Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just contacted my local DNR officer. You can have ceratin subspecies of snakes like for example I would like to have a miami corn snake. Just found out I could have them cuz that strain of corn is not native to Ga. Also means brooksi and florida kings will be allowed too. lol and all this time i thought it could not have any kind of corns or brooksis.

john

different county. Seems like most of the wildlife officers are NOT as educated about reptiles as your local one, based from personal experience (read my post from 19 Sep). Most of them can't tell the difference between a black racer and a cottonmouth because they're main concern are big game ie. bears, deer, turkey, ducks, gators, etc. They usually don't mess with small reptiles like corns and kings and such.
AND YES South GA. KINGS ARE MY FAVORITES. I HAVE SOME, DID YOU HEAR ME GEORGIA!!! BUT I'm so legal it stinks! First, I live in NC. (i even have an INDIGO). Second I have all receipts from my animals they're all captive born except a couple of NC getula!
GOOD LUCK though! Kingsnakes rule!

Zee

Where are you from? i know for the indigos you have to have 25 dollar permit and it must be renewed each year. I would like to see the law changed some more where I could have eastern kings here. But you can have them if you have proof you are using them for educational pursposes.

I'm from North Carolina, where you can even breed Indigos! Thank god! No pines or OBKs though!
ZEE

Tahts cool. Do the indigos make good pets? I talked to a lady that had a south american one that rubbed itself all the time and made a sore on its nose from doing that all the time. Do you have to have a permit for them in NC. I plan on trying to find out what needs to be done to get some of the laws changed here in GA. The officer I talked to could be wrong. I think that if GA did like other states do with a license you have to buy like a snake license that allows you to collect them and regulate it on how many snakes you can take a day then it would be better. California does that.

john

GA does have a permit system that allows the keeping of Corn Snakes and Eastern King Snakes in Georgia.
You have to document and actually prove a certain amount of classroom hours, educating the public about snakes, each year that you have the permit. Relatively simple, actually, if you are already involved in the local public school systems as an education facilitator.
For non-indigenous venomous there is also a Georgia permit system. The permit, itself, is about $258 per year. The killer is that you have to have proof of $40,000 liability insurance PER ANIMAL up to a maximum of $500,000 coverage.
I do not have either permit, nor either kind of snake (indigenous nonvenomous or nonindigenous venomous), because my current occupation prevents me from routinely being able to provide education opportunities in Georgia for the near future. My time is coming.
Karl H. Betz

Karl is right. There is also a (seldom issued) permit for Eastern Indigos. As with the Corns and Kings, they have to be used a certain amount of time every year for educational purposes. With Eastern Indigos, the permit will allow you to keep 2 of the same sex, but getting the permit isn't easy. You do not need a permit for the other subspecies of Drymarchon corais. I live in Georgia and I keep and breed (or have current breeding projects in progress) D.c.corais, D.c. erebennus, D.c.rubidus, D.c.melanurus and D.c.unicolor.

There is also a captive propagation permit that is required if you are breeding animals for sale. It is $50.00 per year and your facilities have to be inpected and approved.

I dont keep venomous snakes or snakes native too Ga. All I have is california kingsnakes and western hognoses. Guess I have to move to Florida so I can have corn snakes. Florida has much better laws than Georgia does. I have always wanted to live there. Want be long when I am done with college and heading south to the sunshine state.

john

Even Florida isn't the end-all, be-all although I hear New Mexico is pretty good.
I wonder how many venomous keepers started thinking about other states to move to when Florida's venomous permit went from $5 a year to $100 a year this summer.
Each state has some law or other that someone finds to overbearing. Having to give a few hours a year of classroom presentation really isn't THAT bad.
Karl

I would never really want to keep any venomous snakes of any kind. I know of few teachers that could arrange for me to come to their schools and educate people about snakes. But my main concern would be if the kids asked to hold the snakes and most of mine are gentle but if the cali kings are having a bad day or a corn is haviing a bad day they could bite the kids. also worry about the kids hands not being clean and full of germs.
could wreak havoc on my snakes heatlh.

Indigos. This is my first Eastern Indigo, but I have kept and bred Texas Indigos (very similar species)once in the past. I kept one of the babies and it grew to 5 foot in just 18 months. After that i had to dissolve my collection because of a lenghty (2 year)overseas assignment. But Indigos do make excellent pets and they are not as hard to take care of (main requirement-large cage)as you might think, especially Texans, not sure about easterns as this is my first one and only had him a few weeks! But I was informed same care, maybe slightly more humidity.
Sorry I'm almost talking out of forums, but KINGSNAKES still RULE, especially Easterns! Check out my pics in the gallery, I have some beautiful Kings!
TAKE CARE

ZEE

Must be nice. Wish ga was the same about corns and eastern kings.

The law specifically states that Corn Snakes are not allowed REGARDLESS of origin. It is very clear and very specific...look it up on the website. They have a list of reptiles that are specifically prohibited without permits.

Also, Florida Kingsnakes (L.g.floridana or goini)ARE found in parts of extreme southern Georgia right on the Florida border (I have found them myself as well as obvious intergrades with Easterns) and are specifically listed as prohibited.

I wouldn't just take this officer's word for it...call the HQ in Atlanta and be sure. Maybe they are changing their stance...but I wouldn't bank on it.

If the oficer won't put it in writing on official letterhead, don't believe it...or trust it!
KJ

Yeah your right. I am working on finding how to go about getting the laws changed in Georgia. So maybe someday the ga people can have easterns and corns too.

john