No, they aren't protected. Individual states protect them as warranted based on their status in those states just as they might any other snake.

Easterns lack of popularity stems from a belief that they are much more difficult to acclimate from a husbandry/feeding perspective than westerns are. Some believe that a captive rodent-only diet leads to conditions like fatty liver disease while others believe that parasitic overloads have frequently led to captive demise. Ultimately, you have a snake that prefers toads to a higher degree than westerns, a simple fact which has made easterns less attractive from a breeder perspective.

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