Traveling around australia with herps

Hi guys, We are traveling around Australia in a motorhome and i never gave it a thought about quarantine laws for snakes and lizards when crossing boarders before i bought them, Hopefully it'll be ok. Does anybody know the laws on this.

Thanks people

 

A quick call to your local authority in your home state, and then each state authority prior to crossing their border should give you the right information, I know some species are not allowed to be kept in certain states, so if you get caught you may be in a bit of trouble.

 

You cannot take any Reptile over the boarderline between each state without first getting a import & export permit from each state wildlife authority.

Here in Victoria there are a number of Australian Reptiles that cannot be kept on private licences, so no-way would DSE authorise or give you permission to bring any of those Reptiles into Victoria, so if l was you l would get in touch with each state wildlife authority where you plan on traveling to, and see what they have to say in regards to you taking your captive Reptiles there good luck.

 

Yep, as stated, just not a possibility without heaps of paperwork, and some states have prohibitions on various species, for example you can only have WA species in WA, and no pythons can be legally moved into WA, even those you can keep on permit there. Don't try and beat the system, you'll end up having your animals confiscated and being charged yourself. Caravan park owners are told to look out for people with reptiles and report anything that looks dodgey.

Jamie

 

additionally to the rules broken, you will be stressing your animals with the vibration of road travel, and the inability to provide a consistent environment.

 

Good points Jack, just more strong reasons not to do it...
J

 

Ok thanks guys i think ya right, stupid question i suppose, i don't usually overlook things like that, i must have been caught up in the moment handling the snake, i might give him away to someone rather than loose him to the authority's

Good point as well jack, but having said that, a friend of my brother's had a 6" carpet that he used to take with him everywhere in his truck, used to hang out on the dash

And the bus does vibrate a fair bit

 

Yes... good move. Snakes given to 'authorities' are on a knife-edge!

J

 

ahahha 6ft python on the dash wont attact cops at all. i lost points because my dogs jumped into my lap while driving and cops thought i was driving with the dog in my lap.

 

So long as you are not traveling to WA or Tas and you snake is a common variety python it is fairly simple to do this
If you use a soft insulated box the vibrations etc have zero effect on the snakes
When moving keep the snake in a cotton bag like a pillow case to prevent possible whiplash injuries
My snakes went up and down the East Coast for years and were handled daily with no obvious signs of stress etc
{I had licences in each state]

 

You can't do that legally these days. Unless you're an exhibitor (read: another, more expensive licence) you can't move animals from state to state without permit. Even as an exhibitor you need to let the 'authorities' know when and for how long, and what species you plan to move. Crazy, but that's the way it is in good ol' Oz!

J

 

buggers! True though it was about 25 years ago or so.... nobody knocked anything off out of it in the suburbs

Good stuff longqi, i'll keep that soft box in mind

tasie was gonna be one of my next destinations too

aint that right! good ol aus... i believe in USA you are aloud to keep any native animal as pets and there is way less cats and feral animal pets to go around destroying the native animal population... good idea i recon

PS I fully understand the importance of keeping out curtain species out of some states

 

WA basically has a blanket ban on import of pythons. Our regulator (DEC) says it is due to IBD. So you will definately lose it if it comes into WA. And we have border check points at the top and the bottom. You could hide if of course but if you look nervous they will probably check the car over fully

 

Dont risk it i say. Might cost your snake its life if busted with it...

 

Yeah i think all you guys are right Cheers mat

Yeah not worth it hey Cheers