Runaway Reptiles and Pets

By Lance Winslow

Folks often love the idea of exotic pets, especially reptiles. Snakes, exotic lizards and alligators are constantly requested at pet stores.

The problem is that often when folks get tired of the up-keep of such pets they allow them to escape into the wild and they do. Once the get away, sometimes they do not come back and if you have a male and female or a pregnant reptile which gets away, you can cause some real problems for the local eco-system.

We have all heard about the escaped alligators in the underground tunnels in New York City, but that is not as big of a deal as a small group them getting away in a lake in Arizona or California. Large snakes can cause havoc locally as they eat up all the little rodents, which are part of the food chain for birds of prey. And these small rodents may also keep the insect population down too. You can see how fast things can run away and get out of control.

When you introduce a species like this into such an environment you create a terrible problem. And even if you do not release them, what if they escape? If you are going to have reptiles as pets please be responsible because your actions may change your local eco-system and cause huge problems.

I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought.

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If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington.

Article courtesy of www.ezinearticles.com.