Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Unlawful: Emerald Tree Boa, Green Tree Python, African Rock Python, Reticulated Python, and all Anacondas; Black Rat Snake; other rare species, any other snake not specified as lawful. Possession of ALL venomous ("poisonous" snakes is prohibited.

Does this mean the Green Tree python is illegal to keep in Mass? Or does is mean I need a permit? Im not sure what unlawful means, so can someone clear this up? There is talk of my family moving there, and I live in CA right now. I have a GTP, and Im kinda worried. Whats the big f-ing deal? Its not a rare snake by any means. Its a slender python that gets no more than 5-6 feet and cant kill anyone. This goes for the Emerald tree boa as well. Anacondas and Retics are controversial due to their insane sizes, but the GTP and ETB are very small pythons. I would be irritated even if all you needed was a permit, because this seems almost biased. GTP and ETBs happen to have that parallel evelution thing, so it seems it has something to do with both of their genetic make-up(?). What the hell is it!? I would certainly call them right now if it wasnt 3:42am over there! Thanks for any response.
From,
John

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Many feel that I need to be balanced with equal time. Wrong. I AM equal time.

-Rush Limbaugh, 1992

that smiley face must be a mishap. This is supposed to be a serious question!

Owning any animal on the restricted list is "unlawful" = illegal.
To be legal, you must apply for a permit. In general, are not granted to individuals who seek to keep a single animal as a "pet".

Like many states, MA is behind the times (or oblivious) when it comes to herpetoculture. The lists were amended in 1990. Species that were restricted were made exempt, others that were legal, such as green anacondas, were made illegal. They are seriously due once again. Many of the species on the restricted list were originally placed there due to the depletion of wild populations - or a lack of captive bred specimens being available. Obviously, in the case of GTP's this seems to be of little issue.

I submitted an email inquiring if the permit forms could be mailed to me, or if I must travel to Boston to get them (I am trying to get permits for Acanthosaura Capra). Two weeks later I got a response telling me that my request had been forwarded to the person in charge. It has been an additional two weeks since that response. I'm not feeling optimistic.