Izzy's World of Herps

Izzy’s World of Herps has undergone a lot of changes lately our photo gallery is starting to come together. There are now several care sheets and breeding guides will becoming soon. There is also species lists now that you can check out and I am currently working on a couple of morph guides.

USARK is launching a massive letter writing campaign. This campaign is aimed at senate bill S.373 (if you don’t know about this bill it is explained in detail on the Political News Page). USARK is calling everyone to write letters to their senators telling them to oppose this bill. USARK has set up the site Kill-S373.com. On this site the have sample letters, an instructional video, and information on what you can do to help.

The reptile industry needs your help this is a very serious threat to the industry and needs to be killed.

More complete information will be posted on the Political News Page which is now up and running.

I received this email from USARK and am passing it on to all of you as it contains some bad and scary news concerning the reptile industry, specifically owners of pythons and boas.

The Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works (EPW), Subcommittee on Water & Wildlife held a Hearing on S373 aka the Python Ban today at 2 PM. Senator Ben Cardin, Chairman, presided. Senator Bond and Senator Levine were the only presenters. Senator Bill Nelsen, the Bill sponsor, was not in attendance to present on S373. The Hearing was brief and more of a formality in order to move 9 different bills forward quickly.

Some of you that are following USARK on Twitter got the blow by blow during the hearing. Dan Ashe, Deputy Secretary of US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), testified on S373 recommending that the Bill be amended to include all 9 snakes addressed in the recent US Geologic Survey (USGS) Report on large constrictors. Chairman Cardin indicated that USFWS should approach Senator Nelson regarding amendment. Robert Bendick of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), while acknowledging problems with the science in the USGS Report, also recommended amending S373 to include the 9 snakes.

The representative of the Humane Society of the United States was seen urging USFWS to ask Senator Nelson to amend S373 to include 45 species of Boa and Python.

S373 as written would add ALL 40 species of python to the Injurious Wildlife List of the Lacey Act; the entire python genre. If amended as recommended by USFWS and TNC it would add all 4 species of anaconda and Boa Constrictor to the list. That would be 45 species in all. Although the Bill Sponsor is from Florida this is not a Florida Bill. This is federal legislation that would affect the entire country…. Including, but not limited to, Ball Pythons, Chondros, Blood Pythons, Carpet Pythons and Boa Constrictors. If passed S373 will destroy the Reptile Nation!

It is time for a gut check. Have you done everything you can to keep this nightmare scenario from happening? If you have we greatly appreciate your support!! If you have been sitting on the sidelines hoping others will take care of this for you please stand up and help now. We need members and money to fight this legislation. You can make excuses or you can take action! There is Strength in Numbers… Protect Your Rights! In the coming days USARK will ask a lot from the Reptile Nation. This is it. It is now or never. Live or die. This industry and hobby has NEVER been so close to annihilation. Please don’t go quietly into the night.

Next Thursday, December 10, 2009 S373 will go to ‘Mark Up’ before the Senate EPW Committee. This is where the Bill can be amended. USARK has submitted several amendment proposals. We have one week to have an impact! Get involved and get ready to take massive action. We have worked too hard and come too far to let it all go now! ONE WEEK!… Don’t Sit This One Out!!!

‘Get ready for a MASSIVE Grass Roots Campaign Against S373!’

Join the Reptile Nation!

P.S. I am still trying to get the page up and running I have been having some troubles getting this to work with our current web design, but I am still trying to work it out so I can keep you all better informed. I am confident that I can soon work the kinks out and keep the site the same as is.

Thanks – Izzy

Starting this October we will be featuring a product that is useful in caring for captive reptiles. You can look in the side bar to the left to find the featured product and find a link to the website where you can find more information on the product and buy it.

I have found an easy way to support the IRCF (International Reptile Conservation Foundation). All you need to do is search the internet. There is a search engine powered by Yahoo! ™ called GoodSearch that donates a penny for every search you do to the charity of your choice. If many people do this it is amazing how fast it can add up. You can also shop through GoodSearch and buy from many of your favorite online stores and a portion of your purchase will go to your charity.

For more information on what the IRCF does and how you can help visit www.ircf.org.

Due to the recent increase in political activity in the United States surrounding reptiles and the pet industry in general. I will be creating a page to help me keep you better informed on these issues. I hope to have it started soon and will try my best to keep it current and up to date. Thank you for your patience as we make this change which is hopefully for the better, and as always your feedback is welcomed.

- Izzy

Hey ball python and leopard gecko breeders. I am going to be building ball python and leopard gecko morph guides. If you have any pictures of morphs that you breed you can either send me an email with you website and give me permission to use any pictures from your website or you can send me specific pictures. If you give me permission to use photos there will be a link to your site place next to the pictures when the are put on my website and a link will also appear in the side bar on every page of my website. If you send me specific pic to use please include the name of the morph and any information you would like me to have about it.

My website is http://www.izzysworldofherps.info
Send your emails to me at worldofherpsmorphpics@gmail.com

Thanks, Izzy

While the bill passed through the full committee it has been amended. Now instead of baning the breeding and trading of all species in the Python genera it is now limited to only two species, the Burmese Python (Python molurus bivattatus) and the African Rock Python (Python sebae). If this bill were to pass as is it would ban the import, export, and interstate trading of these two species. USARK and PIJAC are going to try and work out and amendment that would only ban the importing of these species and still allow commercial trade of captive breed snakes.

USARK says this is a huge victory for the reptile community and they would like to thank everyone who help make this happen.

PIJAC though warns that this could still be trouble as it may lead to more bills similar to this one being passed.

To try and cut down on spam comments you will now need to register on the site to post a comment. So if you want to post a comment just register or log in with the box in the left sidebar.

When you register you must create a user name and give us a valid e-mail address. We will then email you a password. Use your new password to log in.  When you log in the page that appears will look very different from the regular website . . .  DON”T PANIC. Probably the only things you will be interested in are:

• Your Profile which is where you can change things such as your password and your name that appears on the site.
• And the link in the top bar on the far left that will return you to the normal site which is where you can view the site as you normally would and can comment on posts.

I hope this new addition will not cause any problems and if you don’t wish to make any comments you can still view and access all of the other pages and features of the site without registering.

That is right with nearly 50,000 letters, many more emails, and thousands of phone calls from people in the reptile community the bill has been thrown out by the subcommittee!This is Great News!! If you sent letters, emails, or called I would like to thank you on behalf of the reptile community and other pet owners. While they can still rewrite the bill if they do U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers (US ARK) and other important groups will have some say into what happens.