Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i got the info. about oh. reptile show from a friend (breeder)of mine that these guys cant breed and sell herps anymore is this true?

mike

Mike,

I used to be a vendor at Columbus and have spoken with a couple vendors who were ticketed. I do not see how this is possible. 1 of the vendors was set up at Indy the next day and the other vendor I spoke with today still had 99% of his animals and plans on setting up at Columbus next month.

There were a lot of vendors who were cited. Remember this sting has been ongoing for over 2 years. There were many different infractions & the vendors I have spoken with do not know what their punishment will be. The will not know for some time. Saying they will not be allowed to sell at shows in the future is jumping the gun. No one knows what the outcome will be - I just hope each of them get good attorneys and are able to fight some of the frivolous charges brought against them.

Many of the charges are not frivolous, many of them are serious. But calling a luecistic rat snake native to Ohio & MI is not right.

Melissa
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Quality Captives

I agree with Melis.. nothing was indicated that they would not be able to sell again. Also from those affected they report alot of the charges where frivolous or interesting at best. I also agree they need good attornys because alot won't stick. When an agent needs to match pictures to the field guide and guess on the animals they are confiscating?????????

It depends on how the state defines its species and subspecies. If a state lists Lampropeltis triangulum as protected (therefore illegal) they may have grounds to include a sinaloan milk even though it is not even found in the same country. I'm not saying its right, just pointing out how it COULD be construed. Granted a good lawyer probably would be able to get you out of that one, but not all subspecies are that different. States pass laws like that to make it easier on themselves. They don't have to know if it is a florida garter snake, all they have to know is that it is a T. sirtalis. Same goes for CBB snakes. If A guy has 7 baby fox snakes and a pair of adults, who can say for sure if he bred them or just caught the babies. Make no distinctions and you have no questions. If any of you are interested, check out Lee Watson's site and see if you can get a copy of the latest TARAH newsletter. There was an article on that very subject dealing with subspecies in Illinois.

Steve Schindler