By now everyone will have heard the ‘good’ news that a very small number of reptiles will soon be allowed to be sold in pet shops in NSW. Well…..
What you may all not know is that we are all going to pay a very high price for that ‘privilege’
That high price comes in the form of minimum cage sizes being introduced and I believe this could destroy our hobby.
As you may have already read on the other thread, Minimum cage sizes are now in force and all NSW keepers have until the end of 2013 to comply. The announcement of reptiles in petshops was skilfully made at the same time to act as a smokescreen and keep our reaction to a minimum.
What does it mean ?
Well, it means that most reptiles keepers in NSW (yes, that means you ! ) will be law breakers by the end of the year unless they throw away their old cages and buy or make new ones to the ridiculously large dimensions required by the new code. Your average 12 year old kid with a beardie will be turned into a law breaker.
Now supposing you can afford to buy all new cages and throw your old ones out (because nobody will want to buy the old non-compliant ones) can you also:
I doubt most of us can. So it will mean that we will have to get rid of some - or all - of our reptiles or we will be breaking the law.
The justification for these dramatic increases in cage sizes makes no sense to me and I doubt the people who dreamed up these laws have any practical experience at captive reptile husbandry. It’s a ‘feel good’ political decision and I don’t think we should stand for it.
I think we should start an online petition.
What you may all not know is that we are all going to pay a very high price for that ‘privilege’
That high price comes in the form of minimum cage sizes being introduced and I believe this could destroy our hobby.
As you may have already read on the other thread, Minimum cage sizes are now in force and all NSW keepers have until the end of 2013 to comply. The announcement of reptiles in petshops was skilfully made at the same time to act as a smokescreen and keep our reaction to a minimum.
What does it mean ?
Well, it means that most reptiles keepers in NSW (yes, that means you ! ) will be law breakers by the end of the year unless they throw away their old cages and buy or make new ones to the ridiculously large dimensions required by the new code. Your average 12 year old kid with a beardie will be turned into a law breaker.
Now supposing you can afford to buy all new cages and throw your old ones out (because nobody will want to buy the old non-compliant ones) can you also:
- Find lots of extra space in your house to put the new outsized enclosures ?
- Afford double or triple the power bills to heat the oversized enclosures ?
- Afford extra vet bills when your reptiles get respiratory infections from being too cold.
I doubt most of us can. So it will mean that we will have to get rid of some - or all - of our reptiles or we will be breaking the law.
The justification for these dramatic increases in cage sizes makes no sense to me and I doubt the people who dreamed up these laws have any practical experience at captive reptile husbandry. It’s a ‘feel good’ political decision and I don’t think we should stand for it.
I think we should start an online petition.
