🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello folks.

(I asked my ISP to post this indirectly to rec.pets.herp and the ISP
approved because it contained no profanity or senseless wordings.)

Since I've been reading several books on the destruction that introduced
species can do to Australia, I have come to the conclusion that reptiles
should be sterilized before they are sold to anyone. Australia has not
got the right predators to keep exotic reptile numbers down.

But...I have a question...Would de-sexed exotic reptiles cause a serious
problem to Australia?

This is a pretty good system that I've worked out. This is my solution.

(1) Good quality healthy breeding pairs of harmless reptiles are
imported, and quarantined for a period of time until such time as they
can be properly tested and assumed virus and disease free.

(2) These animals are then sent to government approved breeding
institutions, the reptiles would be bred in such institutions under
strict guidelines. A good security system would be used to ensure that
intruders don't take the animals. Animals would be locked away in secure
housing internally with bullet-proof glass to ensure that if an intruder
should break in, the animals would be inaccessible to any such intruder.

(3) The hatchlings are checked, and hatchlings that are of the highest
quality are held back and used for breeding better bloodlines. The rest
of the hatchlings are then routinely sterilized (de-sexed) and then sold
to collectors and such for a reasonable price.

(4) The people who wish to collect such reptiles must have a permit that
is obtained by a government department. The license is just used as a
way to control the number of people obtaining the animals and would
alleviate any fears by animal welfare groups or conservationist groups,
that these animals would pose any threat at all. The cost of a license
would be a reasonable price per year.

This would be the BEST system for would-be exotic reptile collectors in
Australia.

Since most reptiles, if properly looked after, can last a very long time
(around 20 years). And since they cannot breed due to being sterilized,
they don't pose any threat as far as becoming feral is concerned.

What do you think?