Pics of my Puget Sound blues

[sschind]

Sorry to hear about your governmental problems in Ohio. We've actually just made some changes to the reptile laws here in PA, to help protect hobbyist, so that they don't run into the same sort of problems that you've been having. I'm a memeber of a Herp Society and we were able to get lots of petitions signed and get the local establishment to recognize reptile keepers as a real part of the people affected by the laws.

Wow, thats a first. Could you elaborate, or point me to some of the changes that were made. I know I for one would not be as opposed to certain legislation if allowances were made for hobbyists. If this was something we all could rally around it might make the hobby better.

[GarterGuy]

Well I can do the best I can. We had represenetives from the Herp club attend meetings of the Fish and Boat Commission (the gov. agency that "controls" herps here in PA) to listen to what new regs. were being brought up and exactly how they would impact herp keeping. The pres. of the club and two others (a zoo keeper and a guy who runs a reptile rescue) would then bring back the info. they got there and we'd all discuss it at the meetings and talk about what needed to be done. We then circulated online and offline petitions, stating that the rights of legitimate reptile hobbyist needed to be taken into account with the new laws. Also we did some letter writing to the head of Fish and Boat Commission, just to make sure that they got the message, that this was real issue with a good many people. When the new regs. and such were drawn up, the head of the Fish and Boat Comm. has said that he was really surprised of the number of people in the herp keeping communitiy.....who before this, they had really never considered before.
What finally came out of it are regs. that allow for the protection of the native species here in PA, but also making sure that those regs. aren't abused against hobbyist. One such change was that it was illegal to keep more than one of any species or subspecies of a native reptile. This ment that if you kept a Cali. Redsided garter...a subspecies of T.sirtalis, a native species....you were in vilation of the regs. We got this changed to state that only those species and subspecies that occure within the state. This was probably the biggest of the changes for hobbyist in the state, the others were more towards protection of native species from outside sources....like snake hunts and such. Probably the best thing to do is get involved. Find out if there are any local Herp clubs in the area and join and participate in them. Also make sure that you are familiar with the laws and regs. that are in your state and how they will affect you as a hobbyist. Lastly just be heard.....get your ideas and thoughts out there so people know that you exist.

[ssssnakeluvr]

Thanks for the compliment Cazador!! Just trying to help out.

We have some stupid laws here in Utah also....California kingsnakes, black and whtie banded, are just barely in the southwest corner of Utah...hence they are protected....one of the most common snakes out there... They finally changed the law allowing them as long as they aren't wild caught from here. You can get a permit from the Division of Wildlife Resources here to captive breed local snakes, as long as they aren't prohibited species. The DWR likes to hit all the private citizens here that breed and leave the pet stores alone....sucks!!!!!

[CrazyHedgehog]

Have a look (Key to California Gartersnakes).
Rick

Cazador, this is an amazing site.. thankyou,

I have struggled with the counting this that and what? this really does show clearly what you are supposed to be looking at..

I have 23 thamnophis of various species.. some a little suspect...so I might be having a closer inspection with the help of this site...

MODS....can we have this link highlighted somewhere as a main or recomended resource?

[KITKAT]

The following is my own private opinion and not a reflection of the site:

The sad part of the Ohio regs is that they don't know what they are doing, and have destroyed what they set out to protect.

T radix had a subspecies that appeared in an isolated area of Ohio... a protected parkland in the western part of the state.

There are no T radix in Indiana, so this insular population was a remnant of the prairie from hundreds of years ago, when it actually extended from westward, into Ohio.

DNR, in their infinite wisdom, required pit tagging of all T radix found in the area... and they tagged even very small specimens. As a probable result, there are very few now found in the park, where there were once plentiful findings.

And in yet another wise move... they imported the western T radix and released it in the area... thus destroying the insular genetics of the subspecies.

!!!

Meanwhile, all herpetologists who live in Ohio are banned from owning T radix.

[Thamnophis]

Sometimes things go very wrong and do not make sense. Also in Ohio, as it seems.

[Lee]

very nice looking snake you have there ;D