Constricting the pet supply

Snake-owners may soon find their pets regulated by the government



BOA CONSTRICTORS, pythons and corn snakes decorated sellers’ tables at the Reptile Show in White Plains, New York, last month. Awestricken visitors peered at them with delight. Experts examined them under the light and scrutinised their colouration. The breeding of snakes is serious business in America. Revenue from the sale of boas and pythons amounts to around $1.6 billion-1.8 billion each year.



Americans own more than 2.5m snakes, according to the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, a trade association. The snake industry has grown dramatically over the past decade because of frenzied competition to create new “morphs”, the industry term for new colours of snakes. Rare morphs can fetch astonishingly high prices, sometimes more than $20,000.



The recession, however, has hurt what used to be a lucrative hobby. Fewer people want to splurge on snakes that cost thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars. According to Brian Barczyk, a snake-breeder, demand for “pet-grade” snakes, which cost under $50, has sunk even more than demand for “investment-grade” ones, because the average person is hesitant to buy a new pet.



The snake industry’s most dangerous predator, however, is not the economy but the government. Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, wants to add nine types of large constrictor, including the Burmese python (pictured), to a list of “injurious” species regulated by the federal government. This would make it illegal to import or transport these types of snakes across state lines. Congress may also consider a bill that would do the same.



The spread of Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades is responsible for sparking this wave of herpetophobia. Burmese pythons are thought to have found their way into the wild because pet-owners released them, and now thousands are slithering around there. They are eating some endangered species, like the Key Largo woodrat.



Breeders are up in arms at the prospect of the ban. Some opponents speculate that if snake-owners are unable to transport or sell some of their snakes beyond state lines, they may just release them into the wild. The federal government may have to consider offering “amnesty days”, as Florida does, when snake owners can turn in their foreign pets. Florida has also started giving people permits to kill Burmese pythons. Some may say this is cruel. But that depends on whether you side with the pythons or the woodrats.

www.economist.com/world/united-states/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15498320

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