Reptile & Amphibian Forums

that we are LOSING! States are falling like dominoes to these laws and bickering is not going to put a stop to it. We need to organize in a BIG WAY, I for one would love to get the ball rolling but have no clue how to start. I only keep heloderms and native crotes but these are at risk animals as well, luckily I live on the Left Coast and I doubt we will see any major changes to the laws we have but I hate the idea of having less states to choose from as a home because of my hobbies...
Counting the days.....

after reading the posts in all the rooms i wrote a letter to my congressman and told him how i felt about the issue... i live in kansas ans we are not at risk yet but if we give our higherups a heads up that we dont like this bill they will be more aware...

shiloh

in fact the last time i checked we were in the proposal of banning all hots in keeping in Kansas ! While it is very hard to find on the Internet, it was in the making of last year with several workshop agenda meetings with supposedly one real soon or already. Wildlife agency is one of the backing of this ban. I just haven't done very much after getting somewhat chewed out by one of the REAL keepers causing this to happen as i said i wouldn't be a part of their problem. That was the exotic keepers of big cats, hybrid wolfs and primates. I haven't heard much else as of last month on how it was going and whether or not it was going to pass. I gave up rallying because of no help in addressing the issue in the legislator but was told it wouldn't necessary even have to go there in order to pass. Also the last time i checked there was still no bill number. They ( the exotic keepers )are saying it is positivly in the making. That's all that i know at this time.

i talked to congressman Pat Roberts yesterday and he told me that the bill was denied...

shiloh

by the way... i have been in this site for about 6 months now and it seems that everyone is from kansas...... whats up with that...
where are u from??? i'm from burlington

to some and where else would you find the conglomerate of species of syspila and gentilis ( oops , I guess we had better throw in all of those intergrades as well ). Emporia is where i squat at this time soon to be a Texas resident ( we think ).

i'm only 40 minutes away from you and i go to emporia on a regular basis... i buy my rats at L&L pets...
so maybe we could meet up sometime and talk snakes...

shiloh

actually I'm outside of Americus in one of the old historic very old Victorian farm homes with the snakes out in a barn. I have hunted out here ( flint hills ) for the the better part of 38 years and never thought that i would actually live here. Herpers are always welcomed here. I just don't get those chances to get out and do much herping locally anymore though except for the west Texas trips that MIGHT be on hold this year due to the gas prices. At this time I'm about ready to sell off my hots and get back into colubrids and tortoises. While i use to buy rats and mice plus breed some, i buy mine in Alpine pre-killed and frozen from the guy in Alpine Texas while down there and they normally last from one year to the next till I go back down. On my property i have found loads of black rats and prairie kings. Just a little north of me copper heads and speckled kings and a few great plains rats plus a very few massasauga and miks. I'm still trying to get that record of a recorded finding of a timber in Lyon county but no luck yet. Yeah, give me a holler.

so do you get a really good deal on the rats down their???

it would be fun to hook up sometime... i work at wolf creek and we are starting the outage right not so it might be a while...

their is a reptile show in KC on the 3rd are u going???

shiloh

If you have direct communication with the congressman, you might want to ask him for help. Just because the bill was denied once, doesn't mean it will not be revised and tried again. You might want to get a permit system in place for your state before the bill is revised. Just my thoughts...
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Jon

i have known pat roberts for a few years now... i meet him when i was in the army before i went to iraq...
for all u kansas residents i was the guy on the news all the time and in all the papers...

i talked to him a few days ago and he said he will inform me if anything else comes about on this issue...

i personally dont own any hots... however i'm not stupid... i know that if the ban passes against the hots the larger boas and pythons would be next... so i'm going to fight this thing as much as i possably can... it might be a good idea id the people that lived in the same states were in contact with each other that way they could write a letter together and talk to their higher-ups as a whole... numbers always help...

shiloh

Having him tell you what is happening is only good for a reactive approach. From reading the other posts about other state bans, this doesn't work. You guys should be taking a proactive approach and police yourselves. If congress sees that the community is responsible it will make you look better.
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Jon

i think the main thing i have noticed is that most of us are ranting raving about thses bans in here and not out their... if the congressman know how we feel about the issue they might be more willing to listen to our ideas to resolve the issue..

shiloh

I disagree with that. Just because they know you are there doesn't mean that it will sway public opinion. I reitterate that reacting to a situation doesn't always produce the best outcome. You need to act before others do becuase in the end congress is watched by the public, so they will follow polls. It is different in the court system where they are not watched as closely and have some freedom to make decisions. You don't have to listen to my advice, but the best thing to do is to get a permit system in place before the ban is revised and put back through.
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Jon

it can and will lead to other restrictions and bans later with while permit system in use, it can be pro-active in ridiculous restrictions. But i guess a permit system is better than a outright ban at first, HEH ! I keep coming up with already city and township laws in place that SHOULD be enough in most states but not according to wildlife and law agencies. I have already been a recipient of such ridiculous restrictions on a permit system of some years ago. It was at first documentation with a special FEE ! Okay,i could live with that. Then it was fee, documentation, and cage requirements. Okay, i could live with that. Then it was fee, documentation, cage requirements and zoning board fee. Then it was fee, documentation, cage requirements CHANGE, zoning board fee/permit than an updated fee for permit that went up every year. Get where I'm going with this ? The biggest problem was the ridiculous change in cage requirements of having to have screen mesh in between to peaces of glass in a cabinet style cage with keyed locks ( in which i have always kept my hots in anyway ).

This is off topic, i was wondering what part of kansas i might find viridis? Thanks atrox182

West of me that's for sure ! There are some un-confirm sightings of prairies around Salina. That's pretty east of the distribution facts ( I live in Lyon County, Emporia, mid east and east of central Kansas ). While I only have the older Field guides of Kansas to go by, the closest eastern range that i have found them is in the lower mid south west around Medicine Lodge. I have hunted prairies specifically where they are from in Kansas with huge numbers found and of course this is the western part of my state. The books shows range just about any where mid state to the west. It has been awhile but our trips out west that were most productive of viridis was always in the southwest counties and mostly in the prairie dog towns that are evaporating like crazy due to farmers and ranchers.