Common reptiles that Australians might have spotted in their gardens are being sold for thousands of dollars overseas. But before you start dreaming of getting rich quick by selling a few to our American cousins, there’s a reason you can’t.

The export of Australian wildlife for commercial purposes has been banned for more than three decades, although exceptions are usually made only for zoos. This has made the country’s native animals highly desirable in the exotic trade, which is now a multibillion-dollar industry.

While a significant portion of the trade is in animals taken abroad before the ban was introduced, criminals regularly risk prison sentences trying to smuggle them across our borders.

Huge price difference when selling wild animals from Australia to overseas

At a popular US market, a legally bred water dragon costs US$600 (A$888), a gecko US$1,800 (A$2,700) and a shingleback US$7,850 (A$11,600).

Chris Williams, president of the Australian Herpetological Society — a group that promotes reptile research and breeding — said the species could be retailed in Australia for a fraction of those prices.

“It’s a supply and demand issue. And the demand is in the U.S., Europe and Asia,” he told Yahoo News.

“A water dragon costs less than $100 here, and a button-tailed gecko costs several hundred dollars—we’re drowning in them. And there would be hundreds of shinglebacks, which are killed on the roads all the time, not thousands.”

Related: “Horrifying” Statistics for Iconic Rail Lizards

How to solve the problem of illegal smuggling of wild animals?

Australia’s 1982 wildlife export ban was intended to stop poaching and the sale of native animals to wealthy collectors and overseas markets.

In September, research by the University of Adelaide found that 163 species of Australian reptiles (16%) and seven species of frog (3%) had recently been sold as pets overseas. While many of these are legally bred, records of seizures examined showed that a small number were bred illegally.

The report’s authors call on the federal government to implement more sophisticated online surveillance and legislation to better protect native reptiles. But Williams believes that overhauling the laws to allow licensed collectors to trade would also help curb poaching.

“Illegal poaching is feasible because there is no legal export. The animals I propose sending abroad are animals bred in captivity for many generations,” he said.

“A wild animal will never do as well in captivity as a captive-bred animal. Even in Australia, the market for wild animals is so close to zero that it’s not funny, because we have captive-bred animals that don’t get as stressed and are more resilient—they’re bulletproof.

“Captive blue-tongued pythons, carpet pythons, and baby pythons are more like pets.”

How does Australia treat wild animals on its territory?

When Australian native animals are filmed in captivity abroad, there is often outrage in the country about their mistreatment. Recent examples include the sale of kookaburras in a pet shop and the shooting of kangaroos as trophies on a Texas ranch. But before casting the first stone, he believes Australians need to reflect on how we treat our wildlife.

“Shinglebacks are incredibly common, and many are killed on the roads every year,” he said. But there’s an even bigger wildlife problem in the country that he believes needs to be addressed — the number of animals killed under permits often issued by state governments.

Related: Shooters brag about killing rare Australian kangaroos

Figures show the NSW government has issued licences to kill 1.9 million kangaroos in the five years to 2023, a figure that does not include species shot by the commercial slaughter industry that supplies cheap meat to major pet food suppliers.

The NSW government also approved the killing of 200,000 other iconic native animals. This included 25,378 yellow-crested cockatoos – a species that mates for life and can live to be a century old – 64,940 yellow-crested cockatoos, 2,238 lories and 2,083 wombats.

“That’s where I see the hypocrisy really kicking in. They hate the thought of illegal trade, but they won’t allow legal exports and they’ll allow industrial-scale culling,” he said.

“To me, it’s such a strange disconnect. It’s like they’re saying we have to protect our precious wildlife from going abroad, but here we can film it.”

Love Australia’s weird and wonderful environment? Download our new newsletter showcasing the best stories of the week.