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Florida tegu ban

Vestathetegu

Member
Messages
44
The tegu ban was passed in Florida (where I live) and I have been researching what I can do to keep my 3 tegus that I have. The ban will be in effect on July 1st, so I have a little bit of time, but i was reading that I can send in an application for a class lll wildlife permit, which hopefully I can legally keep my tegus. I haven’t found too much more info on the situation, so I’m interested in anyone having a clue of what’s going on. My ultimate goal is to keep my pets and make sure they are safe. Any info or advice is appreciated
 

Walter1

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The tegu ban was passed in Florida (where I live) and I have been researching what I can do to keep my 3 tegus that I have. The ban will be in effect on July 1st, so I have a little bit of time, but i was reading that I can send in an application for a class lll wildlife permit, which hopefully I can legally keep my tegus. I haven’t found too much more info on the situation, so I’m interested in anyone having a clue of what’s going on. My ultimate goal is to keep my pets and make sure they are safe. Any info or advice is appreciated
You're being resonsible. Please be persistent.
 

Vestathetegu

Member
Messages
44
How hard is it to obtain the permit?
I was reading up on it and you have to fill out paperwork for the tegus that you have and send it in. Says it could take 4-6 weeks to get approved or denied. I’m not sure if the people from the fwc come to your house and check out their enclosure. I don’t live near the problem areas, so I’m hoping it won’t be an issue. I’m sure the process would take longer because I know a lot of people who have tegus as pets and would be devastated if they had to give them up
 

AlphaAlpha

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Sorry to all you Guys on hearing the news of the ban and as responsible owners I hope everything works out.
 
Last edited:

Yvonne G

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Clovis, CA
My area of expertise is turtles and tortoises, not tegus, so take it or leave it. . . here in California the desert tortoise we had prior to the date the permit law went into effect is grandfathered in. Any tortoise we get after that date needs a permit from Calif Fish and Wildlife. No one comes to your house, you merely fill out the permit and send it in. In a few weeks you receive your approval in the mail.
 

Vestathetegu

Member
Messages
44
My area of expertise is turtles and tortoises, not tegus, so take it or leave it. . . here in California the desert tortoise we had prior to the date the permit law went into effect is grandfathered in. Any tortoise we get after that date needs a permit from Calif Fish and Wildlife. No one comes to your house, you merely fill out the permit and send it in. In a few weeks you receive your approval in the mail.
I was hoping this would be the case, because we have had a ton of costumers here buying tegus as pets through places like repticon and others. It almost seems like tegus became extremely popular within the last year in my area (in my opinion). My question would be, how would they know if you were grandfathered in or not without proof? I have printed out the class lll permit for personal use, and the questions asked on the paperwork was proof of purchase, and I have no proof of where I bought my tegus, because they were legal at the time. Every article I have read so far hasn’t mentioned what will happen to the people who already own them.
 

TripleTegus

Active Member
Messages
146
I know the case with the yellow anacondas, they just banned recently, was if you owned them already you were grandfathered in and could own the animal for its life. You just couldn't buy them after the ban. Hopefully this is the case with tegus as well. And so far from what I can tell it's just salvator merianae, so just the Argentine black and white. Just gotta keep checking on what amendments they add if they do.
 

Vestathetegu

Member
Messages
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I know the case with the yellow anacondas, they just banned recently, was if you owned them already you were grandfathered in and could own the animal for its life. You just couldn't buy them after the ban. Hopefully this is the case with tegus as well. And so far from what I can tell it's just salvator merianae, so just the Argentine black and white. Just gotta keep checking on what amendments they add if they do.
I’m just confused on how they would know when they were purchased. I have my first one (the black and white) and I bought her from a guy I met at repticon and ended up getting his business card and traveled to his house to pick her up and paid cash, I have another one that’s a red that my husband bought from a random pet store and I have my last one that I have who may or may not be a blue or titan (not sure, I just know she isn’t a b & w) was given to me because the guy had to travel to work. The only proof I have are probably photos I’ve taken, before the ban was announced
 

Lochlan

Member
Messages
53
The thing about wild tegus is that MOST not all of them came from a couple of farms that was destroyed by a hurricane and got loose and that's how they got a population going I think that maybe they should have just made a ban on breading them but anyways I hope that you can just grandfather them good luck I hope that all goes well
 

TripleTegus

Active Member
Messages
146
I’m just confused on how they would know when they were purchased. I have my first one (the black and white) and I bought her from a guy I met at repticon and ended up getting his business card and traveled to his house to pick her up and paid cash, I have another one that’s a red that my husband bought from a random pet store and I have my last one that I have who may or may not be a blue or titan (not sure, I just know she isn’t a b & w) was given to me because the guy had to travel to work. The only proof I have are probably photos I’ve taken, before the ban was announced
Unfortunately that responsibility would have been up to you at the time of purchase. Even though you paid cash from some guy you ultimately should have wrote your own bill of sale up. It sucks and I'm in the same boat as you because I also don't have proof except for pictures but should have had a bill of sale wrote up signed by both parties.
 

TripleTegus

Active Member
Messages
146
And you can't just put a ban on breeding them because most breeders here also sell them to other states online. And yes most of the invasive species that are running rampant here in Florida were let loose because of a hurricane a long time ago, we just have the right conditions for those species to thrive as well as they do with no natural predators to keep them in check
 

Lochlan

Member
Messages
53
And you can't just put a ban on breeding them because most breeders here also sell them to other states online. And yes most of the invasive species that are running rampant here in Florida were let loose because of a hurricane a long time ago, we just have the right conditions for those species to thrive as well as they do with no natural predators to keep them in check
True..... I just hope that all goes well for those in Florida, Florida is just that one state where just about everything that comes in becomes invasive like fire ants
 

TripleTegus

Active Member
Messages
146
True..... I just hope that all goes well for those in Florida, Florida is just that one state where just about everything that comes in becomes invasive like fire ants
Well most fire ants. Just like the green anoles here that you don't see that often there is a native fire ant species that was here first. Most invasive species are introduced "accidentally" either got out from somewhere or someone introduced them thinking they were more beneficial than they are, like the cane toads. Unfortunately these things are left in the hands of people that don't have a clue as to what they are talking about, and the rest of us have to sort it out later
 

Walter1

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There are also unscrupulous vendors that intentionally release them for future harvest. Also ones that dump the dead and dying outside from an import, except some rally and establish.

What agravates this is a commercial attitude that the animals we buy are just a commodity, like a shirt, with no care or sense of consequences.
 

Lochlan

Member
Messages
53
Yeah unfortunately that's the case same goes for plants like kudzu they thought that it would help with corrosion but with out something to eat it and to keep it in it's place it's taking over the south (I don't know how bad it is in Florida) but it's pretty bad in surrounding states
 

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