Mystic morph ball python

Stunning little lady from T.Dot Exotics, an amazing Canadian ball python breeder

Eros the champagne yellowbelly het pied HRA

Nothing like a little Paradox to spice things up.

Hello, friends! I’m returning from my hiatus to let people know about something very important. As of today, 2/4/2022, HR 4521 along with the COMPETES Act has been passed (mostly along party lines) through the House of Representatives and is making its way to the senate.

This matters to the fish, herp, bird, and invert communities for one big reason: there’s an amendment in Division H from the Committee of Natural Resources that modifies the Lacey Act. According to this amendment, all non-native species would be classified as injurious by default until later review. There would be an import ban on non-native fish, reptiles, amphibians, and the like unless they are reviewed by the Secretary of the Interior and found to not be an “imminent threat to human beings, to the interests of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, or to wildlife or the wildlife resources of the United States.” They must also be verifiably imported or transported between state lines in “more than minimal quantities” in a 1-year period before the COMPETES Act is passed. Those quantities have not been decided yet.

We’re talking a devastating blanket ban on any species that isn’t well-known and studied enough to be proven non-threatening.

Let’s take Parasphromenus, for instance! The licorice gourami. This is a genus of fish from the peat bogs of Indonesia and Malaysia. They will likely be extinct in the wild within our lifetime, because their habitats are being rapidly deforested and converted into palm oil plantations. The key to the licorice gourami’s survival is captive breeding by dedicated aquarists. (Learn more about the Parasphromenus Project here.) Because there are very few of them left in the wild, a very tiny amount of them are being imported or distributed within the US, and you might only see 1 or 2 of a given species being moved around. These would not meet minimal quantities and would be banned. Goodbye, licorice gouramis.

And here we have spiny eels, what got me into fishkeeping. These two, Charlie and Dennis Reyneelds, are my Macrognathus aral, or the striped peacock eel. There are a good 13 different eels classified as peacock eels, and they all get lumped into 4 (usually incorrect) species in the US pet trade. Even with those inflated numbers, not many are being brought into the USA. If you’re extremely lucky, you might find a couple skinny ones hiding in the gravel at Petsmart. Say goodbye to any spiny eel that isn’t the well-known fire eel. (Fire eels do terribly in captivity and need about a 1500+ gallon tank as fully grown adults, but anyways.)

This will affect many, many species that are infrequently imported. At best, they’ll just become in the USA and continuing to sustain populations in the wild. At worst, they will be driven to extinction in the wild and lose their base of conservationists within the USA. Not only is this a hideous overstep of the Lacey Act–we should not have a “whitelist” of non-native organisms that can legally exist in the USA–but it is absolutely disastrous to threatened species being held afloat by passionate individuals. Unless you want the only fish available to be what you could find in an old Walmart fish section, please reach out to your senators. This bill has already passed the House and is moving to a vote in the Senate.

Find out who your senator is (a quick google will do this), go to their Contact page, and send them an email, a message, dial their phone, send them a fax. Whatever you do, get into contact and ask them to please oppose HR 4521′s Presumptive Prohibition on Importation amendment to the Lacey Act. If you want to write a long plea on how it will affect conservation efforts, go for it! But if you aren’t sure what to write, here’s what I sent to mine:

Dear Senator _______,

In regards to the America COMPETES Act, HR 4521, Section 71102 (d): I’m a fishkeeping hobbyist dedicated to preserving species threatened by habitat loss. To do this, I rely on imported specimens of rare endangered fish to create stable populations within captivity. Because these fish have dwindling ranges in the wild, they are sparsely imported, and already near-impossible to find.

According to the amendments proposed to the Lacey Act by the Committee on Natural Resources, these species would be classified by default as injurious and illegal to import or transport across state lines. The exception would be those imported in a to-be-announced “minimum quantity” within 1-year before the passing of the bill. Covid-borne logistics slowdowns meant that importations of fish from 2020 onward have been at an all-time low, as you cannot risk livestock getting stuck in transport and dying. Especially with endangered fish, it defeats the purpose of importation with the intent of preservation.

