Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in Tennessee and was just wondering if anyone could give any info or insight into the peperwork/licenses required to legally keep and sell venomous reptiles. Any info would be appreciated.

Good luck since you live in a state where the head of the wildlife law area is a scared little chicken about snakes (fitting since his name ryhmes with chook).

Move to another state or elect legislators with enough of a clue to take the laws out of the hands of irrational people who could probably manage to kill a pet cane toad and have all the ivy in the enclosure die of neglect as well.

A nice commonsense set of laws based upon the rational system of Florida would of course be the way to go.

Cheers
BGF
Venom & Toxin Database

Ditto on what BGF said,the keeping of any herp here in TN is looked down upon by the people who regulate them(TWRA).To possess anything venomous snakes you have to have a class 1 permit.The thing is,ever since 1991 no class 1 permits are given to private citizens.If you want to open a business of breeding/selling venomous,i hope you have the money to build a zoo to house them in and stock antivenin for each species you are going to breed,because thats the only way that the "authorities"will issue you a permit.Oh yeah,one other thing-be prepared to be harrassed on a annual basis because they come around and inspect your facility.If its not up to their"standards",they will try every means possible to shut you down.Sorry to sound so discouraging,but until some legislative things are changed,anyone interested in a future of keeping herps(any herps)should move to about any other state around TN.If you desire any further info here is the person you will need to contact-

Walter cook
TWRA Region 2 Office
(Middle Tennessee)
Ellington Agricultural Center
P.O. Box 41489
Nashville, TN 37204
1-800-624-7406

Hope this answers your questions and sorry to inform you our laws suck here in TN,
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