croc_hunter_penny
Well-Known Member
I think maybe whatever association is that is responsible for giving out licences should run a class for reptile husbandry, once a week or fortnight (depending on numbers) that is mandatory to attend before obtaining your recreational licence. Even if it is run through a TAFE or similar institution. It should cover all basic husbandry from setting up and maintaining a reptile enclosure, to feeding and handling all types of reptiles (because you don't want to redo the course every time you buy a new reptile) The course could be a minimal extra fee and go for a couple of hours, say a 3-4 hour course on a Thursday evening or Saturday afternoon.
Consider this: I paid around $50 give-or-take for my licence, sent my forms in to the EPA and in a week I had my licence mailed out to me. I am glad that I had previously researched a lot about owning reptiles, and continue to do research, but there are so many other people out there that don't bother. There are also several people I know who own a fairly large quantity of reptiles, and when I ask for advice sometimes I get rediculous answers. What if there are people like this giving bad advice to people who don't know better? It would be a lot easier for everyone if there was a standard that was taught, even just the basics so that everyone would be starting on the same level.
Sure, this scheme may make some private companies or institutions lose a bit of money because they were teaching this course already.. But honestly what is more important: a couple of blokes making some extra cash or every reptile owner having a good start? A lot of new reptile owners won't go searching for information from any sources, whether it be in books or the internet, let alone trying to find out if there are courses available. I didn't even know there were courses available until I started looking for advanced ones, so how are they supposed to know?
Also considering reptiles cost so much to buy, I don't think it would be a problem charging $150 for a licence, log book AND course (that isn't optional) instead of just $50 that any old joe can fork out, which can and often does result in poorly looked-after animals.
I am really interested in your opinions.
-penny
(this stemmed from the "Movement of our herps... opinions please" thread)
Consider this: I paid around $50 give-or-take for my licence, sent my forms in to the EPA and in a week I had my licence mailed out to me. I am glad that I had previously researched a lot about owning reptiles, and continue to do research, but there are so many other people out there that don't bother. There are also several people I know who own a fairly large quantity of reptiles, and when I ask for advice sometimes I get rediculous answers. What if there are people like this giving bad advice to people who don't know better? It would be a lot easier for everyone if there was a standard that was taught, even just the basics so that everyone would be starting on the same level.
Sure, this scheme may make some private companies or institutions lose a bit of money because they were teaching this course already.. But honestly what is more important: a couple of blokes making some extra cash or every reptile owner having a good start? A lot of new reptile owners won't go searching for information from any sources, whether it be in books or the internet, let alone trying to find out if there are courses available. I didn't even know there were courses available until I started looking for advanced ones, so how are they supposed to know?
Also considering reptiles cost so much to buy, I don't think it would be a problem charging $150 for a licence, log book AND course (that isn't optional) instead of just $50 that any old joe can fork out, which can and often does result in poorly looked-after animals.
I am really interested in your opinions.
-penny
(this stemmed from the "Movement of our herps... opinions please" thread)