j_dunlavy

You are right, there are are some native hots that can be kept legally. I did not mean to misinform and any corrections are welcomed. I was probably typing in haste while at work. "I live in CA so I cannot keep hots other than natives" is what I should have said.
I am not upset and take no offense in any way; this is a place of learning and growth for the reptile community so corrections, constructive criticisms, and analytical discussions are all part of the forum.


It does not upset me very much that I cannot keep non-native hots. I have plenty of other snakes to keep me happy. My quarrel is mainly with the fact that responsible keepers cannot legally keep a copperhead but any joker can buy a fishing license and bring home a very dangerous rattlesnake; it just does not make any sense to me. I knew a guy years ago who brought home a northern pacific rattlesnake on a fishing license one time. He was not someone I would have trusted to keep a ball python let alone a rattler. Long story short, within a couple weeks he was in the hospital. When he was discharged (a month later) he had lost the use of some of his hand which he was fortunate enough to still have.

The other legal issue that comes up with many cities in CA is there is usually an ordinance that prohibits venomous animals from being kept within city limits. This is unfortunate because like so many animal laws, it is usually so broad that if the authorities feel like it, they could consider a tarantula or emperor scorpion venomous and thus illegal in the city.

I WISH I could keep copperheads, Bitis sp, death adders mangshans and African bush vipers. I cannot keep anything hot in my house because the penalties my wife would impose on me would be worse than any legal penalties imposed by the state.