Dangerous Snakes-Should Sales Be Banned?

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

You're right, Florida already has that in place. I also agree that it should be a state issue. It is ridiculous to ban snakes in Ohio because they can live in the Everglades.

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THIS times 1000x

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Wh00h0069 again."

...another one of my pet peeves: venomous snakes are poisonous....geeze – I don’t want to debate this…;)

Ok, that's off my chest...now on to the topic: I think people are far more dangerous than any snake or animal slithering around Florida. Mother Nature can easily put an end to the issues in Florida with a really gripping cold snap. It would be unfortunate too because I believe these large animals are beautiful, and should be left to flourish as long as they don’t pose a real threat to humans.

I realize there a plenty of instances where they do cause harm, but in the grand scheme of things, more people are killed by bullets that boas in my opinion...I don't really like people that much in this case :rolleyes:

I don't believe in banning.

If someone wants to own one of the biggies (EX: BURM, RETIC, GREEN ANACONDAS) make people take a test in order to get a permit. How much do they REALLY know about snake care, behavior, husbandry, proper enclosures...
and not a multiple choice test, LOL, make it hard. Write out all the answers.

All this to get a permit. Just like in school you need certain community service hours in order to graduate, make FIRST TIME OWNERS volunteer at a local Zoo or reptile exhibit and set a number of "volunteer hours" required in order to give them a the knowledge and experience required to handle something that big.

i guess something like this would help the herp community by eliminating stupid owners. Think about it, if some imbecil decided to get a big snake cause "it's cool", they'd be put off by the amount of work one has to do in order to be able to get it. and hey, if they are able to do all the work, then chances are after they're done with all the "learning" they might actually make good keepers. it's sort of a trial of fire kind of thing...

but hey, it's just an idea.

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Originally Posted by Arsinoe

I saw on Animal Planet a show talking about how Florida is over run with Pythons and Boas now. Do you think that sales of potentially dangerous snakes,such as the breed that do get huge and the poisonous ones be restricted? Or possibly register the owners?

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Poisonous snakes are limited to a small species of garter snake that have poison glands on the back of their neck. Do you mean venomous?
Venomous snakes are huge and separate issue and not the problem here, they are not invading everglades as far as I know, and there are already species down there that are venomous anyway.

They are much smaller numbers of the animals there than they expected. Also, the only boa that in my opinion would live happily in the everglades is the anaconda. Most other species of boas would not like such a wet climate, so until they start coming out with LOTS of them, I don't believe their crap.

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I find that so many people can't even handle a kitty cat and these same people want to buy something that will turn into something that can eat you. Florida wouldn't have this problem if people weren't dumping these guys when they got unmanageable and they bred in the perfect environment for them. I don't think it's fair that they now have to handle the problem by killing them, rather than dealing with how the problem started.

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It's ironic that you say this because feral cats have a HUGE impact around the country and the world even on many species of animals and are a much worse invasive species than snakes are.
Most of the animals there were not from irresponsible owners dumping animals, that is rumor. Most of them are from escaped facilities during hurricanes. If you base all of your information from animal planet, chances are you will be wrong about this issue.
Also, there are very few cases of snakes actually EATING people. There are less than 20 cases over the past 30 years of constrictors killing anyone, but not eating them. That's funny because dogs kill people once a week on average in the U.S.

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I think if I was a breeder of reptiles, any kind, I would require that the potential owner either exhibit some sort of knowledge on their care or actually put them through a class before I would sell them anything.....But then I would probably not be selling much of anything either.

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Most breeders do this already. Not the class, but if they think their buyer is irresponsible, then they don't sell to them, and they still do fine in sales.


Also, this is just my opinion, but constrictors are generally not dangerous, no matter how big they are. It is the owner or the handler that does something wrong to MAKE them dangerous. Not having another person in the room while giving a large animal injections is just an example. Not watching them properly around children or keeping their cages improperly locked, the list is endless. We don't smell good, we don't taste good. Most animals would rather not eat us, because of our diet mostly.
It's sad, but if you get bitten by a snake, it's usually your fault unless it's one of those spitfires and the same goes for getting killed by one. Treating these animals with respect and following main guidelines like having another person for every 7ft of snake is responsible ownership.

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you must spread some reputation around before giving it to blackcrystal22 again.

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:)

A certification would be okay so long as it was free easy and fair to get. But even thats overboard I think.

A banning is right out.

What does one consider dangerous?

My truck is far more dangerous than any pet snake. They cause exponentially more death and damage to people, animals and the enviroment than all tropical snakes combined but yet one is under scrutiny and the other is not.

Makes you think, what constitutes dangerous? it certainly isnt the facts and figures.

The OP must be in favor of banning all dogs over toy size. Dogs kill more people in the US EVERY YEAR than constrictor snakes have over the past two decades. Feral dogs have attacked more people in the last year than feral constrictor snakes have EVER. There's never ever been a case yet in the US of a person being killed by a feral constrictor snake.

So.. exactly how dangerous are these snakes? Please, enlighten us all.

Another good point to make is the mexican boa constrictors.. There is a healthy population of native boas in mexico. If all these snakes could just migrate north like the false reports say they can then why are there no boas in california or new mexico or any of the other south western states?

All of us here have been actively fighting these bans for a long time now. We have organizations on our side fighting for our rights as pet owners and reptile keepers/breeders. Some members here have uncovered, through their own investigations and interviews, alot of twisted and politically motivated actions. There has been a huge lack of actual studies. Flat out lies and a refusal to accept or even read the studies that have been done by experienced herpers through the years.

You came to a reptile forum to ask if we think our pets should be banned?

Most of the members here do own more than just BPs. Wether its colubrids or boas or burmese. Most of the members here that only have BPs have put forth just as much of a fight as those who do own the big snakes. We all understand that we need to step up and take action no matter what type of animal it is.

We have spent and rasied thousands apon thousands of dollars in the last year to ENSURE that these animals are not banned. Most of us agree on more strict regulations to weed out the irresponsible owners but no one here will say they should be banned.

"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me."

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

You're right, Florida already has that in place. I also agree that it should be a state issue. It is ridiculous to ban snakes in Ohio because they can live in the Everglades.

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I am going to reiterate this statement because people constantly seem to fail to realize...

FLORIDA ALREADY HAS A PERMITTING SYSTEM FOR LARGE CONSTRICTORS IN PLACE!

To obtain said permit, one must fill out a two page questionnaire about the natural history of the listed animals (retics, condas, burms, indians, afrocks, scrubs, or Nile monitors) they plan to keep, and pay a $100 fee per year on top of the $50 annual license fee to exhibit Class III reptiles (basically all other reptiles except most crocidilians). The permit requires individuals to keep an inventory of each of their "Reptiles of Concern," and they must be microchipped after a certain size (I believe it's 4" in diameter, but don't quote me). Additionally, the room that all of these animals are kept in or each individual cage must be kept locked. The RoC permit holder also is subject to unannounced inspections by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. There are a few other provisions required, such as keeping a detailed emergency/evacuation plan on hand, but the point that I am getting at is that there is already a completely sufficient licensing system in the only state that has a feral Burmese python population.

In addition to that, scientists and some RoC permit holders were allowed last year to go on python hunts in the Everglades, which was quite promising for the start of a control effort if they were to expand to on that. The state, however, has now foolishly made it open hunting season on Burmese pythons (likely due to the media's role in blowing this situation completely out of proportion thanks to the spread of misinformation by a few self-serving politicians and government scientists), and I expect all of the species of snakes endemic to the Everglades to suffer because of this.