Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my neighbors from my old home in Florida called me the other night telling me about a marijuana bust on our street last week. There was apprx. $20,000 worth of weed growing in the guy's living room, kitchen, and back bedroom. How they found him is really interesting: his electric bill was more than twice what it should be for a house that size with one resident. He had marine fish tank Coralights hanging from his ceiling over the plants. Now, I've got a network of fish tanks that belonged to my father before he passed away, a reptile display case with UVB lights, and during the winter, I've got space heaters, and heat lamps for my sulcatas and redfoots, which have to spend five months out of the year inside out of the cold. With all the elecricity I use for setups, especially during winter, I am really surprised the cops don't already check my house out.
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Hold my breath as I wish for death. Oh please god wake me!

If you are not growing pot,... what do yo have to worry about???? On the other hand if you are..........................
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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Vichris Variables

Ditto. Why worry about 'getting caught' if you're not doing anything illegal?

I don't have a reason to worry about being caught, I'm not doing anything illegal. It's just an interesting situation to me, that the cops went to the guy's house because the electric company said the high bill was a concern, and than they found the weed in his house. I'm just saying, with all the UVB lights and heat lamps I use on bearded dragons, uromastyx, iguanas, and other reptiles that require UVB exposure, plus the sulcata and redfoot tortoises that have heat lamps and heaters during the winter, I've got a pretty high electric bill myself.
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Hold my breath as I wish for death. Oh please god wake me!

Maybe you should grow weed in with the sulcatas area to help pay for your electric bill....nah just kidding!!! or maybe you need to stop smoking it because it's making you paranoid about your reptile electric bill, lol.
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

Dude, did you hear that? Haha, good one.

I have heard a story like this on at least two other occasions. Once, the police cited the purchase of large amounts of UV bulbs as proper cause for search. The other story was the electric bill.

I am in "law enforcement", and I can tell you one thing for sure...the police already knew what was going on in that house!! They were only grabbing for an excuse to go in. I don't buy the "if you aren't doing anything wrong, don't worry". I would go ballistic if the police showed up at my house with a warrant simply due to my electric bill. But, they don't do that kind of thing unless they are 100% positive that they are going to find something.

Right Ken, nobody, police or judge is going to waste time on a "maybe" or "what if" based on an electric bill alone, nor would that warrant a search warrant by itself, it's just one more piece of evidence, or a reason to take a closer look at whats going on well before the "bust".
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

paranoia strikes deep
into your mind it will creep
it starts when your always afraid
step outta line
the Man comes and takes you away
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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Vichris Variables

...you betta STOP, hey, what's that sound.....ok, I'm done.

Oddly enough, I have had this experience to some extent. Back when we were renting, the "gentleman" who lived in the upper was in fact a dealer. When the swat team showed up at our house, I gave those "brave" enough a tour so they could confirm we had no connections to the dealer. Those grow lights are easily visible from the street if they are watching.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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If you think this is far-fetched, you better hope that the Waxman-Markey energy bill isn't passed. Your thermostat and electricity usage will be controlled by the government and they will have the right to come into your house to monitor whatever the heck they want, and will have the right to tell you to replace all your windows and upgrade your equipment before you can sell your house. If you think I'm kidding, read the bill, all 1200 pages of it. If you voted for Obama, this is what you voted for....For What It's Worth.

Please direct me to the sections to which you refer. I've included a link to the bill so that you can identify the specific page(s).

Thanks!
Link