INSIDE of Fairfax County, they are illegal.
-----
Judson
Beach Beardies

0.1. bearded dragon
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*

Exactly! Who in the world would possibly enforce this law...The Reptilian Task Force?....LOL.

Seriously man......Keep your dragon. It's your duty as a tax paying citizen to question authority, especially ignorant authority.

Shaun

Hi,

i say also Keep it!!!
It´s only a stupid little law and as long we talk about beardeds
and not of giant snakes or great monitors, i find it fully ok when
you break the law!
By us in europe it´s simly the same thing, we in Germay have no problems to keep and breed Beardies, in Austria it´s a whole other thing, they need a Breeding certificate to register it to the Wildlife agency in Austria. Then come a agent from the local office
and looks to the beardeds home if it´s ok for them. That all
when you like to keep one Dragon, crazy world i think!!!LOl

So please keep your Dragon......

Greetz

Ralf

Yet another classic example how when the government get their hands on something everything goes to hell... The legitamate role of the government is to protect the country, people and territory, nothing more. That's what our Founding Fathers created the country. The government has no wisdom to decide what is right for the people. Society problems should be left up to the people to solve not the government, and you wonder why their so much problem going on today in this country. Sorry for the rant!

That is the most ignorant thing I have ever heard of, are there a bunch of hillbillies in that town or what? Do they have any up to date education in that little town? Beardies are not venomous/poisonous nor do they get to be a threatening size how can they out law an animal that has been in pet stores being sold as the best lizard to own as a pet for soo many years? Keep your Beardie, its not right for the beardie to lose you over a stupid law like that and its not right for you either. This just goes to show how ignorant our society can be. Screw em, KEEP THE DRAGON!!! but becareful it might breathe out fire and burn the whole town down!!!!
Kurt
StingrayDragons

Oh yes, lets all just ignore the laws that we don't like.

Seriously, despite how unfair the by-law is, ignoring it isn't the answer either. Even if the law is rarely if ever enforced, it only takes one call by somebody who sees/hears an 'exotic' animal is being kept in the house next door for a by-law officer or local police to come check over the home. Then if they find the dragon and take it...you have no idea what will happen to it, some give them to local zoos or rescues to find homes outside the restricted area, or they just put them to sleep.

I suggest finding out details on that by-law. Read the entire legalese of the by-law. Go to the town hall and ask to speak to the by-law officer or whoever is in charge of interpreting them. It is possible they will let you keep the dragon and other small harmless reptiles with a permit, or by just registering it.
-----
PHLdyPayne

I suggest finding out details on that by-law. Read the entire legalese of the by-law. Go to the town hall and ask to speak to the by-law officer or whoever is in charge of interpreting them. It is possible they will let you keep the dragon and other small harmless reptiles with a permit, or by just registering it.

I agree. Find out the specifics of the by-law and go from there. It's quite possible a small caged lizard would be allowed.

Quig

This is a small harmless reptile not a federal offense. Who going to report them for keeping it and furthermore who going to enforce this stupid law if someone does report them? Answer: NOBODY!

Encourage this family to keep the dragon, not deter them by wasting time checking up on some idiotic ridiculous law that most likely the details of are so moronic you would just get angry reading it...I'm sorry but I'm breaking that kind of law everytime....It doesn't make you a criminal, it makes you a person with reason and common sense.

Shaun

My husband has been out there working while the kids and I stay behind to pack, he went to the town to see if we could get a permit by registering our beardie and unfortunately he was given the by-law and it clearly states 'bearded lizards' and unless we are willing to spend money on lawyers their hands are tied. It is not that our beardie is not worth it but this is our first home and we have two children under 6 years... we are sooooooo house poor and legal fees are just not in our budget.

I could not expect my kids who will be making new friends and bring them over to keep the pets they love a big secret it is just not fair for everyone involved and kids will be kids.

