Looking to buy an Eastern Indigo snake

I'm looking to buy a Eastern Indigo snake to replace a beloved pet I lost mine to a long battle with illness last year. Now I'm ready to replace it. I live on a limited budget so the lower the price the better.

Hi James,
I don't believe you're going to legally, easily keep an Eastern Indigo in Florida. You'll not only need the USFWS permit, but you'll need to convince Florida to let you keep this highly protected species.

Your first step should be to ascertain Florida's laws regarding this. And, um, unless you had appropriate permits for your last couperi, I would not mention that you had such a snake captive in Florida. Otherwise, you might subject yourself to prosecution.

On the other hand, you could almost certainly own a Texas Indigo, a Mexican RedTail Indigo, or another species of Cribo / Drymarchon, quite legally and without permit problems.

All my Easterns are captive born, and have a paper trail from USFWS. If you tell Florida Fish and Game that you'll be buying such a captive-born snake, you MIGHT get a permit for Florida, I don't know.

All the best,
Chris

Okay I'll look in to that thanks for the advice

If not totally set on an Eastern but still want a Drymarchon, check into a Black Tail Cribo! Get just as big, less stinky (allegedly), and much less expensive. Also shouldn't have issues keeping one in Florida like you do an Eastern. I have both and like them equally! If I could only have one and had money constrictions, I would definitely go Cribo