Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
As the heat goes up, the cold-blooded critters come out.
Apart from those in the wild, many reptiles will be in Amarillo this weekend for a biannual tri-state expo, and a number of them may journey to eastern New Mexico in the care of local zoo and pet store staff after it’s all said and done.
Cindy Arnold, who runs a pet store in Clovis, was already in town Friday for the expo and is expected to return with crested geckos and ball pythons. She’s attended the past 15 years or so, said her daughter Cindy McGrath, and sometimes brings back special requests from customers.
Certain reptiles can be sold in Texas but not New Mexico, for example, though transport across state lines is still permitted. That’s the case for the gold tegu, a lizard species native to Central and South America, according to another local pet shop owner.
“New Mexico’s laws are a little weird, to say the least,” said Kevin Pate, also noting recent restrictions from the state’s Departments of Game and Fish on the sale of certain breeds of corn snakes and boa constrictors, among others.
Much of those restrictions are in the interest of protecting endemic wildlife, which are threatened if careless owners loose invasive species into a new environment. That’s been the case lately with some varieties of Hognose, a type of snake with an upturned snout, Pate said.
Meanwhile, native reptiles emerging from their winter retreats face increased exposure as the summer advances. You’re not supposed to pick up “horny toads,” Pate said, but people continue to catch them, and another person tried to profit off a wild-caught native amphibian.
“Someone wanted to sell a tiger salamander they caught,” he said. “It’s wrong for you to try to make money on an animal that actually lives here.”
Pate’s advice is to let wild animals be, and to do careful research before purchasing a reptile. Don’t expect to find any komodo dragons in your local pet store, though. Leave that for the Bond movies.
— Compiled by staff writer David Grieder
