Reptile & Amphibian Forums

sorry, no caps because of holding grandchild on lap. you can respond to this, thread it, agree, not agree, or whatever. but this if my view. some of you know i have kept, bred, sold, collected, researched reptiles/habitat for over fifty years. like i have said before , i'm finding that i'm saying this more and more, a lot of time when we are battling reptile laws, we are just postponing the inevitable. not saying this is a bad thing as long as many people realize this. i mean i have seen where there were no laws almost to what is happening today and the proof is right here on this forum. with organizations and agencies combined trying to keep us from doing our thing. half the time we are not even informed that a law is going down. i just don't know how many of you are in realization that with time you will be either giving in, or keeping reptiles illegally. you better be asking yourself soon. if the latter is chosed, you might be in a life change depending how many animals you keep. while no one, no place will ever conduct a door to door search for reptiles, you will have to keep your keeping almost a secret. i had to make a life change because of my animals and where i lived. i will no longer live in a city limits. but i still may not win in the future. if a county, haven't heard to much of this though, state or federal law comes in, i'm history, if they know. if a certain insurance company has a policy change, i'm screwed on home owners policy, if they know. see where i'm heading......more ?.........

Chambo

In many states in the next couple of years, we are going to see more legislation aimed at insurance for discrimination of dogs. This is where you need to grab your legislator and tell him or her to put in an amendment to say all companion animals commonly sold in the pet store (no lions, tigers and bears have not legally been sold in any store that I have been in)must be excepted.

Again, that means we must get involved and we must check the state general assembly page for proposed bills.

In regards to insurance I was advised not to even tell my life insurance company any details regarding my occupation (at the time I worked at the Dallas Zoo herp dept.). Also my home insurance agent told me that he didn't evn want to know what I had in the back room or my rates would skyrocket. He told me that it didn't matter what type of snake it was that the company did not care. Snakes are considered high risk animals by insurance companies.

I applaud insurance companies for considering a rate change for owners with large and potentially dangerous breeds of dogs. On the other hand I also understand their lack of consideration for many reptiles. Thousands of kids are hospitalized each year from dogs (here in Texas alone). It's about time.

I honestly feel that the solution (for the hobbyist) is almost impossible. It simply involves responsibility and common sense. Unfortunately those are two qualities you see lacking amongst many individuals interested in keeping reptiles. I do believe that some individuals should be able to own animals. But I also understand when cities and municipalities establish restrictions.

Carl Franklin
Carl's Creepy Crawlies