i must admit i only red through the first 3 page of this thread (all the comments were the same)
im not for nor against it to be honest.
there are (imo) alot of very narrow minded comments in this thread. people think these shops are only after a quick buck, the ruth is, is that you really dont realise how most pet shops are run!
i as some will know i work casually in a pet shop on the weekends. shops that want to sell reptiles in NSW will be very carefully selected requiring staff to attend training and understand the husbandary of reps, not only that surely poeple realise that there are a large number of pet shops that have no desire to sell reptiles nor their products.
the truth is, is that animals need to be sold at about 300% of the purchase price, how can you tell me that a shop will buy a jungle for 400 and manage to even get 1000 for it? the animals that are wanted to be sold are the easy to keep and sell animals that require products (cause thats where the money is made) think about this, how much does a beardie or turtle setup cost from a pet shop? your looking at a $100 lizard and $500 in products. shops are more interested in stocking reptiles cause it will promote the sale of products that the animals needs.
as for impulse buys, if you dont have a liscence you dont get to buy the animal. if you dont have the requirements you dont get the animals. not only that, people have mentioned that sales will encourage hybrids......? hows this? its illegal to breed them and it will be most likely against the law for the shops to sell them (this is what i hear).also as for a shop selling animals that require force feeding (mentioned in a previous post) its ilegal, we cant sell birds or any other animal that cant feed on its own, if the animal goes off food it would be covered under the health garentee (as long as the buyer is responsibly and properly looking after it). these shops dont want to rip you off or feed you crap info....they want your business and for you to come back time and time agian!
of course there are shops that will be crap, they will also make no money out of it and will most likely stop stocking the animals
as i said im not for it, this post is just in responce to some comments i keep hearing on this site. yes some shops will be bad, but im sure there are several people in this thread having a slag that keep their animals in terrible conditions. it happens more often then id like to think but with shops having rules and the licence to sell reps going to cost ALOT of money, its not worth their trouble unless they are willing to invest and do it right.