Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What scares me is that the folks passing all of these ordinances are grossly misinformed about herps and listen to orgs like HSUS. HSUS has political clout, and they spew bunk statistics for their anti-herp agenda. Most of the ordinances are arbitrary. With the support of activists with deep pockets, these anti-herp orgs will continue to get their way. These regs. are for our protection, right? Land of the free? PLEASE!!! At this alarming rate, the only animals that we will be able to keep will be toy poodles and fish. Blanket regulation is definitely not any sort of viable solution. ORGANIZE & EDUCATE!!

Nathan Hall
Concerned Herpetoculturist

when they say " exotic " I guess they are forgetting that tropcal fish are mostly EXOTIC and toy Poodles are EXOTIC ( non USA at one time ) but gee, these are " DOMESTIC EXOTICS " ? See my drift ? I guess to make reptiles non-exotic and or domestic they should be in what ? > more than 50 % homes as pets ? Come to think about it, ya know that the parrot breeders/keepers are basically left alone anymore and not normally included as " exotic " kept ! Don't forget that ALL parrakeets, most finches, and cockatiels are about " exotic " as one could be. LOL !

I totally agree. there will only be a good result, a continued hobby and opprotunity to increase the powers to be and the consumers IF there is proper education which is done in a community fashion; at schools, groups, museums and the like.

if the issue that started with the baby boomers is ignored by us then our kids will have to stand in line, get printed and photos just own a herp..but wait only three per household and only large corrporate breeding with proper licensing is allowed?

what could happen might is we don't do something by educating the consumers. start more groups, and make the time to teach othes. i hold a seminar once a month. i'm not a breeder, i build vivariums. the crested gecko breeder here finaly after a year of pushing him, is now hold seminars at schools and such...or so he says...but it's not enough. everyone needs to start networking. putting a crested gecko breeder with a leopard gecko breeder and not worry about who will steal whos customers like what happens here in the bay area but instead just teach.

i know for a fact that if a city here learned that you were trying to start something like this, they offer a room for free.

Deven

Tell me about it, the guys who voted on the NY bill had no clue there were regulations already in place for venomous keepers. They were also unaware that the new legislation didn’t provide for a PERMIT to keep venomous herps. They thought there WASNT a permit system in NYS for venomous herps, and there needed to be one! NOW THERE IS NONE. These guys had NO CLUE what they were voting for, and the impacts thereof. I KNOW, because I went to the NYS capital two weeks after the bill was signed, and talked to a couple of them about the ban, they were utterly misinformed about the stipulations of the bill itself, much less what it would affect. They said that the existing permit system sounded reasonable, and then I told them that they just destroyed that system, and they were appalled. It seems they were more concerned about tigers and bears, and didn’t even THINK about the reptile part.

I think the more people who try to get together, and instead of BASHING these guys, explain to them the problem with the NYS ban, explain there was a great permit system already in place, maybe an amendment will happen. I don’t know about you guys, but I am VERY annoyed, and I would feel like a loser if I didn’t do something. I am writing a letter to my assemblyman today, (casale) and asking him to sponsor an amendment. If he doesn’t, I will write to every single assemblyman in NYS, with the same explanation, and suggestions until somebody decided to help. I'm guessing that is possible, because the guys I talked to at the capital, seemed nice enough, and a little disturbed about what I had to say regarding the ban. If I don’t get replies to my letters, I'm calling them on the phone and showing up at their offices.

Anyone who has thought about doing the same, PLEASE DO. Because this IS the land of the free, and we can DO THAT without getting arrested! Maybe nothing will happen as a result of our labors, but I'll have fewer misgiving about what could have happened. If we sit on our rears and complain, nothing will get done. If the assembly is flooded with letters from informed, polite, and reasonable herpers with legitimate concerns, and SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM I bet somebody will stop and listen.

well, thats my 2 cents.
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- Happy herping!

KE

i did a seminar last week. in attendance was a 3rd grade group of kids who eagerly waited until the end to ask if they could hold one of the snakes. they and their teacher stayed after to do the Q&A bit which was fine.

today in the mail i got a large envelop from their school. inside were letters and drawings. I was very warmed to see the effort each put in their words to express their thoughts, and the time they might have put into their art..mostly showing happy snakes with mice or lizards in leaves.

what touched me was one of the letters. a girl wrote me a comment that she was very glad that she was able to learn about snakes, and not to shop at petco. she went on to say that she was glad that her parents who i guess drove her and some of her class mates there, also agreed that buying pets at petco was not right, that it was better to find a place that cared, like a breeder.

today i also got an email from her dad. he is a city councleperson who deals with zoning. he said he will remember my efforts and honest the next time petco trys anything in his town.

to all, do the right thing. ensure proper husbandry with education and remain teachable at the same time.