Should any types of reptiles be banned???

The Only Reptiles i have a problem with are Green iguanas,
I think they shouldn't be sold in Petshops  to Any idiot with 5 Bucks. Other than that i think people should be able to keep anything they want, as long as the Animal is being cared for correctly.
Just My 2 cents

Thanks

Green Iguanas and Wild caught Ball Pythons

2 animals that come in raggedy and sick and in large numbers.
More captivebreeding needs to take place. I dont think a ban on ownership, but perhaps proof that the baby balls and iguanas are captive bred IN CAPTIVITY.

Both are so dirt chea that they often fall into the hands of people at PETCO stores, fklea markets, swapmeets and since no money is spent really, the requirements of these reptiles isnt met(Especially the iguana) and they suffer needlessly as their owners pride themselves in the fact that they "saved money" on the setup by not buying that broad spectrum bulb that costs so much or saved money by not providing belly heat for the ball python(The house gets up to 72 in the winter...thats cold enough for the ball"


Banned , no,      
Only captive bred ones ...YES
so what if the price goes up


Fred
(Aztec Reptiles)

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Banned , no, &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Only captive bred ones ...YES
</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

Fred Sir.
On a personal side I agree with your analysis of the two species in question but from a more objective standpoint I have to ask... If you do that, where &nbsp;does it stop?

In addition to those being either Wild Caught or &quot;Farm Raised&quot; what about; Plated Lizards, many agamas, Savanah Monitors, loads of gecko species, pretty much anything that's even slightly &quot;rarer&quot; and any number of other common species... Heck, Anoles even.

It's very easy for the wording of a law to be changed to start to encompass more and more species.

And relying on only captive populations will result in signifigant problems with the captive stock after a number of successive generations with no no influx. (Not that anyone should be breeding iguanas anyway... except perhaps for food, chicken of the tree and all) Look at bearded dragons in the United States... Even &quot;German Giants&quot; are up to a foot smaller than Vitticeps loose in Australia, they are far more prone to genetic disorders, they have a weaker immune system and live about 1/3 the possible life span of those fresh from Oz. Even all those magnificent colors that don't occur over there are the result of massive inbreeding. Different species will have different reactrions at different times depending on just HOW jumbled together their genetics become... and ectotherms don't show those &quot;inbreeding signs&quot; &nbsp;as quickly as mammals or birds... But they certainly do show them.

So I completely agree that &quot;farm raised&quot; green iguanas and ball pythons in general (I don't care for the species and the morphs that have been produced just make it worse) shouldn't be in the pet trade the way they are... But regulating it may cause more problems than good.

Just one thought I might add[sarcastically]
Imagine if our wonderful ,kind,un-biased,never interfearing,and endearing humane society got ahold of this thread and tried to misconstrue all of our words
Hmmmmm

I fear any regulations would only lead to more and more and before we all know it all ours animals will be taken away. Just my thought.

OH MY! I really don't think that there is &quot;a simple&quot; answer to what your asking here at all IMO.
Whereas I do not keep hots myself [ Don't have the experience and/or know how on 'em] I do not see why a properly trained person who has the knowledge and the &quot;drive&quot; as well as capability to keep them should not be allowed to at all. Did I mention responsible yet also ? With my &quot;lack&quot; of knowledge in the area of hots I also do not think I am one to even answer whether or not they should be banned either.

Now as for the other types of reptiles that I do have knowledge and experience with...

LARGE Constrictors... Who are any of us to say that they should be banned or not ? Other than some of the people that have the most experience with them in this free world possibly. Applying any type of ban on them is going to be done by people who probably have never even been within 2' of a Large Constrictor , let alone have any fundamental knowledge of them even. We all know where that would go.. already has in some areas even of the country.
I for one do NOT want to give up any of my rights to own these lovely creatures that I do. So I of course would not support any type of ban on them.

Iguanas...UGH. LOL. Depends on what day I am asked this one even. If it is a day when I have taken in even so many as just 1 of them that some &quot;uneducated moron&quot; bought for $14 at a pet shop and can no longer take care of it at all..AND.. the poor iggy has got major malnutrtion, a tail fracture that'
s not completely broken off and has major infection going on as a result of such, and has major retained shed from lack of humidity..OH.. and let's not forget that it comes with a nice ole 20L and the poor iggy is only like 4 1/2' in length bUT has also NEVER seen the outside of the tank for like a year cuz the owner is &quot;scared/intimidated&quot; or what have you of the Iguana..etc.. etc.. then HELL YEAH!! I'd like to see a ban on them. BUT I also realize that the origin of the problem is actually the pet store that sold the cute lil iglet to a customer for $14 along with absolutely no education on the reptile nor the husbandry or what exactly is involved with keeping an IG or their potential size for that matter even.
IF I hear one more dang pet store worker tell some person looking at an IG that they don't have teeth and can be housed in a 10 gallon tank....arghhhhhh Think ya get where I am coming from on this one hehe..

