Deadly Snakes For Sale
POSTED: 11:24 AM EST November 18, 2003
UPDATED: 5:52 PM EST November 18, 2003
FORT MILL, S.C. -- Deadly snakes once found only in books or on nature shows are living in pet shops in the Charlotte area.
They're shipped from overseas and most are far deadlier than the ones most are familiar with.
Bruce Eisenmann is the owner of an exotic reptile shop in Fort Mill.
One of the snakes Eisenmann showed Eyewitness News was a black, spitting cobra.
There's no state law in South Carolina, so Eisenmann can sell cobras, vipers and local venomous snakes like water moccasins and rattlesnakes.
Native snakes such as rattlesnakes and moccasins are poisonous, but not as potent as many African snakes.
Greg Maggart runs a store called Herp Aqua in Rock Hill.
Maggart sells pythons, rat snakes, king snakes and some highly venomous snakes.
Maggart said the snakes should not be sold to "just anybody."
Both storeowners sell over the Internet -- which is legal in most states -- and to people they judge capable of handling the snakes.
Neither will sell to anyone under 18 and they interview buyers first.
But sometimes, it's beyond their control.
In January, someone stole a deadly gaboon viper from Herp Aqua.
Fortunately it was recovered, because even a non-fatal bite is crippling.
For now, nowhere does the phrase "buyer beware" apply more.
Except for some minor details, North Carolina's state law is the same as South Carolina's.
However, by county ordinance, poisonous snakes are illegal in Mecklenburg County.
Reptile dealers can import snakes from countries all over the world, as long as the animals aren't protected in those countries.
