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You are distorting what I said. I never made any sort of claim that I force my reptile into people's everyday lives and try to coerce them into liking them. I never approach someone, tegu in hand and insist they touch it or listen to a diatribe about reptiles. When I speak of education I speak of people who approach me, and ask me a question. To answer that question is to educate, to see a reptile that defies their perception (vicious, slimy, scary, what-have-you) with a docile curious animal also does go some distance in changing the viewpoint of some.

Ignorance is defined as being unaware, lacking knowledge, or willfully avoiding knowledge. That is what I speak of, to lump every reptile into a neat little "menace" pile based on the misguided ideal that ALL exotic animals are a potential keystone species in the making IS ignorance. It is true, some people have phobias, but those cases are few and far between, and as I said I *never* force my animals on *anyone*. We're also not discussing me having some false sense of entitlement to haul a reptile wherever I want and not expect any fallout, which is why, as I said before it's normally restricted to trips to the local herp supply store.

I do fully understand the ramifications of exotic populations in the wild. I do live in Florida afterall, a place where pretty much ANY reptile can thrive. Fears over people releasing pets into the wild and destroying natural habitats is for the most part well-founded, but the assumption can't be made that every pet owner is going to carelessly release a large carnivorous lizard in their back yard. The problem is, these valid rational arguments are drowned out by the "ignorant" who think anything with scales is "icky".

But... we're derailing the point of this thread, I don't think we really need to argue, I do agree with you on a lot of points, and nothing you've said is wrong beyond semantics. I think we're all passionate about this subject, and I didn't mean for my anecdote to spiral this thread into a battleground over reptile ownership rights.

Now- on with the pictures and cute tegu stories!

<blockquote data-quote="Zilch" data-source="post: 54170" data-attributes="member: 491">You are distorting what I said.&nbsp; I never made any sort of claim that I force my reptile into people's everyday lives and try to coerce them into liking them.&nbsp; I never approach someone, tegu in hand and insist they touch it or listen to a diatribe about reptiles.&nbsp; When I speak of education I speak of people who approach me, and ask me a question.&nbsp; To answer that question is to educate, to see a reptile that defies their perception (vicious, slimy, scary, what-have-you) with a docile curious animal also does go some distance in changing the viewpoint of some.Ignorance is defined as being unaware, lacking knowledge, or willfully avoiding knowledge.&nbsp; That is what I speak of, to lump every reptile into a neat little &quot;menace&quot; pile based on the misguided ideal that ALL exotic animals are a potential keystone species in the making IS ignorance.&nbsp; It is true, some people have phobias, but those cases are few and far between, and as I said I *never* force my animals on *anyone*.&nbsp; We're also not discussing me having some false sense of entitlement to haul a reptile wherever I want and not expect any fallout, which is why, as I said before it's normally restricted to trips to the local herp supply store. I do fully understand the ramifications of exotic populations in the wild.&nbsp; I do live in Florida afterall, a place where pretty much ANY reptile can thrive.&nbsp; Fears over people releasing pets into the wild and destroying natural habitats is for the most part well-founded, but the assumption can't be made that every pet owner is going to carelessly release a large carnivorous lizard in their back yard.&nbsp; The problem is, these valid rational arguments are drowned out by the &quot;ignorant&quot; who think anything with scales is &quot;icky&quot;.But... we're derailing the point of this thread, I don't think we really need to argue, I do agree with you on a lot of points, and nothing you've said is wrong beyond semantics.&nbsp; I think we're all passionate about this subject, and I didn't mean for my anecdote to spiral this thread into a battleground over reptile ownership rights.Now- on with the pictures and cute tegu stories!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Zilch, post: 54170, member: 491"] You are distorting what I said. I never made any sort of claim that I force my reptile into people's everyday lives and try to coerce them into liking them. I never approach someone, tegu in hand and insist they touch it or listen to a diatribe about reptiles. When I speak of education I speak of people who approach me, and ask me a question. To answer that question is to educate, to see a reptile that defies their perception (vicious, slimy, scary, what-have-you) with a docile curious animal also does go some distance in changing the viewpoint of some. Ignorance is defined as being unaware, lacking knowledge, or willfully avoiding knowledge. That is what I speak of, to lump every reptile into a neat little "menace" pile based on the misguided ideal that ALL exotic animals are a potential keystone species in the making IS ignorance. It is true, some people have phobias, but those cases are few and far between, and as I said I *never* force my animals on *anyone*. We're also not discussing me having some false sense of entitlement to haul a reptile wherever I want and not expect any fallout, which is why, as I said before it's normally restricted to trips to the local herp supply store. I do fully understand the ramifications of exotic populations in the wild. I do live in Florida afterall, a place where pretty much ANY reptile can thrive. Fears over people releasing pets into the wild and destroying natural habitats is for the most part well-founded, but the assumption can't be made that every pet owner is going to carelessly release a large carnivorous lizard in their back yard. The problem is, these valid rational arguments are drowned out by the "ignorant" who think anything with scales is "icky". But... we're derailing the point of this thread, I don't think we really need to argue, I do agree with you on a lot of points, and nothing you've said is wrong beyond semantics. I think we're all passionate about this subject, and I didn't mean for my anecdote to spiral this thread into a battleground over reptile ownership rights. Now- on with the pictures and cute tegu stories! [/QUOTE]

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