A “whitelist” is dangerous lip service meant to soothe those worried about invasive species, at the cost of species extinction and ruined conservation efforts. One single entity should not be able to completely prohibit harmless species unless they are known to be a hazard to the US. There are thousands of fish species with no chance of survival outside of aquaria once their wild populations are wiped out by spreading agricultural and development threats. Please, for the sake of wildlife diversity and those of us who strive to preserve it, eliminate the Section 71102 (d) amendment on Presumptive Prohibition to the Lacey Act in HR 4521. The fate of thousands of threatened species depend on it.

If you were waiting for these, my LE white-lipped python stickers are available now! ♡

starrypaige.com

Saturday, May 28th at 12PM PST ☆

Estela mug + sticker, and Patreon sticker + print leftovers!

STARRYPAIGE.COM

✨️choose your fighter✨️

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Tala the uromastyx with hibiscus and succulents For Raven.

starrypaige.carrd.co

✿ TOMORROW ✿

20mm washi tape with holographic foil stars featuring snakes found throughout the Philippines ♡ My very first washi tape!!

Only at The Washi Station!

Paradise flying snake [ Chrysopelea paradisi ] with Sampaguita and male Danaid eggflies ✿

May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month ♡ I want to take this month to celebrate my Filipino heritage, as well as share some of the beautiful snakes and flowers found in the Philippines.

Paradise flying snakes can be found throughout Southeast Asia, from Bangladesh all the way to the islands of the Philippines. They are able to use their ribs to flatten their bodies a surprising amount, to then glide from tree to tree in the moist forests they call home. These snakes are mildly venomous, and feed on lizards and bats in the wild.

Sampaguita (Arabian Jasmine) is the national flower of the Philippines; it is beloved for its scent, and symbolizes purity, fidelity, and hope.

I’m looking forward to sharing with all of you more of the amazing snakes that call the Philippines home ♡ Keep your eyes peeled for the release of something special from @thewashistation and several AAPI artists, including myself ~ ❤️‍

Meet Estela! ✨️

She is a cave-dwelling rat snake whose job it is to gather & repair all of the burned-out stars in the night sky~☆ She’s shy and easily startled, but takes her job very seriously! Estela emerges at sunset, when the sky is full of oranges and pinks so that she can blend in while she gathers all of the stars that need repairs. She returns them to the sky all shiny & new at sunrise~

I’d wanted to make a lil mascot for my shop & art accounts for SO long, and I could not be happier with this little friend that I’ve created~!! I’m super eager to make more artwork of her, as well as some cute comic strips and hopefully merch as well I hope you all love her as much as I do!! ♡♡♡

Last call to get May’s rewards in your mailbox next month!~ ♡ Join my sticker & print club BEFORE Sunday! ✨️

Patreon.com/starrypaige

New business cards arrived this week ✨️

Pre-orders for FOOD? leo and crestie stickers are up in my shop! The crestie’s colors will be changed slightly before print (going for Super Dal), but they will be the same high-quality vinyl with sparkly holo goodness as the FOOD? ball python stickers!

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Half of the noodle bebs Fern, Ginkgo, Maple.

Happy earth day ✨️

May’s Patreon-exclusive sticker & print design ☻️ Lavender conda hognose with lily of the valley~

Joinbefore May 1st to receive this cutie in your mailbox!! ✨️ Open internationally ✨️

Patreon.com/starrypaige

Three-year crested gecko improvement ✨️ I don’t get to draw them very often, but I always love when I do! The tootsies

starrypaige.carrd.co

Enter on IG!! My fav silversmith teamed up with me to hold this rad giftaway I love her work so much and I know y'all will too!!

Instagram.com/starrypaigeart

Southern alligator lizard with blooming Echinopsis candicans and bumblebees

A commission for Emily.

starrypaige.carrd.co

April’s patreon-exclusive sticker went out already, but leftovers will be in my shop this summer

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Help I can’t stop making shiny stickers fjdbfbjdjs

starrypaige.com

Commission for Rebecca of Leopard Gecko Talk for her new merch