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Can I REALLY Get In Trouble For This?

kkreptiles

kkreptiles

Kitsu Kun
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So I lived up in Mojave as of yesterday, where I moved back down to OC, CA.

Anyway, long story short, i was renting a room from a lady who used to run a wolfdog rescue. Despite the fact that she never got in trouble, the neighbors always complained and called Animal Control and Sheriffs on her cause they thought "They're gonna eat me, my grandkids, and my dogs!!!"
This lady went as far as harrassing the dogs, throwing rocks at em, and shining car lights at em in our driveway just to get em to bark so she could call AC.

So I guess I moved out just in time. When I called them in Mojave to see how everything was, apparently AC had stopped by this morning cause someone complained about "30 geckos"... OH MY!!! What are 30 geckos really gonna do? Nuclear war comes... Radiates em... Turns em into weird things that wanna kill everything? Yeah ok...

Well, I left in time to make it seem like it was just a lie of retaliation on the wolfdog lady. AC was quite annoyed with all the BS they've been dealing with, with these stupid calls lately.

So my question is... Could I have gotten in trouble for anything? Do I need a breeders license or something to own crested geckos? I know people who have HUNDREDS of New Caledonian geckos and are never bothered.
Grant it, I got caught up in crap that I should've never even had to go through.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? Had I been there with my geckos still, what do you think would've happened?

I can't stop laughing at the stupidity to this especially since no one has seen my geckos up there. The wolfdog lady mentions every now and then that I breed and sell geckos to help promote selling for me, but other than that, no one went inside that house and actually SAW the geckos, so there was no room for complaint...
 
Umm, let me clarify this in case some members get confused:

This lady went as far as harrassing the dogs, throwing rocks at em, and shining car lights at em in our driveway just to get em to bark so she could call AC.
Click to expand...

By "this lady" I meant the neighbor.
 
So I am not 100% on this but my gut instinct says No, you could not get in any trouble. As long as the geckos were taken care of, fed, housed properly, ect. I do not believe you would have had anything to worry about. Though I guess it might depend on the state or city in question. Again I am not 100% sure, but for my sake I hope it is not illegal:rolleyes:
 
I've NEVER heard of crested geckos, and breeding em, being illegal anywhere. I've never heard of any complaints to the point where animal control has had to be brought in! I mean, excluding obvious cases where animals were dying or really emaciated or something. But my guys are healthy and active and eat regularly and fine.

I know it was an attempt to try to screw the wolfdog lady over (Though it would've been ME being screwed), but still... How stupid can you get??
 
Funny part is, after AC was done at her place, she said she was gonna go and put a stop to this BS calls that are going on. Last time Sheriffs were called (They got sick of the stupid pathetic complaints when there was no problem. They had come out for about 2 weeks straight, every.single.day) they told the neighbor to just call a supervisor cause those guys were tired of coming out lol.

I didn't think I could get in trouble but I was curious about it. I wonder what she would've said had I been there with them and she saw there was no problems. Probably still just be pissed for a BS call lol.
 
You'd be surprised....even if there aren't local ordinances against the specific animals, the you could potentially face a hassle about humane housing (it's been done because snakes were kept in racks) or animal hoarding. If there are regulations regarding breeding, business operations, etc that you aren't in compliance with, those would add some weight to the other things. Unfortunately, the first ones are very subjective, and an ACO that isn't reptile tolerant can give headaches once something like that is reported.
I know of one small town that basically banned reptiles as pets after a phobic ACO had to deal with a coldblooded escapee.
 
Wow that sucks!
I'm glad I got out of there just in time then, just in case she was some gecko-phobe for whatever reason :rolleyes:

I think I'm going to look up the laws up in that county for the heck of it. I never thought there were really places where reptiles were banned!
 
You might need a business license to sell, a reptile specific license to breed or a license to own a specific species, or any reptile.... depending on your location.

Many places require a license to sell any live animal of any species. You'd have to check your federal, state, county, city laws and ordinances.
 
I'll check em in OC then too as well, since I just came back down here but I know several breeders here and they've never mentioned needing licenses. I don't think ACO get called out for reptiles in this area much anyway when they've done nothing to harm anyone (Excluding cases where there are escapees)

I'll double check though and make sure everything is clear here as well :)
 
not to sure about the laws around you are but i know here its something like if you are planning to sell them then you need a license if you are selling more than twenty geckos a year or if you are selling more than $500 bucks worth a year, other wise selling a gecko here or there for 50 bucks shouldnt be a problem.
 
if you can purchase them from mom & pop shops or huge name chain corporate stores I'm sure you don't need a license.Just amke sure their conditions are correct.
 
I tried to get a business license because I have a dogsitting business in my home. I learned that in St. Louis, there's no such thing for a home-based business. But they said the only time people get shut down is when they cause too much noise, or too much traffic. The 2 really bad things they can do for a bunch of well-cared-for geckos is either enforce the 'too many pets' law, or report you to the IRS. Geez, I hope the government has better things to do than monitor the tens of dollars I'm making on geckos.

Noelle
 
Right? I'm lucky if I sold any up in the desert before I moved anyway lol. We had a population of about 7k people and I was smack dab in the middle of no where - 30 miles from the closest city!! lol Like anyone wants to drive out that far :p
Even down in the city its not like I make a killing off my babies. WOW! $25 5 times a year!!! I made a whole $125 this year!!! lol
 
But then again I can see the gov's issue with privately selling. Its money you aren't paying taxes on so OF COURSE they'll get themselves involved at some point!! They don't like you hiding "their" money ya know ;D haha
 
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