Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thanks to all for reading, and to those of you who reply

I was reading the post below, and it seems that it is very easy to obtain snakes, of any kind, in America.

I was just wanting to know the regulations regarding the obtaining of reptiles in various countries. In Australia, a license needs to first be obtained. All purchases need to be recorded by the buyer, and the seller, and sent to our Department of Environment and Sustainability. Randomly, officers visit the premises to ensure that the reptiles are being kept appropriately. All births and deaths also need to be recorded, and sent in to the Department once a year.

In order to own venomous snakes, an advanced wildlife license needs to be obtained, which is quite costly, and entails a 3 day course on handling, caring, and precautions. Venomous snakes can only be distributed by authorised dealers.

Is this similar in America? If so, what's all the hype about those owning venoms?

BTW, i've noticed these board becoming a fury of attacks and digs at those asking questions... Please don't yell at me I was just interested!

Happy Herping

It varies state-to-state. Here in New York, we just had some new laws roll out recently that prohibit owning and selling large or venemous reptiles. In some states you can still do pretty much whatever you want. We went to the reptile show in Pennsylvania recently, and there were hots everywhere.

While I can appreciate some of your laws that are intended to enforce good husbandry, I think they go way overboard with some of the restrictions you have.

It's an interesting contrast, as the Australian restrictions seem more focused on protecting the animals (or possibly the environment), whereas the US and Canadian laws are more focused on protecting people from animals that are (rightly or not) perceived as dangerous. At least that's my impression.

-Imp

In Georgia we actually can keep snakes native to GA without a permit... so long as they are venomous. If they are non venomous Native snakes we must obtain a permit. With non native (to Georgia) snakes, anything goes.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

You need a permit to keep NON-venomous natives, but venomous natives can be kept by anyone? Wow, that's truly messed up. How did that law ever get passed?

-Imp

honestly, I actually work for the state and have for several years... and it is beyond me. I think they are going to revise it at some point... maybe...
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

I lived in Georgia (Lilburn) and the reason you can posses venemous snakes that are native to the state is that some towns have Rattlesnake Roundups and they don't want to hamper those events as they make money for the towns.

In Florida, we have a permit system for venemous that requires 1,000 hrs training under a licensed keeper. The permit was only $5.00 for many years, until the state managed to get one of the major herp societies to back raising the cost to $100.00 annually by convincing them the money would go directly to the Game and Fish commission. The sad part there is this was a total lie.

We have no restrictions other than that-except for a few species that have special protection like (for example)our Indigo, Short tailed Snake and some snakes that are unique to the Keys which we cannot own and our Pine Snake which cannot be bought or sold (limit one per household).

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

Here in the US, there are federal laws pertaining to some federally protected species (indigo snakes), but those laws only apply to interstate commerce. So you can own a federally protected indigo snake in Utah with no permit, but you can't transport it or its offspring across state lines without a federal permit.

Otherwise, wildlife laws are made by the individual states and we have 50 sets of different laws, one for each state. Some, like Georgia's are very restrictive, others are very liberal. In Texas for example, I can keep as many taipans, king cobras, etc. as I want with no restrictions. There is a restriction on the number of native species you can possess without a particular license, but non-natives are unregulated.

Some cities and counties, however, add another level of regulation. Many cities have "dangerous" animal regulations intended to stop people from keeping tigers, etc. that often include "dangerous" reptiles. Unfortunately these local ordinances are often poorly written by people with NO understanding of herps and so silly regs get put into place. Houston, TX had a law for a number of years that said you couldn't possess a snake over 6 feet. That didn't matter whether it was a 6 foot coachwhip or an 20 foot anaconda. Informed legislators would have put a weight restriction rather than a length restriction on reptiles.
These local ordinances go largely unenforced, IMHO.
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Chris Harrison