Legality of owning reptiles

I had someone tell me yesterday that it was illegal for me to have 7 reptiles in my home without a permit and registering them in the state of FL.  Is this true?  The person that told me was trying to scare me and tell me that I could be fined and such.  I have never heard about this at all and was just wondering if it was true.

If anyone knows anything about this please let me know, or post the info here so everyone to see.

It just kind of scared me to have someone tell me I was breaking the law and could get in trouble.

thanks for your time.

todd jarrett

Todd,  I am in Florida as well as yourself.  We have a license to "sell or exhibit" 11 or more classIII  reptiles, as we sell and exhibit wildlife on the Internet and at shows.  I don't believe you need any sort of licensing if you are only a hobbist, as long as we arn't talking about venomoids here.  We have kept various Reptiles and amphibians for years before having a license and never came across any problems, just don't let a 15ft+ Retic out by mistake or anything like that lol.   As long as your not using them for exibition or profit I would say no worries.  If you are truly concerned give the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision a call at 1-850-488-6253 or you can write your concerns to F.F.W.C.C. 620 Meridian St. Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600...  Take care and Happy Herping!!!

I used to live in FL and I had over 30 reptiles and never even heard that I needed a licnese.  Although I was looking at something about permits for different states and I saw something that you do need a permit for certain exotics in FL even if they are not venomous. Like you were saying about the different classes of licenses I believe but am not sure that certain snakes like say an indigo for example require you to have a license to own but like I said I am not sure.  You can go under the florida fish and wildlife web page and find all that stuff out real easy though.

Jeremy