6/30/2023 0 Comments Colorado boa constrictor breedersHe now owns more than 20 boa constrictors and pythons. Two weeks later, he bought another snake. “I have a completely different thought process now.” His first snake was a ball python named Cleopatra ー before he realized she was actually a male. But when he stumbled upon Hogtown Reptile Shop in Gainesville, he developed a new appreciation for the furless friends. His perception of snakes was tainted by a traumatizing face-to-face encounter with a timber rattlesnake at 10 years old. Navy, he found socializing with others difficult. When Ty Davis, 48, returned to civilian life in 2018 after serving in the U.S. There’s never been any kind of issues,” said Chantz Chick, owner of Gator City Reptiles and Hogtown Reptile Shop in Gainesville. The industry said a blanket ban on such species isn’t fair to those who have followed the state’s rules for the past decade. Over a decade, there have been 35 documented citations for conditional species violations and 142 warnings, according to commission data. The move would eliminate listed snakes and lizards from the conditional species list, which the reptile industry said has been successful. In a report evaluating estimated costs of the rules, the agency cited the ecological impacts of iguanas, tegus and Nile monitors: disturbing nesting sites, destroying seawalls, preying on native species and consuming or disturbing gopher tortoises, a state-designated threatened species. The commission said the rules would limit the release and potential establishment of invasive reptiles. Others, like the reticulated python, haven’t established populations in Florida’s wild. Some of these are rampant in Florida – including the notorious Burmese python, a proliferating predator in Everglades National Park. They also would prohibit invasive reptiles currently listed as conditional species, from rules passed in 2008. That means no one in Florida would be allowed to own, sell or breed them except for limited licensees, such as zoos. The proposals would place on the prohibited species list all species of tegus, a type of large lizard, and green iguanas. “I’m really excited to take him home.” (Marlowe Starling/Fresh Take Florida) “My heart bleeds for him, and that’s why I’m taking him,” she said. She’s soon adopting a malnourished bearded dragon that was brought to the shop for rescue. Publix employee Launa Derickson, 28, walks to the end of the strip mall to visit Gator City Reptiles in Gainesville, Florida, every day on her lunch break. Reptile breeders, exhibitors and shop owners said the proposals threaten the nature of their business, including public education about species. Now, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is proposing tighter regulations on invasive reptiles. Like other reptile keepers in Florida, Young said educating the public about reptiles and why some people shouldn’t own them as pets is a key part of their work. The couple owns NKS Reptiles in Jacksonville, which has 28 species of reptiles and amphibians from tree frogs to tegu lizards and Burmese pythons. Catching anole lizards in her backyard – and wearing them as earrings – was a regular pastime. “Educating children is what’s going to drive the future in changing people’s perspective on reptiles.” A beast akin to a dinosaur becomes a marvel. Best of all, Young said, is when a child touches a reptile’s smooth, scaly armor for the first time. Surprise when they discover snakes aren’t slimy, like they thought. Kayla Young loves reptiles, but she might love the look they put on children’s faces even more.įirst fear, then curiosity.
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