Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I read something on the internet that suggested that it was legal for a breeder, with a permit, to sell captive bread rosy boas that are less than 14" long, but NOT legal to sell larger ones.

What's the current and correct California law governing the sale, by breeders with permits, of rosy boas?

I'm sure you breeders out there know the rules. Thanks for filling me in.

Ive never heard of the 14" thing myself. I know you need a propagation permit to sell them in Cali, and it runs 30 or 40 dollars. You also need a fishing license to keep them. I have the propagation permit laws and regulations sheet in my hands right now and it says nothing about size of rosies for sale. This was sent to me by fish and game last year, but I dont see a date on it. You could always write to them with your question, I have another question for which I am awaiting an answer (they take several days to provide you with an answer).

When the permit was first established there was a size limit. The size limits were later dropped from the regs. You can sell adult rosies in Calif but they must be captive bred with verifiable paperwork (you bred them or another permit holder bred them) and the seller must have a permit. You do not need a fishing license. This is a common misconception. The fishing license is a take permit not a possession permit, otherwise you would need a fishing license to go to the market and buy trout or salmon. You only need the license if you go out and try to catch one. Once you have it at home, the license is not needed.
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Rick Staub
R&R Reptiles

Coastal rosies can and did give birth to young that were at or near the size limit at birth. Fortunately like you stated the limit was dropped.
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Mark

You dont need a permit to possess? So, I catch some via fishing license this year I dont need to renue? How do I prove that they were obtained with a fishing license, do I report it and recieve something? I though that I would need a license to have them, so I would have to renue it.

you are confusing two completely seperate laws:

1) One law says that a person can posess a maximum of two wild caught California native rosy boas (so this law doesn't apply to rosys that are not indiginous to California, like Mexican rosys)

2) Another law says that a person must have a fishing license to hunt for rosy boas, and the catch limit is two.

Just resist the urge to think of these laws as related to each other. You don't have to "prove" that the rosies you have were caught while you had a license. Similarly, you don't have to prove that tha car in your garage wasn't speeding yesterday. If you didn't get a ticket yesterday ( or didn't speed) then it's over.

The only "proof" one would need concerning rosys in possession is paperwork (receipts) to prove that any rosys they have, IN EXCESS OF THE WILD CAUGHT LIMIT OF TWO, were purchased from a breeder. So if you had three rosies in your possession, and you have a receipt showing that one of them was purchased from a breeder (with a permit), you are legal.

but what if some of your reciepts are misplaced or lost, burned in a fire, or a monkey ate them, then what?

By the way isn't the burden of proof on LE anyway, given what Rick had stated about not needing a license to possess...I guess you can keep as many as you want from the wild, just don't sell them.

I guess you should keep good records, all of your receipts, and the most important thing, your lawyer's phone number handy.

Actually, there is a possession limit of two wild caught, you may however have as many captive born as you like.

I guess you can't always believe what you read. Thanks, I thought based on what Rick stated that you could keep as many as you could catch, you just couldn't sell them. Thanks for the info, bro.

I was talking to the officer that stopped us in whitewater. I have a cal king that I purchased but I dont have the "tags" for it and I dont have a fishing license, so he stated that I am in violation. I need f&g type reciepts that show it was captive born or I would need a license to keep it. That was the idea I got from him. Im sure getting tired of california laws, they are so vague that everyone interprets them different and many of them are just plain stupid....

Whitewater seems to be his "baby". The good thing is that he seems to know his herps. So what's up with that stupid rope thingy?
I wonder how many others on this site have had a close encounter of the green kind?

rope thing?

So that was Kyle Chang? I just thought he was a local sherrif, I didnt know Kyle Chang actually did the roadside stops. Ive talked to him by phone, I requested his info from the fish and game again but so far no response.