Some questions from a UK snake admirer

[acp290885]

Afternoon all, or night as it may be for you.

I've got a couple of questions and hopefully you don't mind answering them. I've had a look around online and on here for most things, so I'm just after some clarification.

I have recently taken on a Cornsnake that I was given by a young boy, a friend's kid, who didn't want her anymore and never picked her up except when he had to. She's 2 years old and about 4ft long, and over the past couple of weeks I've been getting her used to being handled. I've attached a picture of her at the bottom of this post.

I'm looking at emigrating to Australia and I was thinking about taking her, until I looked online. I now know that Cornsnakes are illegal in Australia unless you have a licence, am I right in assuming that you can only have a licence for an exotic like a corn if you are a zoo/reptile park?

Also, I'm thinking of moving to Tasmania and was wondering if someone could tell me what snakes, if any, you are allowed to keep in Tas.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Adam

 

[TheReptileCove]

hi Adam, i am also movint to Oz from UK in 3 weeks and was wandering if you know how much it costs to send reptiles over? thanks

Harrison..

 

[$NaKe PiMp]

yes our UK admirer freind,you are correct in that knowledge that there is no private ownership of exotics species whatsover and only zoo,s/wildlife parks are licenced.
However this is not in any way sad news as almost every species of Australian serpent is availible to the correct licenced keeper,so why would you want an exotic snake in this country of the most beautiful and amazing species.

Heres the great news,in Tasmania you can acquire a Herpetology permit http://www.blis.tas.gov.au/BLIS/licence/retrieve_licence_form?licence_form_id=20765

This means you can collect fromm the wild!!
but only 3 species of snake to collect,however there awsome species
i would have an amazing Tiger snake and copperhead collection if lived in Taz
Elapids are great snakes to keep and require you to be more careful but most people are more than capable of keeping these Tigers,copperheads and white lipped species,there really pleasant creatures

 

[TheReptileCove]

yes our UK admirer freind,you are correct in that knowledge that there is no private ownership of exotics species whatsover and only zoo,s/wildlife parks are licenced.
However this is not in any way sad news as almost every species of Australian serpent is availible to the correct licenced keeper,so why would you want an exotic snake in this country of the most beautiful and amazing species.

Heres the great news,in Tasmania you can acquire a Herpetology permit http://www.blis.tas.gov.au/BLIS/licence/retrieve_licence_form?licence_form_id=20765

This means you can collect fromm the wild!!
but only 3 species of snake to collect,however there awsome species
i would have an amazing Tiger snake and copperhead collection if lived in Taz
Elapids are great snakes to keep and require you to be more careful but most people are more than capable of keeping these Tigers,copperheads and white lipped species,there really pleasant creatures

i thought that you wasn't aloud them, thanks

 

[driftoz]

as far as i know no reptiles are allowed into australia

 

[$NaKe PiMp]

definantly no private Reptiles allowed into Australia,but like i said before the ones you can obtain and keep here are more than enough,there the best species in the world

 

[Travisty]

definantly no private Reptiles allowed into Australia,but like i said before the ones you can obtain and keep here are more than enough,there the best species in the world

as opposed to wholesale or public reptiles?

 

[acp290885]

Thanks for that Snake Pimp. The only reason I was interested in private ownership was because I've only just got her and it will be a shame to let her go to someone else, so I was thinking of bringing her with me. I would have still gotten some native snakes while I was there, as I think all snakes are beautiful. The reptile shop near me has a large collection, including several venomous snakes that they use for educational shows. The ones I can remember are Black Mamba, Diamondback Rattlesnake, Fer-de-lance (sp?), Monocled Cobra and even a King Cobra, but they also have many more that I can't remember the names of, including a spitting cobra of some kind. They don't sell the venomous snakes, but they do sell lots more, including Anacondas (both green and yellow), Green Tree Pythons (one of my favourite looking snakes), Boas and Reticulated Pythons, just to mention a few.

 

[Travisty]

short answer is no, you can't

 

[Kenshin]

you guys can keep some cool stuff over there id love a pair of yellow anaconda's, in short you cannot bring any fauna into the country with you, also i would have to say that Tasmania followed by WA have the worst reptile keeping laws unfortunatly

find out for sure where your moving and then we can give you all the info, if you can help it move to SA, NT or QLD i think QLD have the best laws in regards to keeping herps as you can basicly keep everything bar sea snakes, kraits and crocs

 

[spongebob]

The situation with Tassie is a little more complex than most others states. While they do permit some limited collection from the wild they dont permit importation from the mainland, so you are restricted to Tassie species.

 

[Kenshin]

The situation with Tassie is a little more complex than most others states. While they do permit some limited collection from the wild they dont permit importation from the mainland, so you are restricted to Tassie species.

ie... no pythons or colubrids just those lovely elapids

so diviating alittle from the thread as i tend to do....... does this mean that licenced people are permitted to collect theyre herps, are they also permitted to breed and trade/sell what they produce?

 

[Sel]

Nice snake..you cant bring her here unfortunately.

Why move to Tassie? New South Wales in much better

 

[anntay]

.

Why move to Tassie? New South Wales in much better

no Queensland is better not as cold. only go back to newcastle for holidays lol

 

[Rox.n.Lix]

in short you cannot bring any fauna into the country with you,

not entirely true. if you had a domestic dog or cat for example you can bring it with you, it just has to sit in quarantine for a number of months before they let you take it.

acp290885, you would be much better off sourcing your information from federal or state government websites to ensure you are getting the correct information.

Basically you cannot keep anything that isnt found roaming your back yard anyway. Obviously for traditional domestic pets such as dogs and cats that is slightly different (i haven't seen any great danes, or king charles cavaliers out in the wild lately.....).

Perhaps your local pet shop would be interested in buying your gorgeous corn snake?

 

[acp290885]

Kenshin, From what I've read online, and on the link that Snake Pimp gave, it is forbidden to buy or sell any reptiles in Tas. They can be caught in the wild, and given to other keepers, but not bought or sold.

Rox.n.Lix, I've already spoken to my local reptile shop, the one I spoke about above, and they are more than happy to take her off me when I emigrate. I have already told them that as I got her for free I won't want anything for her, other than a good home, and I think that the staff member I was talking to and showed the photo to was actually thinking of keeping her for himself when I do take her in.

The reason I'm looking at Tas is that my best friend is moving there in October, him and his partner are my "surrogate" parents. I used to go out with their daughter and they pretty much just took me on as another son. And unfortunately my dog is a bit too old to emigrate with us, her health is already starting to fail. She's the only reason we haven't emigrated yet, as Helen can't bear to leave her behind and we know she wouldn't survive the quarantine.

Thank you all for the replies, I can't wait to get to Australia and start getting some of your beautiful snakes, whichever area I end up in.

Adam

 

[Wally]

Victoria is only a short plane or ship ride to Tasmania. And you can keep almost everything here, even Crocs.

 

[PhilK]

So does that mean Tasmanians don't need a special elapid permit? They can just go out and catch one?

What kind of other herps can they keep - lizards etc

 

[Wally]

Tassieherper where are you?

 

[Kenshin]

So does that mean Tasmanians don't need a special elapid permit? They can just go out and catch one?

What kind of other herps can they keep - lizards etc

i dont think the list is terribly long unfortunatly