Eastern Blackneck Garters now protected?

[sschind]

I was told by someone at a local swap that the Eastern Blackneck Garter (Thamnophis cyrtopsis ocellatus) was recently put on the protected list. He did not say which list, and he did not specify who had given him the information.

Has anyone heard any information of the sort.

Thanks

Steve

[zooplan]

Eastern Blackneck Garters only have a small range of habitat so you should look for the protection list of the state where they are native.

[MoJo]

I have not heard about this and did a quick search on the web, at the Texas Wildlife site and the US site and found no info pertaining to this!

Phew! You had me very worried...

Joanna

[ssssnakeluvr]

Me too!!!!!!

[enigma200316]

but if you already had the Garters before they went portected wouldn't you be able to keep them??

[sschind]

Keep them perhaps but breeding them and selling the offspring might be more difficult. I don't know what the new Texas law regarding native herps is all about but maybe that's what he was talking about.

[lyn s]

i now the butler garter is threaten.wi

[zooplan]

In Germany all native reptiles and amphibians are protected by law but you can get permission to keep, breed and sell captive bred offspring for most species.
This is made to protect wild populations against illegal catching.

[Thamnophis]

If it is neccesary to protect T. c. ocellatus because it is threatened it would be a good thing to protect it.
But not only protecting the snakes is usefull. The habitat should also be protected otherwise it is useless.
I presume this atractive species is caught a lot from the wild or am i wrong?

[sschind]

I suppose it might be collected a lot. I just don't see that many garters in general being offered here in the states as they don't seem to be all that popular (as opposed to say a corn snake) I see quite a few wholesale lists and garters are not listed on many of them. Maybe its the "native" thing that turns people off. It seems that the rest of the world and Europe more specifically is way ahead of the US in breeding or even keeping garters. I know that there are a few people out there who are very serious about it and a lot of the people on this forum are more than simple beginners. Still, the garters have a long way to go before I would consider them a popular pet species here in the US.

You are very correct in your assessment of habitat conservation as well as protection of the species in general. From what I understand, with many species (the San Francisco garter for example) there is no reason why this should be an endangered species from the standpoint of numbers or the potential for extinction. The problem is that there is no place for them to live in their native range any more. It doesn't sound like it would be a problem to restock a large area with plenty of snakes but there simply isn't enough suitable habitat for it to happen.