"Why do blessings always come in disguises? If I were a blessing, I'd run around naked."
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon; Spaz (aka "Monkey")
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon; Leonidas (aka "Jaba" aka "Fatty)
0.0.1 Ball Pythons; Lil' Bit
0.1.0 Argentine B/W Tegu; Bozski - *rehome*
1.0.0 Argentine A/A Tegu; Oscar - *rehome*
1.0.0 Ball Python; Moose - *rehome*
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon; Knuckles (aka "Kitteh"), RIP
0.0.1 Baby B/W Tegu; unnamed, RIP
I just went to the animal planet site and sent them a link to this thread. In case they or their sponsors wonder why their audiences are getting more trashy and less profitable, maybe they'll make the connection with their content. Is this the same channel that has the show with Sarah Palin shooting polar bears in "her" Alaska?
I decided to watch the show since I saw this discussion and it's so sad how they treat them and make them sound like Satan lizards :'(
The entire situation really upsets me... My fiance Bill and I did an educational talk at an after school program 2 weeks ago. We took about 2 dozen animals with us (including one of my Colombians - Sim, my 7 year old who is super sweet!). Anyway, I took out a large Colombian boa at the end and at least 5 or 6 of the kids started talking about how this kind of snake eats kids. I immediately realized/believed they were getting the idea from all of these t.v. shows. It is sad that kids are getting the wrong idea about herps in general - because, they are the future of the hobby.
On a similar note, the proceeds at the NRBE auction in Daytona again went to USARK this year - which, I think is great. But, it bears mention how unfortunate it is that the auction proceeds have to go toward fighting for our rights INSTEAD of saving animals like past years (i.e. rock iguanas, CR amphibians, etc). I think shows like Swamp Wars are really painting the hobby in a negative light (and tegus specifically - as I did see a clip someone posted on Facebook that showed a tegu accused of biting off part of a finger).
Laura R (FL)
1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
1.2.0 Red Tegu
1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
7 other lizards
1 little gator
3 FL box turtle
1 Sulcata tortoise
16 snakes
5 fuzzy pets
4 little frogs
a bunch of creepy bugs
and a partridge in a pear tree
Can I raise both my hands and feet?
It was so disgraceful and stupid that my boyfriend and I had to laugh.
For people who claim they know so much about their surroundings, they really know nothing.
ANY creature that is wild is dangerous. Period.
Tegus are some of the SWEETEST most loving creatures as pets.
But these people find bliss in ignorance and would rather just depict one side, general dishonestly and give Tegus a bad rep.
Don't wanna hijack this thread, but does anybody watch Swamp Brothers? They actually show herps in a positive way because it's about Glades Herp Farm.
Last edited by BoxTurtle52; 08-26-2011 at 06:42 PM.
1.0.0. English Budgie (Peanut)
1.0.0. Red-Eared Slider (Rocky)
1.0.0. Bearded Dragon (Gomek)
www.youtube.com/SnakeEyes223
Hi BoxTurtle 52...
Swamp Brothers is not doing any good things for the reptile hobby either, sadly. A lot of the breeders here in Florida are really upset/angry with these guys. The truth is, they actually setup "snake calls" for non-native snakes (using their own snakes too!) and this makes it looks like another reptile owner has been irresponsible and released a snake. I am not trying to destroy your enthusiasm, but I just want to give the information I've learned from talking to people involved with the show. In fact, they did a casting call in Florida and I was contacted because I'm the president of Suncoast Herp Society (and they wanted me to pass the information on to members). Anyway, I didn't know what it was about at first so I sent them my website and they said they'd like to use me - well, it turns out they wanted me to do something fake/staged - that's when I started to ask questions and talk to people about the show (because I have not seen a full episode).
This is an example of what the casting call was about:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?not...42247759121127
Here are some of the things people have been saying on fieldherpforum: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/...php?f=7&t=6573
The main thing that upsets me is that I think it calls attention to hobby in a negative way - meaning, we have all these rules about conditional species here in FL... and this is just more fodder for more laws (i.e. by showing that there are large boas, retics, etc out and about in beauty salons etc). Making it look like non-native snakes are crawling all over the place is only going to hurt snake owners - and eventually maybe tegu and other large lizard owners.
I'm sorry if this is bad news for you. :(
I didn't know that :-(.
I'll say it again; these TV channels have REALLY gone down since Steve passed.
1.0.0. English Budgie (Peanut)
1.0.0. Red-Eared Slider (Rocky)
1.0.0. Bearded Dragon (Gomek)
www.youtube.com/SnakeEyes223
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