Reptile & Amphibian Forums

are rear fanged snakes like vine snakes and hognosed snakes illegal in TN?ive had people tell me that they have saw hognosed snakes forsale in TN...........

Okay--here goes: As I understand it (and I may be wrong), at one point and time it was legal to keep hognose snakes. It was the species/subspecies thing; in other words, you could keep a western, mexican, malagasy, etc., so long as you could prove it was not indigenous to the state. It's the same as being able to keep a california kingsnake with the purchase paperwork, but not a speckled king because you can find them in your backyard. I purchased a mexican hoggie from a reptile shop back in either '00 or '01.

Then, at some point it became illegal to keep mangrove snakes, and the ruling was expanded to include all rear fanged snakes because they are "venomous", and it's illegal to keep venomous in TN. This, at least, is how it has been explained to me. I no longer have any hognose, and recently sent my royal diadem snake to live with a friend in Mississippi.

I may be wrong, and will gladly stand corrected should someone prove my information to be flawed.

rgds,
althea