aussie new to canada

[jono454]

hi

my names jono. ive just moved to canada from australia. im travelling around atm but when i settle in vancouver im hoping to keep waglers vipers.

i know nothing about the regulations concerning keeping venomous in BC or about aquiring captive bred animals. im hoping i could get in contact with someone in VC when i arrive there, preferably someone with experience keeping vipers.

any help would be very much appreciated

cheers
jono

[infernalis]

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by jono454

hi

my names jono. ive just moved to canada from australia. im travelling around atm but when i settle in vancouver im hoping to keep waglers vipers.

i know nothing about the regulations concerning keeping venomous in BC or about aquiring captive bred animals. im hoping i could get in contact with someone in VC when i arrive there, preferably someone with experience keeping vipers.

any help would be very much appreciated

cheers
jono

Welcome to the forum and also to Canada!
Canada, as a whole, is a place that you will find extremely hostile to keeping any kind of 'potentially dangerous' animal. In order to be able to even purchase a venemous snake, much less keep it, you will need a number of permits. Unless you have a zoological background or a pHD in zoology, or are purchasing the animal for display at a zoo, use in a lab, or for a university, you will find that it is almost impossible for you to get a permit. Even if you did get a permit, which would be about as likely as getting bitten by a shark on land, you'd still be barred from keeping that snake in the City of Vancouver. No urban area will allow you to keep an animal like that in Canada as a house pet. You'd have to be in the suburbs or the countryside.

I'm sorry if that sounded extreme, but this is one of the least likely places in the world to allow an every day person to keep venomous animals.

I'm not sure what the penalty is if you were ever caught with the animal by animal control with no license. They would confiscate it and hit you with a crippling fine if nothing else.

If you were caught attempting to import or purchase the animal illegally you will get guaranteed jail time. Even if the judge/crown wasn't aiming for it, if the story went public, which it would, people would demand jail time. Canadians are a bit crazy.

Long story short, have you considered a nice colubrid?

[jono454]

wow... thats quite amazing...

i thought australia's regulations were extreme but that's a whole other thing. so disappointing. it's kind of hard to believe that you're allowed to keep exotic animals considering the implications of the escape of an exotic species (although i suppose they'd just die when winter struck) but venomous are viewed like they are... such a shame

[stephanbakir]

It really does suck, anytime i want to see venomous snakes (not including the massassauga rattlesnake) i need to head to the US and go to my friends place.

I tried to get my hands on the permits required to own a false water cobra in quebec, took me about 3 months and they refused.

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by jono454

wow... thats quite amazing...

i thought australia's regulations were extreme but that's a whole other thing. so disappointing. it's kind of hard to believe that you're allowed to keep exotic animals considering the implications of the escape of an exotic species (although i suppose they'd just die when winter struck) but venomous are viewed like they are... such a shame

I've heard that from Australians before. There are a lot of Australians here. You're going to be quite disappointed across the board, I'm afraid. Tougher on crime, booze and cigarettes are going to cost you more than you'd like, and you're not getting a viper. Also, you're not going to like the weather or the food, and our accent is less interesting than yours. ... But welcome!

Things that are good, on the upshot:

You can ski (if you don't ski, this isn't going to do much for you)
You can ride a sled at unsafe speed down a snow or ice covered hill (ditto)
Snowball fights
We have better doughnuts
Electronics are cheaper here than in Australia by a lot, so your TV/Stereo/Computer will be a lot cheaper than you might expect.
No devious, spying Koalas hiding in the trees. Just squirrels.

+You can still keep any non venomous snake including any large pythons or boas.

[jono454]

good thing i dont drink or smoke then.

planning on learning to ski, i rkn ill kick arse in a snow ball fight...

better doughnuts? i dont think so, we have vietnamese bakeries back home that have perfected the art... you guys have tim hortons...

i have noticed the squirrels and their suspicious looks...

looks like ill be shifting to boids then!

[stephanbakir]

Get a retic, best snake in the world!

[mistersprinkles]

Originally Posted by jono454

good thing i dont drink or smoke then.

planning on learning to ski, i rkn ill kick arse in a snow ball fight...

better doughnuts? i dont think so, we have vietnamese bakeries back home that have perfected the art... you guys have tim hortons...

i have noticed the squirrels and their suspicious looks...

looks like ill be shifting to boids then!

We don't 'have' Tim Hortons.. they abuse the stupidity of Canadians and use their inability to discern quality against them.

[stephanbakir]

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

We don't 'have' Tim Hortons.. they abuse the stupidity of Canadians and use their inability to discern quality against them.

I love you.
Beautifully said.