Bottom line.. I do NOT believe that bans are going to be the answer really. I believe that EDUCATION is the answer that is needed here. Quite a few of you have already said this and I agree 100% with you. We as herpers need to
EDUCATE in regards to reptiles as much as we possibly can. Without EDUCATION, we're fighting a losing battle from whatever viewpoint we look at the whole situation in regards to the reptiles which we keep, or others keep.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"> from Lioness :
Again, the poll should not be which animals to ban, but which people to ban from private ownership of these types of animals</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

I agree with you to a point. BUT &quot;WHO&quot; is going to decide who are the ones to ban from keeping then? Someone who can not tell the difference between a corn snake and a copperhead?? AGAIN.. EDUCATION is the key !

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"> From ara-dee :
We just need to find a way to keep the irresposible people from wreaking havic and causing incidents that bring &quot;banning &quot; issues up. Then educate educate educate.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

Soo Where do we start then ??

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"> From NYchris :
The Only Reptiles i have a problem with are Green iguanas,
I think they shouldn't be sold in Petshops &nbsp;to Any idiot with 5 Bucks</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

There are MANY of us who do rescue with reptiles that feel the same way ! YEt again.. goes back to EDUCATION

Speaking of rescue.. BURMS and IGs are the TOP ones that we usually see coming into rescue. WHY?? 'Cause the people who buy them are NOT EDUCATED and/or knowledgable enough to know what they are getting into at all when they obtain them. By the time a rescuer gets called in to help with them they are usually really bad off, not all but most are, due to non-feeding, no-handling, improper husbandry, lack of proper care which results in health issues..and on and on... Soo How do we look to make positive changes in the world of reptiles at this point, rather than just looking to ban reptiles ?
I gotta go pick up yet another one of these HUGE Comstrictors in the a.m. that someone hadn't a clue on how to properly take care of , yet again..OR I could go on even more on this topic ...

I voted that no reptile should be banned from ownership...This is because there are already laws in place protecting people from harm. If you keep dangerous pets, venomous or capable of strangling or whatever, then it's up to you to protect yourself and your loved ones from getting harmed. Many people have gotten sued because their pet attacked somebody, though sadly it's usually the fault of a person behaving the wrong way around the animal and said pet is destroyed....sad....That's why I have signs under any of my animals that could somehow hurt anybody, &quot;Careful, he bites!!&quot;
As far as endangered species, they already have laws in place to protect them, so I don't see how a ban would change anything.
As far as the iguana/burm issue... Maybe a ban only for pet stores, not general breeders and keepers, could apply here. (Hear me out before you start writing up your comments&#33<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''> In theory, it could work. Unfortunately, in the real world things like this set precedents, and that's why some cities already have laws in place banning certain animals. (Many ban snakes over 3'. What the heck?! How in the world could a three-foot cornsnake hurt anybody??) But besides all that...the issue is that pets, to the general public, are often just fads--iguanas, ferrets, and whatever type of animal is the star in the newest movie...you get the idea. After the Bud commercials, for example, the numbers of iguanas and chameleons bought from pet stores [and surrendered to rescuers] went up enormously. People tend to buy a new pet because it's a cute, cheap baby and then get bored of it or don't actaully know how to take care of it. And though education is the key, most people don't actually listen. They think you're being too paranoid, that it's really not so hard to keep a little iguana or whatever. And even if you try to explain to these people as you're selling them the animal that he needs all of these different things, they don't listen..&quot;I don't need a $40 UV bulb, I'll just buy a regular flourescent bulb for five&quot; kind of thing.
Soooo...Perhaps banning pet stores from carrying certain animals is the answer...maybe lizards that get over 3 ft. and snakes that get over 6 feet...or something. Now I know you all are thinking, &quot;That's a horrible idea; it just opens doors for more bans and eventually all our pets will be taken away!&quot; and I think that's an issue too. That's why I said in the beginning, &quot;IN THEORY&quot;. I wish things didn't work the way they do, but if that was the case things would be done a LOT differently!! <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>
So there's no easy way...maybe just upping the price (but Petco would hate that&#33<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''> Most people that don't know a thing about reptiles don't go out and buy an $80 chameleon from the pet store because the average person has the theory: &quot;the higher the cost, the more work it takes&quot; and, conversely, &quot;the lower the cost, the easier it is&quot;. That's why &quot;any idiot with 5 bucks&quot; will buy an iguana. And worse, some people just buy a pet with the idea that they'll give it away when it gets too big. (Just look in the classifieds section of your newspaper.)
Well I don't really have much of a point, here, just that you'd think people who don't know how to care for animals wouldn't buy them, but why *does* someone get a pet and then completely neglect it? Like I knew this kid who had a pet box turtle and he kept it in a cardboard box and fed it only lettuce and only evey few days or when he remembered because he didn't like it anymore and wanted it to just die off....and yet he wouldn't give it to me.
Some people just shouldn't have pets.

That's weird that this thing puts a &nbsp;<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''> &nbsp;guy in place of an exclamation point followed by a ) ...heh heh.