Unclear City Ordinances

[Miranda2]

a constrictive reptile could be a cornsnake too.LOL what a joke.

[Jhill001]

If you go to the local pet store, do they have ball pythons?

If a business is selling them than I'm sure you're OK.

Regulating snakes is really a stupid waste of time. Much like the regulation of weed and stuff like that. The only way you get caught is if you do something really stupid (or piss off the right person who happens to know the laws of your area). You could have a treasure trove of native snakes, frogs and toads and you could have 10 police officers walk through your home and nothing would happen.

This is because 1. Cops don't care about stuff like that as long as you aren't abusing your animals. 2. They don't learn about animal related laws that aren't easily enforced. Do you think they spend more time identifying species of snake and going door to door animal busts, or do you think they spend all of their time learning codes for the radio and proper traffic stop etiquette.

Local laws regarding reptiles should be viewed as kind of a guideline. I live in Ohio where you likewise are not allowed to own native wildlife. Well this includes Black Rat Snakes. I know of several keepers here that have Albinos/Whitesides in their collections and a few normals, all of these snakes are CB and none of them bothered to go through the hassle of getting a permit for them. The idea of the law, which is to prevent their collection from the wild is a noble cause, but once again like most of these laws, all but unenforceable. Would I take issue if they were going out and gathering these snakes enmass and selling them? Yes of course I would. But I'm also not calling the cops on the neighbor kid for catching a Garter snake and keeping it for a week either.

I'm not going to go out and recommend someone break a law because IF you do get caught then you risk having your collection seized and some fines. HOWEVER in certain cases I think that one could claim ignorance and not really risk anything.

[lizzy_troy]

While I was at the police station for an unrelated matter, I asked the community service officer about the ordinance and permit, and he was baffled. He had NO IDEA at all about any of it. All he could say was "ask the animal control officer." So, I await an email response....