illegal corn snake

[Spinipes]

half the time people i know on the central coast who need a snake removed its a corn. i hand them in to the local ranger who destroys them. ive given him atleast 20 adults in the last 2 years to destroy, hopefully they will not become a problem in the hawksberry, some keepers are just stingy can't fork out $60 for a licence or $150 for a spotted, and keep them in a "stingy" enclosure so the escape and threaten our native wildlife. look whats happened ot the bilby due to the introduction of rabbits.

 

[Jason]

imo they will cause a problem in the future, as will chameleons. veileds are being kept and bred in high numbers these days and they are so hardy and breed like mad!! some females will have clutches 2-3 times a yr of 70 eggs or more. not only this they are from areas not to dissimilar to sydney in terms of conditions. i have heard from leading herps that if they get their numbers up in the bush they will take a hold and breed like mad. look at sliders, i bet people always said that they would never take hold and cause a threat. its only a matter of time!

it is funny when they are trying to brag about there exotics and you get to tell them how crap you think the snake is and how stupid it is to keep them...haha.

 

[iGotHerps]

I wonder if she had any other native reptiles on the premesis, never know there might be a ballot system come up soon because of some seized reptiles. one persons loss......another persons gain. Silly woman, has she not seen what we have here in this country.

 

[Bushfire]

Victoria doesnt have a ballot system what natives get taken go to melb zoo and what they dont want or get rid of gets destoryed. But in this case because of exotic factor everything gets destoryed.

 

[DennisS]

Bit long winded but.....

I felt i had to post here as a few years ago i had a close encounter wit IBD. i had a female coastal for 13 years which my girlriend who is snake-phobic bought me i decided to breed her and bought her a S.A. bred male (the offspring were beutiful). then i saw a male from queensland that i wanted to breed with her as he was awesome, within 2 months he was dead then a month later my other male started stargazing then tying himself in knots i then euthanised him as i couldn't whatch his pain any longer. Then a couple of weeks later my 13 year old female started doing the same as i had had her for so long i didn't have the heart to kill her so let her go for 2 months trying everything i could think of to help/cure her i eventualy gave her to NP&WS who sent her to gribbles then Perth Uni who have told me she had inclusion bodies but until tests are available IBD is not 100% certain but could be what caused it. I now have to pay out for 2 licences a year as i quarintine all new purchases at 1 house for 6-12 months before moving them to my house, i use F10 to clean all enclosures and shower and change clothes between houses and do not let people touch my animals until they wash and sterilise their hands. This is a major pain but people like the above woman want animals that shouldn't be bought into this country for their own selfish reasons. I think lock them in a cage and throw away the key rabbits, canetoads, foxes and other ferals have done enough damage to our wildlife now we also have to contend with devastating viruses because idiots cant control their urges to have animals that they shouldn't

 

[Spinipes]

I wonder if she had any other native reptiles on the premesis, never know there might be a ballot system come up soon because of some seized reptiles. one persons loss......another persons gain. Silly woman, has she not seen what we have here in this country.

their won't be a ballot they will just be destroyed.

Jason: hopefully npws and dse will keep doing what their doing busting people. alot of the stuff goes unpublished with people handing in the animals through a third party from what ive heard it usually a neibour who decovers their illegal and threaten to dob them in unless they hand them in to be euthanised. hopefully veilds wouldn't survive a nsw winter.all we need to do is dob as many in before it becomes a major problem

 

[hawkesbury reptiles]

This debate is quite an interesting one. The main reason people keep most of these snakes (using corns as an example) is their colours. The average person who wants A snake will see a corn and want one....what native snake species do we have that can compete with their bright, vibrant colours?? and the different morphs etc. and price. Unfortunately this is the truth, as was shown at the recent hawkesbury show where 2 corns were on display at the NPWS tent....even though they were labelled 'exotic' and 'illegal' and 'bad because'.....etc...people still had to be told they were not allowed and why.........sooo,

the debate about Xing snakes......is it better to cross our native snakes to get better, brighter colours that appeal to non herpers who just want a snake....which is a lot more people than you think......??? we herpers are only a small part of the population.

Education is the key......

 

[DennisS]

I agree with you kelly i try to do what i can to get "herp-haters" to see them in a better way and i've changed quite a few peoples minds on reptiles. But going against what i said above maybe national parks need to look at this problem. A few months ago i saw a cage full of green iguana hatchlings at a croc farm up north( i love these exotics and if allowed i'd own one ) when i asked what happens to them i was told the ones that zoos and parks dont want are euthenised and was then shown a freezer with unwanted hatchling exotics in it (i could have cried). If these animals have been through quaritine and are bred here why cant we get a permit to keep them even if they ( govt ) says they have to be sterilised before we get them to stop intentional or unintentional breeding by the owners and escapees into the wild builing up breeding colonys.

 

[Mulga92]

stupid berks. why the hell would you even wnat to bring in exotics when we have this amazing variety of wildlife right here in australia?

