my husband banned snake purchasing

[akane]

Silly man. You think that will work? I will happily sit here for 2 months until warm weather and he sees what bonus he gets this year. Then I have my eye on a magdalena plains or ortiz locale rosy boa and some water snakes. If the issues around underground reptiles are solved (let's not go there if you know what I'm talking about) I might order their inexpensive water snake(s) and some more anole lizards. Gotta make the shipping worth it. Then he can feel like he stopped the snake influx over summer until my plan for natives this year is an already reserved "pick of the litter" kankakee bull. Darkest known wild population according to several people. He (or she and I could breed bulls in 3 years) would be cb. There's a pair of cb western fox snakes hanging out there but I'm going to be approaching snake rack status instead of display tanks at that point. I haven't decided where I want to draw the line for myself yet as I learn maintenance of various types of enclosures and sizes of snake.

Someone threw a wrench in some of my native species keeping plans by claiming a law the herpetologist consulted by several people because Iowa law is sketchy did not say existed. We were told provided the snakes were not on the endangered or threatened list they just had to be acquired out of state legally. You can't collect anything in the state. This person claims you can only own 1 pair. I tried to get clarity what he means by a pair. Breeding pair which would mean you then have a clutch in your hands for awhile equaling more than 2 snakes or that you can only have 2 snakes of a species? He failed to answer and seemed to get confused what the conversation was covering so I'm not confident on this Department of Natural Resources "in training" future worker over the consulted herpetologist specialist connected to the DNR.

[FWK]

I wouldn't order any snakes from the east coast until we get a handle on the fungal issue. I'm still not sure that's what was happening with Underground, FWC gave them a clean bill of health, but I'd just stay away from those areas altogether until we know more about SFD. No reason to risk helping its movement to the west.

Kankakee Bulls are stunning animals, I considered one before deciding to stick with a Texas locale. I focus on natives as well, and Texas is my neck of the woods. Fox Snakes are very cool animals too.

Don't rely on what people tell you about your wildlife laws, go to the source yourself. I've even had game wardens give me bad information in the past. Here is a link to the Iowa Legislature, Senate File 564, dealing with wildlife. I didn't read the whole thing, and it might not be all inclusive on the issue, but it's a place to start. I did notice they misspelled Viperidae, ha.

[trailblazer295]

I'm single so I have no idea the dynamics of one spouse being a herp lover and the other not. Seems all the women that love herps are already taken. I'm still trying to maintain hope.

The other side is I live alone and have my own place so I'll buy the pets I want.

[akane]

Right now they just say out of stock on pretty much everything and so does everyone else who wild collects but it'll be months from now to consider it. There might be banded cb breeders but I already asked on browns and no one knew anyone who wanted to breed them. I've been buying green anoles from stores that are probably wc but the juveniles are hard to tell gender and $7-$10 so I only have one female that was skin and bones when I got her and 2 turned out male. For $7+ I can't keep just trying for females.

[pet_snake_78]

IMO WC native snakes from the eastern half the US are way too risky right now. I wouldn't take the chance, testing is expensive and they could endanger all your beloved pets. CB direct from the breeder is the way to go with natives for now, I think. Regarding the laws on native, I would recommend carefully reading the regulations from the DNR and checking with any natives breeders in your state to see if they needed any permits or such.

[akane]

The written law is unclear to the point after some classification changes several on the state specific group consulted DNR and their herpetologist. It took weeks to get clear info sorted out. That is the info I am using. It was someone who claimed to be DNR in training who tried to state some single pair rule that no one had heard of and then promptly got confused what the conversation was and when I said I would probably end up with a breeding pair of bulls plus an extra captive developed morph they then said nothing about it. I don't know what info they were trying to use or what they thought I was doing. I am fairly confident in what the laws are due to everyone who consulted directly with professionals already.

I try to do cb only. The fox snakes are the same breeder as my bull. He can get me a cb pair from separate unrelated pairs. The brown water snake though doesn't seem to be bred by many and I don't see them listed anywhere except as wc young from large breeders or companies. Granted those are in the midwest but the only legal collection state may be MO and I'd have to confirm that. I cannot collect in state and I cannot collect the other nearby states. A banded water snake I could probably find a breeder but the breeders who share those interests have been ordering from the places that sell wc so even that could be questionable. Some were talking about just putting down their entire water snake lines and starting over to be certain. We'll see where it is in a few months since it just seems a confused mess right now but currently I'm more looking at choosing a rosy locale to breed and get a pair. I've been private messaging someone in CA but I don't know when shipping would be safe here. We are unseasonably warm but that can change in an instant and we are in subzero all of a sudden. You never know. It may be march before shipping is possible at all. I am resisting an anery cornsnake locally with my birthday money knowing it's one less available space in the future and I'd rather expend it on rosy boa and the pit species first with other native colubrids already in consideration 2nd.

[TRD]

My wife loves mice, I like snakes... golden combo

Anyway, on a fine day she picked up a sand boa, completely spontaneous, and fell in love with it. Now she has a book full of all different morphs and all, and wants more. Just this night she was talking to a breeder to get a 1.1 pair of Eryx tataricus (Tartar sand boa) and wants to start breeding them.

[MartinD]

As I always say this is not a hobby but an addiction lol

[akane]

My husband's coworker also said no more snakes to his wife. She's showing him pictures of the display rack she's saving money to buy.

[dave himself]

Originally Posted by MartinD

As I always say this is not a hobby but an addiction lol

Oh if only this statement wasn't so true . We started off with a corn snake in a tub, now they've took over our whole dinning room

[TRD]

Reptiles...

It starts with an interest, turns into passion, takes control like an addition, ends with an invasion.

[akane]

In the end though these are the least demanding pets I've ever had. The fish tanks take more work. Which I have to go fill and carry about 40gallons up and down the stairs today.... The snakes; I will check their gauges and debate what rodents to pick up any day I feel like it over the next 5 days. The past 2 weeks I felt defeated and miserable over my health problems. I barely kept my gerbils healthy feeding and watering every other day and there's more than one puppy accident to finish cleaning up. The snakes didn't notice and look the same.

[sattva]

I am fortunate in and that my wife likes my snakes... That doesn't mean there hasn't been a few heated conversations over them... Theres about three snakes I have my eye on now... I am trying to sell a bowie knife on craigslist to fund one of them... Fun fun fun!