Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

As some of you may know, I have been preparing to move to Columbus later this year and acquire either a ball python or a rainbow boa as a pet. My apartment will be located in Upper Arlington, and I recently read in their city ordinances that all constricting snakes are banned. Can anyone help me decide what action to take? Is it possible to acquire a permit or appeal to the city? I have no idea where to turn from here. Thanks for any info you may have... it is Greatly appreciated.

-Nekomi

Hi Nekomi. Good to hear from you again. I don't know the wording of the law, but if it is all-inclusive of all constrictors, the only thing you can do is try to get the ordinance changed. Dean Alessandrini with the Greater Cincinnat Herpetological Society has been working on the law angle, and may be able to help you. You can repost this on GCHS forum and contact him that way. Hope this helps you.

All the best,
Todd

Thanks a lot, I'll do that. Here's hoping! ^_^

-Nekomi

That is a good point about the wording. You can attack the ordinance by First: Pinning them down on what they define as constricting snakes by species. This will drive them up the wall because doubtless the politicians who wrote this thought only so far as BOA CONSTRICTOR and aren't familiar with anything else. Second: Get them to explain the "Dangers" neccessitating such an ordinance using very small harmless constricting species for examples (pubic forums are great when dealing with making an issue embarrasing (newspapers too). Third: attack the ordinance for being "Too Vague" and a violation of civil liberties (again emphasize the ridiculousness of an ordinance that wastes taxpayers money to protect people from harmless species... and mention the constrictors that occur locally...). Are farmers violating the law when they have a ratsnake in their barn? Make it look ridiculous.

I don't know if you can get them to completely drop the ordinance but you may be able to get the smaller constrictors off their list.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

I did look up the ordinance, and it just makes a blanket statement about constrictors, without being specific to species. As Frank pointed out, you may be able to work with the Solicitor/Manager/law committee to get the ordinance narrowed down, or repealed as too vague (I don't think this is likely). If there is a herp society in the area, it may be helpful to try to contact them and get their assistance.

Good luck Nekomi. Keep us posted on the results.

Todd

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I called the Animal Control office in UA today, and to my surprise, she was quite knowledgeable . I asked her which species the ban included, and she said all were included - so I asked her specifically if it excluded colubrids. She said yes, colubrids were excluded - "even milksnakes", in her words.

Doesn't it just figure that I'd get in touch with a competent warden. Oh well.. it may actually turn out to our advantage if she agrees that the law should be changed.

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