Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone had any advice about getting a venomous snake permit. In georgia it is illegal to own any venomous snake without a permit, and I am having trouble finding information about how to obtain one. I have read that it is only zoos or institutional businesses that are allowed to have them but I was not sure.
Any info?

I don't know about Georgia specifically but in many states these permits fall under the jurisdiction of the Fish and Wildlife Department or DNR. It looks like for your state it is DNR.

If you go to the site linked below and use the "contact your conservation ranger' link on the left you should be able to get in touch with somebody who will have your answers. Specifically I would start with the nongame office. I don't think you can just download the permit online, you'll probably need to have it emailed to you. In my state there is barely any information available about this sort of thing online but by emailing or calling fish and wildlife directly I have been able to get all the information and applications I've ever needed.

Some states are very conservative with who they will issue collecting or possession permits to. Some states just want to make sure that people who cannot care for these animals safely do not get them, others have the laws set in place because they strongly believe that these animals should not be kept as pets and only issue permits to educational or research institutions and not private collectors. I don't know where Georgia stands in that spectrum.
http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us/

Thank you I called them and it turns out its just plain illegal if they are not native. I will have to stick with native venomous o wells.
But thank you again for the information it was exactly who i needed to talk to.

Conservation wise, it's interesting that they only allow native hot species. Many places allow the keeping of anything BUT native species. While I don't know if this is the reasoning or not, it does make sense from a safety standpoint. Hospitals are only going to have the anti-venoms on hand for species that people are likely to be bitten by. Zoos have to produce their own anti-venom or spend ludicrous amounts of money buying it on a regular basis.

Yeah i was confused about that also, because there is a huge list of ones you cannot keep, and it says most of the animals you find in georgia you cannot keep in georgia. such as:

Alligator
Alligator Snapping Turtle
Black Racer
Bog Turtle
Box Turtle (Eastern, Florida, Gulf Coast, Three-toed)
Brown Snake
Coachwhip
Corn Snake
Crayfish Snake (Glossy, Striped)
Crowned Snake (Southeastern, Central Florida)
Diamondback Terrapin
Earth Snake (Rough, Smooth)
Fence Lizard
Flatwoods Salamander
Florida Worm Lizard
Garter Snake
Georgia Blind Salamander
Glass Lizard (Eastern, Island, Mimic, Slender)
Gopher Tortoise
Green Anole
Green Salamander
Hellbender
Hognose Snake (Eastern, Southern)
Indigo Snake
Kingsnake (Black, Eastern, Mole, Scarlet)
Map Turtle (Alabama, Barbour's, Common)
Milksnake
Mud Snake
One-toed Amphiuma
Pigeon Mountain Salamander
Pine Snake (Florida, Northern)
Pine Woods Snake
Queen Snake
Rainbow Snake
Rat Snake (Black, Gray, Yellow)
Redbellied Snake
Ribbon Snake
Ringneck Snake
Rough Green Snake
Scarlet Snake
Sea Turtle (Green, Hawksbill, Leatherback, Loggerhead, Ridley)
Six-lined Racerunner
Skink (Broadhead, Coal, Five-lined, Southeastern Five-lined, Ground, Mole)
Spotted Turtle
Striped Newt
Water Snake (Banded, Brown, Florida Green, Northern, Redbelly)
Worm Snake

and then these non-native venomous snakes also:
Alligators and caimans; all species
Cobras, coral snakes, etc.; all species
Adders, vipers, etc.; all species
Pit vipers; all species
Venomous colubrid snakes; all species
Gila monsters and beaded lizards; all species
Giant and Marine toads

What is left in the snake world if you cannot keep what is native, and you cannot keep much that is non-native?
hmm It looks like ball pythons and boas.

>>Hospitals are only going to have the anti-venoms on hand for species that people are likely to be bitten by.

True, sort of. There are only two antivenoms required to cover all the venomous snakes of GA. However, those two cover every venomous snake in the U.S.

>>Zoos have to produce their own anti-venom or spend ludicrous amounts of money buying it on a regular basis.

Zoos certainly do not produce their own antivenom. A handful collect venom and sell it to the labs that do.

And to make things even more interesting, antivenoms for most snake not native to the U.S. Are far cheaper than the ones for native snakes (by a factor of more than 10 in some cases).

I suspect it has mostly to do with two main things:
1) As mentioned, the availability of antivenom at local hospitals.
2) Concern over introduction of non-native species into the wild (that's why many harmless species are not allowed either).
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

You got me on the thing about zoos producing their own anti-venom, I was mistaken there.

And yeah, as far as I know, there is a crotalus anti-venom that works for most of the vipers and another for coralsnakes. An import like an Adder or Mamba would be a lot more difficult to come up with an anti-venom for on short notice.