# Are there any LEGAL requirements reguarding viv size and beardies?



## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

The reason I ask is we went to a reptile rescue place over the weekend. Our adults are all housed in 3x2x2 foot vivs. I have read in numerous places that this is a standard size. They have more ground space than they do height and have a log on which to bask on.

The gent in the shop claimed that the new LEGAL requirement for beardie vivs was 4x2x2 ft and if the RSPCA saw beardies in vivs smaller they would have them removed under cruelty laws. Now this is the first ive heard. My partner and I did weeks of research before we got our beardies and we still research to this day, and neither of us have heard of this so called 'law'. 

There were many things that he said that at the time sounded legitimate but after thinking about it sound a bit dubious. He claimed all of his vivs met legal requirements yet an adult was in a viv smaller than ours. He said that beardies do not need water to drink or bathe yet he baths them every day. 

Also the viv should be as bare as possible, they dont need things on which to climb as there wouldnt be anything in the wild, yet the photo he showed us to prove this point had trees and rocks. Our beardies love basking on their logs and rocks. We know theyre clumsy animals by nature so we would never make them too high, yet they seem to enjoy what little height they can get

Do you think he was scaring us into buying HIS products or does he have some truth in what he says?


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

As far as I'm aware there is no legal requirement for minimum viv size.

That said, I personally would say a 3' x 2' was too small for an adult beardie - a 4' x 2' would be much better for one : victory:


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## serpentsupplies (Sep 4, 2009)

no they are talking crap. probably getting you to try and buy a new bigger viv.


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## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

Thanks, ive been looking at few of the custom made vivs on here and some of them look amazing, might have a try at that.

He was also tryin to sell us these light bulbs i cant for the life of me remember what they were called but they emitted heat AND UV rays but they were about £45/50 each. He claimed that you'd only need this bulb that its rays reach approx 5ft and blah blah blah - id never heard of anything like that either. 

in my view, if this bloke is in a rescue centre i hope the animals are being rehomed to more knowledgable people than what he is, but if not i worry about what sort of life these animals are going to end up with if he's an apparant 'expert'. 

He also had a corner unit with about 20 terrapins and turtles in it which (by recommendation) should only have house one. But ive heard that a fair few of Hull's exotic shops are below the minimum for what is required


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## naja-naja (Aug 26, 2009)

Cleospudtanshi said:


> He was also tryin to sell us these light bulbs i cant for the life of me remember what they were called but they emitted heat AND UV rays but they were about £45/50 each. He claimed that you'd only need this bulb that its rays reach approx 5ft and blah blah blah - id never heard of anything like that either.


they're mvb bulbs, and need a large viv as they cant be statted.


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## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

thats it! thank you, he had them in all of his vivs, many below 2ft


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

Cleospudtanshi said:


> thats it! thank you, he had them in all of his vivs, many below 2ft


they could be low wattage...but I was under the impression you can't get ones lower then 100w.

It's more likely he has a compact UV which does produce some light, but not heat, so isn't suited for a basking spot, like these...

Triple 8 Reptiles - Exo Terra Repti Glo 2.0 Compact Lamp 13 Watt (T10)

Triple 8 Reptiles - Zoo Med Reptisun Compact UV Lamps 5.0


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## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

Possibly, although they were the size of regular 100w basking lights. I suspect that 90% of what he said is bulls*** to be honest after finding out this 'law' he was going on about was a load of codswallop. 

Its a shame as we had high hopes. The shop is very clean and well set out, but on first impressions i suppose that is what they want you to see.

They had an iguana in a 'viv'. It was about 6ft tall, 5ft long but only bout 1ft wide. I cant imagine that an adult iguana would be able to turn around in that easily. It only had one branch to lie on as well.


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## z-tek (Jan 4, 2009)

My beardie doesn't even bother with the floor, he is always on his branches.


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## blood and guts (May 30, 2007)

Wow this place sounds bad, i really hate seeing these so called rescues giving bad advice like this. 
Anychance of naming them?


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## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

I dont know the actual name of the proprietor but its Reptile Rescue, Hull Branch, based at Creep, Crawl & Slither.


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## scorp25 (May 10, 2009)

what a suprise up 2 his old tricks again usless :censor:


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## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

I'm assuming he's an expert on giving bad advice then?


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## scorp25 (May 10, 2009)

its same bloke from hull reptile rescu who was at reptile land


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## mythicdawn07 (Jun 18, 2009)

my 1 yr old beardie is in a 3x2x2 ft viv and he's fine


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## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

We're pretty new on the exotic scene but generally use Hull Pets & Gardens or the Outlet garden centre...Whats the history on this bloke then? Is Reptile Land down Anlaby Road too?


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## Nyoka (Aug 8, 2008)

Reptile Land is down Anlaby Road, but I wouldn't go in again. I have also noticed that there are a lot of people on here that explicitly state they have nothing to do with Hull reptile resue!

If you need advive Hull Pets and Gardens on Beverley road is one of the best places to go in Hull always been very helpful for me


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## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

I know I did a bit of research on here and there are a lot of people who boycott the place!

As for Hull Pets & Gardens, three of our beardies are from there, they are always helpful, espcially Becky and we go there regularly - cant fault them!


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## hullreptilelover (Mar 4, 2006)

Cleospudtanshi said:


> I know I did a bit of research on here and there are a lot of people who boycott the place!
> 
> As for Hull Pets & Gardens, three of our beardies are from there, they are always helpful, espcially Becky and we go there regularly - cant fault them!


Aw, thanks hunny...


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## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

you're welcome!


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## Darbz (Mar 22, 2009)

As far as I'm aware..there is no law stipulating minimum enclosure size for any small reptile. But, if an animal was kept in an environment that was _*significantly*_ smaller than required, it could be classed as cruelty and therefore illegal. A small variation in size isn't going to make much difference though.

So all in all I think they were talking :censor:


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## Cleospudtanshi (Aug 11, 2009)

We have three youngsters in a small viv which is getting to the point where they are lving on top of each other so we will be upgrading soon.

The others are all in 3x2x2ft and to be fair, the elder two dont move a great deal anyway (well not inside the viv). Once out and about they run around like loons looking for the escapee crickets. If we had a bigger flat (and if we could afford it) we would custom build huge vivs but at the min we just cant, its not possible. 

Its just a shame that if he is giving this advice to people he is rehoming to, what sort of life are these animals going to have? Basiclly everything we said we did was wrong. If that was the case the beardies would be ill or dead surely. The only health prob we've had is our eldest male had worms, but they can catch that from their food anyway. Idiot. I know there is a hell of a lot of contradiction in beardie care, we were confused as to whether what we were doing was right. But we've persevered and we think we do a good job with our beardies. They're happy, healthy and love attention. 

There is always something to learn about them aswell, so if something new comes up, we try it, if it isnt suitable we go back to normal and no harm done. But its a bit fishy to turn around and say that absolutely everything that we are doing is wrong. 

Money grabbing A***Hole.


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## holly and kellogs (Jun 18, 2010)

:devil:i think his names anthony grant hes an absolute joke he sold me a corn snake telling me it needed no heat feed it once a month and other crap hes absolutley useless he also sold me a tarantula and told me not to give it water and also feed that once a month i went back and told him he was an idiot basically and he pretended hed never seen me before i also baught mice of him like an idiot and paid upfront and never got them i thinks hes been shut down now well hes never open now


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