One of the best ways to protect the hobby is to always stay up to date with your laws. It only takes one person to have an "unpermitted" snake that gets out to make the news and make thousands look bad. I'm not saying your friend is a bad person or anything to that extent, but more than likely miss informed. A lot of places require permits like that and there are a lot of places you can get them without the permit... I know you need to have a permit for the larger snakes here in texas as well, but I also know there are a lot of pet stores you can buy them from that don't check for the permit as well as tons of people that sell them on craigslist and dont ask for the permit!

Did they say they would take the ticket away if he came back with a permit? Here in Texas I'm pretty sure you can get the permit at walmart!