1. Do not advertise your address. All mail should go through a Post Office
Box.
2. Rarely allow visitors. Selective tours. This is unfortunate but the way
it sometimes has to be.
3. Keep all your herps at home.
4. Most importantly, have only one neighbor within 1/4 of a mile with your
houses only 150' apart. Make sure your neighbor has the same philosophy as
you when it comes to someone intending to steal from or harm your families.
That's why they invented guns and shovels. Right!?
5. Make sure you or your neighbor are ALWAYS home.



my friend told me to post it for him since he can't access this site from work

Since I live in a tract house (the common mode of living in Southern California) I went door to door and asked all my neighbors to move. Didn't work. Now what? <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'>

Ritchie, a couple of things to add to that list.

-check the windows...a lot of windows can simply be lifted up off their tracks and removed. Install window locks that prevent this...I've found that the sliding glass door locks work well...while you're at it, make sure you have locks installed on your sliding glass doors.

- have an alarm system installed in your house...this helps lower house insurance costs and is worth the money.

- have a smoke alarm *in* the reptile room(s)...change the batteries every six months to be sure it's working (not theft related, but general good sense in protecting your investment).

- if you're in an apartment, townhouse, condo, etc (close neighbors) DO NOT inform them you have reptiles. If you have a neighbor whom you are good friends with (and they don't mind them, freak out, whatever) then there's the person who can help watch out for any theft.

One defensive measure that is often overlooked is the use of tactical shrubbery around the home front. &nbsp;Plants with thorns and attitudes to match!

We have planted some Cherokee Rose around the property and lord help anyone whom gets caught up in that stuff. &nbsp;It's kind of like a rose bush that thinks it is a vine and the thorns are like hooks. &nbsp;Plant a few of these underneath the windows that would be otherwise easy access for a crook. &nbsp;You'll probably find him still there when you get back home later that day. &nbsp;Just leave him there as a reward (compost) for the plant that caught him. &nbsp; <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>

or for someone like your visitor to munch on &nbsp;<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>