The really stupid thing is that we have two firebelly toads which have a bit of toxicity to them and would cause great damage if a lot of them got free and there is nothing in the by-law against them??? As well, we have a hamster and the by-law states that only one per house hold is aloud??? This town is a very small tight-nit community and I would imagine word will spread like wildfire and there is no way I could stand a stranger taking our beardie and us having no control over it and the fine starts at $1,000. My husband and I are trying to raise our kids with good values and telling them they have to lie and be sneaky is not the way we want to raise them, it is one big reason we are moving from a big city to a small town... see the irony in all of this. If it was just my husband and I, braking or bending the law would not be so bad.

What really upsets me is who ever made this by-law was uneducated!!! More has to be done so that bearded dragons get the respect they so deserve!!! I do not even think it is the bearded dragon that is a threat to the environment but the crickets that pose the threat as this communitie's main sore of revenue is in the corn crops (Taber corn).

Thank you all for your words of encouragement and reasoning my heart is braking and this being our last week with our beardie I plan on enjoying him, going out and getting him some very expensive treats like silk worms and phenix worms. I know he wont know the difference but it will make us feel better. Coming to this forum has become part of my daily routine and I am going to miss it very much but I definitely will ask my cousin to join. Again thank you all.

Cheers,
I will try and upload a new pick of our sweet beardie later.

Bummer! I hope the people in the town are as nice as you describe the town and not some nosy uptight types. As with everthing, you always have to give something up for something else and ur childrens and ur welfare is top. Maybe if you are passionate about keeping BDs in the future, you can talk to youre local gvnt about changing the law a bit.

It is frustrating to move into a town with such idiotic laws to ruin the joy of getting a new house. One thing you could do once settled in is talk with neighbors, find support on fighting the current by-laws and take it to town council meetings. Talk with members of the town council..get support to change the by-law to allow harmless reptiles such as bearded dragons, leopard geckos, uromastyx, blue tongue skinks and other small lizards and snakes. These all make great pets, are not large as adults, non venomous, beautiful animals to have as pets.

Bring plenty of information of the species in particular, educate. See if local communities have reptile associations or stores who would be willing to give demonstrations or such to town council members and the community to show how bad the by-law is.

yes it is a hard and difficult process which takes time sweat and tears, but in the end the rewards are worth it.

The responses to this thread that pretty much say 'screw the law, do it anyway' is the same sort of attitude which leads to such idiotic laws. It gives the reptile community a bad reputation, which anti-reptile as pets lobbyist just drink up to fuel their cause. Reptile keepers don't care about the law, they are nothing but criminals, who wants criminals in their neighborhood, etc. Very untrue but with so many posting to this thread being so 'vocal' about breaking even foolish laws, is showing a very negative view of reptile keepers.
-----
PHLdyPayne

You worded your post exactly what I was trying to say except without my emotions getting in the way, thank you. I would like nothing better then to keep our BD but there is a right way and a wrong way and I need to protect the best interests for an animal that can not talk vs responsible reasoning of my actions.

The posts who stated to keep my BD anyway are passionate and I appreciate them but I need to get passionate about changing this by-law so that one day I can sit back and enjoy my pet and people can gain the knowledge that is needed to respect these wonderful animals. I fully trust my BD is going to continue to recieve the care I have given him and my cousin has the understanding that if he runs into problems that I will seek a new home that I can trust.

From just keeping it and staying quiet. Even if people suspect it, what are they going to do, bust down your door with a search warrant?

Seriously, I feel for you, and I'm sorry if I come off too harsh, but I think you are being a little too dramatic. Just keep it, no one will know a thing.

There are people with rooms full of pot plants who live nice happy lives with their hobby of choice, think about it.

Do yourself a favor, try not to worry, and just keep it.

OK, after further reading I see how you want to set a good example for your children and how keeping it would only fuel the fire for bad rep's of herp owners. Very valid points.

I guess I am just hard headed and would never give up anything of mine that is not harmful to satisfy a mediocre law.

Good luck I hope everything works out.

If only we could edit our posts... lol!!