unable to load local domain

For the purposes of website development, i run my own DNS server. I also have my own *.local domains defined. One of these domains points to my workstation running LAMP. I'd like firefox running on my tablet to access these websites, but firefox for android uniquely just ignores any entered local URL entered in the URL field. Not only does it ignore it, it blanks the field when you press enter. Every other browser on android and every other browser on every other machine works just fine. The problem is ONLY firefox on android and only local domains. How does this browser even *know* what a local domain is? Rex