Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok...the VA General Assembly is jumping on the bandwagon slowly. They introduced a bill to include herps as "companion animals" and anyone that wants to sell/advertise for any "companion animals" is a "dealer" and is required to get a $150 yearly business license. Not to mention it requires sterelizing and implanting each companion animal with a microchip. Now this is one thing for cats and dogs or other mammals, but snakes? Does anyone out there have any information saying that microchiping isn't healthy for snakes or the costs of sterelizing a snake (can you even do that reasonably?). I'm planning to call my representatives sometime soon as well as the one that introduced the bill but would rather have some good information so I don't sound stupid. As it is I'll have a hard time since I'm a 20 year old college girl. Any suggestions? If you look under the Laws/CITES forum you can find the link to the bill if anyone is interested. Suggestions are welcome. Especially seeing as how cornsnakes are native and I'll already need a permit for the ones I have and I want to breed them (killing my hopes and dreams already...). Ok...thanks guys!

~Katie
-----
2.1 Cornsnakes (Slink, Shadow, Suzie)
0.3 Leopard Geckos (Cutie, Lily, and Miss Piggy)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Sam)
0.2 Pac Man Frogs (Gordito and Spud)
1.2 Suriname Toad (Squishy & the Squishettes)
0.0.2 Giant Millipede (Mega & Mila)
0.0.1 Green Iguana (Iggy)
lots of snails and fish...

there's quite a few states who require herps to be microchipped... my black rats i bought from joliff both have microchips in them. i dont remember where he's located off hand, however. post over in the rat snakes forum - thats where he posts mainly.
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)