Question for those of you who ship snakes

[rabernet]

What is the responsibility of the breeder or seller to be knowledgeable about all the laws on owning snakes (ie, large boids, ball pythons, etc) when selling to someone? Are they liable if they ship to a location that has a ban on them? Or is the snake owner the one who is held liable if they decide to own when they live in an area where there is a ban?

I've been wondering this and meaning to ask this for some time.

[PJ FF]

I believe that it would be the buyer’s responsibility. Go to a venomous classified and it will most likely say that’s its buyers responsibility to check all laws. So if it’s like that with venomous snakes, it’s probably the same when it comes to boids.

[Beauty the BP]

Robin this might help you. i found it on a corn snake site but it applies to all snakes as far as i know. http://arbreptiles.com/shipping/index.shtml it covers packing and shipping of the animal.

As for who is responsible I think it is the buyer. You as seller are responsible for shipping it safely. And the buyer is responsible for making sure that it is legal for said species to be there and to collect. IM sure Adam will chime in and say im wrong and he can but this is my understanding.

Hope this helped,
Beauty the BP

[SPJ]

What is the responsibility of the breeder or seller to be knowledgeable about all the laws on owning snakes (ie, large boids, ball pythons, etc) when selling to someone? Are they liable if they ship to a location that has a ban on them? Or is the snake owner the one who is held liable if they decide to own when they live in an area where there is a ban?

I've been wondering this and meaning to ask this for some time.

Whenever I have shipped large constrictos, I have refused to sell to anyone under 18 and I also made sure to talk to them on the phone first to get a "feel" for the person. I will not ship large constrictors to New York no matter what part, because of the bans in the state.
I also check for the legal states when shipping crocodilians. If a permit is required, I want to see a copy of it or they don't get the animal.
I think part of the responibility falls on the seller.
All of my shipments are marked with what is in the box so for example, if I was shipping a retic, that would be on the box and I don't want legal issues to pop up if the state does not allow what is in the box.