Ranch News

[jwolfe152]

yea but i still think i should just stick to my 4 easterners and see about other species like some red sided, plains, maybe a san fran if i can find any from someone that didn't just pluck it from cali and ship it out ya know something legal. i just really don't like breaking the law like that, regardless of how impossibly stupid it is for a snake that extremely common, now if it was a concerned or endangered, i could see the reasoning behind it. i mean they are completely harmless and abundant so whatever.

[chris-uk]

maybe a san fran if i can find any from someone that didn't just pluck it from cali and ship it out ya know something legal.

My understanding is that the "something legal" and "San Fran" don't go in the same sentence if you live in the US. I could send you my San Fran, that has been CB in Europe with lines traceable back for generations, and it would still be illegal. And with San Frans it's federal law, not state laws you'd be breaking. Someone state-side who knows the laws protecting tetrataenia can probably expand on my basic understanding.

[ConcinusMan]

And with San Frans it's federal law, not state laws you'd be breaking. Someone state-side who knows the laws protecting tetrataenia can probably expand on my basic understanding.

Exactly. San Frans are protected by the Federal Endangered Species Act. No matter what U.S. state you are in when caught, it is enforceable. You will have to go to Federal court and if you're sentenced to do any time it will be in a Federal facility. Penalties for possessing an endangered species are severe.

State laws are different and only enforceable within the State. For example, Pugets have never been legal to collect in WA and the south end of Puget Sound in WA is the only place where the blues occur and yet they openly available in the pet trade. All pugets in the pet trade were collected illegally or are descended from illegally collected animals.(as far as the state is concerned, CB descendants are also illegal to possess) However, it's the collector or person possessing them within the state of WA who is subject to enforcement. Once that snake leaves the state, the law is unenforceable. Someone in say, Iowa can receive a WC puget and not be breaking any law. That person won't be subject to enforcement or get in any trouble so long as he is not breaking any laws of his state. State penalties for possessing said snake within the state are fairly light too, compared to Federal penalties for possessing an endangered species.

Bottom line Jwolfe, it's very illegal to possess a SF garter anywhere in the U.S. or it's territories. If you simply receive a non-endangered snake illegally collected and shipped out of another state, they can't touch you.

There is no "legal" way to have one here in the States. Unless you are a zoo that has written permission.

I read an article recently that said zoos didn't keep up with captive breeding and eventually not even the SF zoo had any SF garters for several years. Well, they do now and the snakes came from the Netherlands. The zoos are allowed to have them but cannot get them from the wild. It's still unclear to me if they are even allowed to breed them in captivity but I think it's probable that the answer is no. I think the SF zoo is the only zoo that is even allowed to have them but they get them from CB stock out of the Netherlands.