Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey folks,

Doug Taylor here. About the only thing I keep that would be considered "Hot" is Clelia occipitolutea or mussurana. Not the most dangerous critter on the planet.

My situation is that here in my home state of Washington, there is an anti-exotic bill that goes to the state house floor tomorrow. Since the wording in the bill says "venomous", it could possibly be taken to mean animals as relatively safe as Western Hognose Snakes. It's current wording "might" make it illegal for me to even keep the Mussuranas.

I'd love to see the bill die outright, but I don't think it's going to. I'm having some success with the sponsors of the bill in getting some wording that would exclude animals that we could call "Mildly Toxic" or "Semi-toxic", not so dangerous that a herper with a few years experience should be fine with.

Off the top of my head I can think of a few snakes that are rear-fanged and not so dangerous as to be life threatening, Western Hognose, mussurana and False Water Cobra.

What would the common thoughts on Mangroves be?

Any other suggestions that I could use that would be considered only "Mildly Toxic" by a typical Herp Keeper?

Ultimately, I want the bill to be dumped. But right now, I'm trying to make it as Non-inclusive as possible. I'll be working on removing varanids next.

Give me some good examples, and common names are ok.

Doug Taylor

Try and get the wording to list, if any, only the Colubrids that have caused human fatalities.

Rhabdophis
Philodryas
Dispholidus
Thelotornis

I'ts much easier to compile that as a list then those not capable of causing lethal bites.

Good example from CA law;

The following animals are restricted.
(C) Family Elapidae-Cobras, Coral Snakes, Mambas, Kraits, etc.
All species-(D).
(D) Family Viperidae-Adders and Vipers
All species-(D).
(E) Family Crotalidae-Pit Vipers
All species (D), except Crotalus viridis (Western rattlesnake), Crotalus atrox
(Western diamondback rattlesnake), Crotalus ruber (red diamondback rattlesnake), Crotalus
scutulatus (Mojave rattlesnake), Crotalus mitchelli (Speckled rattlesnake) and Crotalus cerastes
(Sidewinder) not restricted.
(F) Family Colubridae-Colubrids
1. Dispholidus typus (Boomslang)-(D).
2. Theoltornis kitlandii (Bird or vine snake)-(D).

As you can see when it comes to the colubrids only the two species are restricted here in ca because, at the time, those were thought to be the only 2 lethal Colubrids.

I would say all boiga should be kept off the list, as they have not been(correct me if I'm wrong here) definitively proven to have killed anyone.

Why would some rattlesnakes be permitted while copperheads are not? Or am I misreading it? I don't think there has been any recorded human fatalities involving copperhead envenomations....

Lisa

Hi lisa, the only reason those Crotalids are legal is because they are native snakes.

Are there any loop holes to the law. If I can't find a way to get a venoumous permit in this state I am leaving.