 

[Jonno from ERD]

the debate about Xing snakes......is it better to cross our native snakes to get better, brighter colours that appeal to non herpers who just want a snake....which is a lot more people than you think......??? we herpers are only a small part of the population..

Not to change the topic too much, but I bet you couldn't name a single hybrid animal that is brighter than a "pure" animal.

 

[snakesrule]

"Mr Larner would not divulge how investigators learnt about the snake in Warrnambool.:"
That's interesting... I wonder how they found out...

Generally when the police go in with DSE.
Exotics animals are not the only thing their looking for.

 

[Australis]

This debate is quite an interesting one. The main reason people keep most of these snakes (using corns as an example) is their colours.....

The main reason ive seen for a persons desire to keep snakes isnt based on apperance at all
just a fascination with the animal in general and native fauna as a whole.

For me the desire to keep another new species is usually based on observing them in the wild
which futher fuels my interest.

And i agree with jonno cross breeding snakes to get brighter snakes is complete BS.
Perhaps you mean mutations/morphs etc, which can and usually are locality pure
so a totally different kettle of fish.

 

[hawkesbury reptiles]

Hi Jonno

Yes that is true with just straight crossing of one species to another but here are many breeders working behind the 'scenes' on this type of thing.......I guess you could call it line breeding but with cross animals?. Some of the animals are definately better than 'pure' animals.......if colour and patterning are what is desired.

Sorry to change the topic.....

 

[BJC-787]

a person i know just got caught with 3 corns. one adult and 2 hatchlings
he just paid $150 each for the hatchlings that were the snow phase. he was telling me about it on friday, they just took the corns and he didn't get a fine or anything.

 

[$NaKe PiMp]

corns are for losers lol

 

[Miss_Croft]

I think some of you are asking why people would want to keep exotic reptiles in Australia. There are a few reasons I can think of:

• You do NOT need a license
• From what you have said they are very easy to get hold of
• They have great colours (look at this thread)

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/exotics-other-reptiles/pictures-of-herp-show-ulm-80519

• Even the Australian animals OS often look better (Look at the Dragons in the above link

Often a new phase of reptile/bird is smuggle into Australia (This was common with the Budgie for example).

What I think the Australian government can do to reduce the desire/want to have exotic animals is to reduce/remove licence requirement for keeping MANY of the Australian animals (Including reptiles). Encourage people to have native pets instead of introduced animals cat/dog/rabbit/ferret… This will do a few things – reduce the cost and effort of ownership of native animals, increase the effort to breed morphs (Not hybrids as mentioned above) and most of all increase the animal gene pool. Counting animals (What MOST conservation efforts in Australia are doing) does NOT bring an animal back from extinction – nor does forced habitat protection (Say you cannot build because we found a rear butterfly/lizard/snake/fish/marsupial on your property – it just results in habitat and animal destruction. (if your property is going be worth say 50% of the value with a plant/animal on it – then the owner will quietly kill/destroy it).

In the case of exotics – they are here – many people in this tread have talked about them – there is an article in the popular press every few weeks on another bust - why not do to reptiles as they did for birds – invest some time to make an assessment into the invasive risk and what is already here – make it legal to keep (NOT IMPORT). (ie take them of the illegal list) This will allow the open trade and will reduce smuggling (cruel to animal, introduce diseases…).

Just for the record – I have not known anyone in Australia (outside a zoo) with an exotic reptile. Only heard about a friend of a friend…

 

[bubbaloush]

"its way out of hand and theres nothing that can be and ever will be done to slow it down."

Actually there is something that can be done, how many people in this thread has said they have been offered illegal snakes or know of someone with a illegal snake?

Simple if all these people got reported, it would help reduce the amount of exoctics kept illegally in australia, sounds simple hey?

I really don't get why people have not reported people that keep and breed illegals, we all know its illegal, they know its illegal, i think it takes more guts to report someone then it does to keep them.

The simple fact that people have said these snakes have been found after being released proves exactly why they need reporting, they aren't keepers that love the snake if they simply release them, they need to give them up to the appropriate authorities.


But hey thats just my opinion, i have never been offered an exotic but if i did i would be reporting who ever offered them to me.

 

[Noongato]

I have a dead corn in a jar that my uncle gave to me. I also have a E brown in a jar that the dogs got.

 

[Auzlizardking]

half the time people i know on the central coast who need a snake removed its a corn. i hand them in to the local ranger who destroys them. ive given him atleast 20 adults in the last 2 years to destroy, hopefully they will not become a problem in the hawksberry, some keepers are just stingy can't fork out $60 for a licence or $150 for a spotted, and keep them in a "stingy" enclosure so the escape and threaten our native wildlife. look whats happened ot the bilby due to the introduction of rabbits.

This is it cheap - some people want a cheap snake, don't pay for a licence and get a fish tank - all done on the cheap.
This make you feel sick and these people don't care what happens if or when this snake get out.

 

[gavan]

Just dob them in, the more the better.