Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had Rescued 3 eastern Garter snakes from REALLY bad situations. All turned out to be females (Found that out after they started having babies.....)Someone Told me that if the government found Out I had Wild Caught Eastern Garters, I could get a Fine of 250k and 6 months in jail..... Just like that. SO I let all of the babies and two of the females go (Last one has a hernia that we're watching) in fear of this story. Is it true or false????? Like I said I still have the one but will release it if this is true.... By the way, I'm In New York..... HELP!
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2.0 Iguanas, 2.1 Beardies, 0.2 Saharan/Nigerian Uromastyx, 0.0.1 Leo, 0.0.1 African Fat Tail, 1.0 Columbian Rainbow Boa, 0.0.1 Fla Garter Snake, 0.3 eastern garters (plus 24 babies!!!!), 0.0.1 Banded California King Snake (M.I.A.), 0.0.1 Corn Snake, 0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads, 1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle, 0.0.1 African Sideneck, 2 Horses, 4 cats, 1 dog, and I'm still not done.....

It sounds like you released a bunch of legal to keep garters. There was nothing saying that garters were endangered, threatened, or not legal to keep in New York. You may also find some info about this on a search engine.

It is legal to own as many garters as you want. It is illegal to collect from the wild without a permit.

a ten gallon tank you just happened to have outside in your yard. Did you collect it or did it want to be collected?

I guess that would count as the snake exploring it's habatat in some peoples minds. However I think DEC would think otherwise.

With so many laws on the books how can one help but violate one out of ignorance. Who after all would think that helping some poor injured animal would be against the law.

ignore the law, tell them you owned them from a previous owner, whatever, ... there are not going to bother you unless you try to sell them to someone in the state.