Massachusetts state law issues
 

State Homepage - http://www.mass.gov/

State Legislature - http://www.state.ma.us/legis

State Statutes/Code - http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/cmr.html

Question on laws
 

Some people say that reptiles in MA need warranties and others say they don't. Do they? Please help me out.

Great references, but where the heck are the reptilian laws?
I must be internet illterate because I can never find anything on a website that starts off in a vague location.:kill:

It's not an official state page (Massachusetts' state laws are a pain to search, the keyword function is screwy) but http://www.neherp.com/ is the New England Herpetological Society. In the menu to the left there is a listing for "MA Herptile Permits" which will load the latest (latest right now anyway) reptile related laws for Massachusetts.

Thanks Seamus.

You can have burms, no permit required, but you cant have Etbs or GTPs unless you got a permit?
Thats odd.

Hey Peter,
View the other post in the section. And go to Seamus' link.
It has all the legal snakes, and what needs a permit.

If you mean a health guarantee after a purchase... Nope, there is no legal obligation for a herp to come with a warantee in Massachusetts. I do believe there are some laws which make a health guarantee manditory for some mammals and birds exist, but I don't know the specifics and there are some odd definitions and exclusions (like anything considered edible).

Some of the laws have kind of transparent reasoning behind them...

Snakes over ten feet are clearly a public meanace (er... not MY thoughts here) so anacondas, retics and african rocks all need permits... But Burms are a popular species and restricting their sale or ownership would kill tax revenue generated by their sale and have pet and business owners up in arms (rightfully). Technically if any snake hits the ten foot mark you're supposed to apply for a permit every year (at twenty five bucks per animal per year) but it's largely ignored because the law is poorly thought out, poorly worded and nearly unenforceable.

For similar reasons to the "big snakes scare our registered voters" all Varanids require a permit... Including say... Ackies. But green iguanas don't.

Some of the animals (GTP, ETB, Chams) require a permit because our democrats want to appear to have a strong platform of environmental protection and those species were frequently wild caught... but more importantly they LOOK exotic. People see an ETB or a Veiled and they automatically think of rainforests. So we have some more poorly thought out, poorly worded horrible laws... That keep the bigger reptile related business out of Massachusetts to a strong degree. Regal, NERD and countless private breeders will move to every state nearby but avoid Massachusetts like the plague despite having a denser population base (more potential customers) because many of our animal ownership laws are... well, frankly they're idiotic.

Permits aren't actually that hard to get though... Call Fish and Wildlife, talk to Tom French or Bob Arini (spelling on Bob's last name?), fill out a few forms, pay your money and keep your animals.

I guess so. Too bad too, I would love having NERD, Regal, or someone else closer to me than a couple hour drive. It is easier for me to go to a reptile show, than to the stores.
I would love going to the stores, because they have much more than they bring to the shows.