Found out something interesting...

[EasternGirl]

A friend of mine had told me that it was illegal to own garter snakes in Delaware...so I was always keeping my girls on the downlow...I was talking to my mother about it recently, considering my little snake family has been getting bigger and she asked me if I had ever actually looked the law up and read it to see what it says....so I decided that I would. Turns out, there is no law against owning garter snakes in DE...there is a law against owning poisonous snakes, boas, and pythons. My girls are not outlaws...lol! Guess I'll be having that reptile room one day....

[guidofatherof5]

Good for you and your little non-criminals.

[Bart]

Gee, in my state (polish district of EU) venomous vipers are banned too. I know, I'm a lawyer. But dang, I'll get some pit vipers! Just can't help it... One day, if I'm not logging here for a long time - it means one of them just kissed me.

PS. There aren't any poisonous snakes. Just venomous.

[PINJOHN]

Gee, in my state (polish district of EU) venomous vipers are banned too. I know, I'm a lawyer. But dang, I'll get some pit vipers! Just can't help it... One day, if I'm not logging here for a long time - it means one of them just kissed me.

PS. There aren't any poisonous snakes. Just venomous.

Hey Bart how come they don't allow venomous snakes in your state YET they allow lawyers ......don't seem right to me

[katach]

That is good news. I keep tring to find the law that says I can't keep my girls, but I still can't find it. We have a city patrol officer friend that stops by from time to time and he never says a thing so I guess I won't worry too much, unless my land last finds out.

[guidofatherof5]

That is good news. I keep tring to find the law that says I can't keep my girls, but I still can't find it. We have a city patrol officer friend that stops by from time to time and he never says a thing so I guess I won't worry too much, unless my land last finds out.

I just got off the phone with Walt at Washington Fish and Wildlife. 360-902-2515
According to him garter snake are considered an unclassified species and not regulated.
He checked the endangered species list and protected species list and found no garter snakes.
He said that the keeping of native garter snakes is OK.

[EasternGirl]

Right...well you can actually look here: Summary of State Laws Relating to Private Possession of Exotic Animals

It lists the regulations by state....

Bart...it actually says "poisonous" in the DE code...but I know what you are saying. I was just saying what the code says.

[katach]

Yeah that's what i keep finding, but i've been told that because my snakes are native species that they are not supposed to be captive pets.

[EasternGirl]

Hmmm...what do you mean? I'm having a dumb moment...help me out...in the Delaware law it says that if they are native to Delaware you can keep them...you can't bring them in to state if they aren't native to the area apparently...and of course you can't have them if they are endangered.

[katach]

I think it's a WA thing. Not going to stop me though.