Some biologists worry that if you have exposed a wild caught snake to captive snakes that you could transfer a reptile virus to the local population by re-release. Something like this has happened with desert tortoise captives. So be sure that isn't the case.



I worked with my state F&W head-starting local ratsnakes and these were re-released. The only precaution was to avoid exposure to my snake collection through a quarrantine protocol (basically maintaining sanitary procedures and separating cage location and the cleaning and food routines).



If you have not exposed the wild caught to any captive reptiles and if your state doesn't have any laws against release (I'm not sure about Texas)then it should be fine.



If your captive was from your own area, it's probably best to release it close to where you found it. That will give it the best chance of re-acclimating and thriving.



Regards

John

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