Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone know what the regulations for owning venomous snakes in Arizona are? I've contacted the Game and Fish department several times, and they're confusing the hell out of me. I looked at their website, and it's even worse. They say with a hunting license you can go and catch them, but they said you can't sell them, and they won't tell me if I can just buy them from private breeders...Does anyone know anything that can make sense to me? haha.

- Ali

4 snakes are protected.. YOU CANNOT OWN THEM

that leaves 14 out of 18 specie you can own...

You are allowed to keep 4 animals of each specie NOT A SINGLE ANIMAL MORE

You may NOT PURCHASE or SELL native wild life

no NON native are allowed

You MUST purchase a hunting license to capture and keep AZ native wildlife (rattlesnake included) $15

Yeah, they can be pretty confusing, mainly due to how much they hate the fact that it is legal to collect anything at all. I've been harassed many times for LEGALLY herping(permit in hand), just taking photos.

Basically, only native venomous species are legal to keep. No rhinos, eyelash vipers, non native crotes, etc. There's also a strict limit as to how many of what native species you can have at any one time(it states the limited species limit in the link below). And yes, the sale of ANY native wildlife is strictly illegal. It can be kept, bred, and given away only.

Also, it is illegal to road herp with any light shining from the car other then the headlights, so be careful with that too. No spotlights, flashlights, etc of that nature. Only on foot.

Here are the reptile regulations for 2006/2007
http://www.azgfd.gov/pdfs/h_f/herp_regs.pdf

Whatever is on this list holds true to any captive native reptile. They're pretty anal about it too. If I remember correctly though anything NOT on this list, has an unlimited bag/captive limit.

Also, gilas, ridge nosed rattler, twin-spotted, rock and massasauga are all federally protected. No touchy no keepy.
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Brienne Earnst

DeviantArt Photo Gallery

Keeping mostly Morelia and Elaphe ssp.

You can't purchase say a WDB from Texas and legally keep in AZ.