What are the reptile laws in your country?

[kevyn]

Hey,
I'm a Canadian keeper and lean towards Southeast Asian species of snakes. All my snakes are captive bred and hatched, they are all clean and disease free. My wife and I are planning a move to Australia in the next few years. I was hoping someone can tell me what exactly are the laws regarding the private keeping of reptiles. I'm gathering a permit is required, but is the keeping of venomous allowed? I understand that Australia has been seriously damaged by introduced species but is there a permit or license to allow the keeping of exotic snakes? Also some Australian species here cost a small fortune to buy, like green trees, diamond pythons, and bredls just to name a few. What are the costs like there? Sorry to ask so many questions and thanks very much for your time.

 

[Belinda]

WEll in NSW we have different levels of licencing, class 1,2,3 or based on the level of care ect...It will explain it in more detail here.

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Reptile+keepers+licence

Go to Complete outline of the NSW reptile licensing system (PDF - 42KB)

BTW Welcome to APS! What reptiles do you keep?

 

[mystic_herps]

In Australia you can't legally own any exotics unless licenced as a private zoo or an exhibitionist of education & awareness.

The standard reptile keepers licensing starts off with a basic class 1 that allows you to keep the easy and/or non endangered species.You may progress to upgrade your licence after a certain amount of time and when a few criteria features are met.

Class 2 allows harder animals to keep and/or rarer species.On a class 2 you may also apply for endorsements to keep elapids once you meet certain requirements and criteria.

Prices are alot cheaper here for Australian animals than you would be used to paying over there.For eg: Diamonds & Bredli average $350 each for hatchlings.

Note:
Different states have different classes of licences.I have described NSW.

Also GTP are worth a fortune here due to ONLY Aus species being allowed to be kept (PNG,Indonesia etc species being exotic)...

 

[Belinda]

*blinks*....What he said! :d

 

[westhamsc]

in vistoria we have the basic and the advanced wildlife licences but it's the same as what mystic_herps said

 

[Morelia_man]

up in the NT we got the most easiest permit system, this is the place to be

 

[africancichlidau]

Depends what part of Oz you are coming to. In Victoria there are the two classes of licence, Basic, and Advanced, no time between either or tests etc. Only difference being in cost and allowed species. If you are coming to Victoria and would like more info just PM me and give me your mailing address and I will send you the blurb put out by the Department. One thing in case you're thinking of your snakes emigrating with you, you won't have much chance of that as all exotic imports are banned, get caught bringing 'em in and when you get out of gaol you won't be able to get a licence. The laws are pretty strict over here now.

 

[Fuscus]

The permit system differs from state to state(but you have already realized that). In South Australia a class 1 fauna licence (beginners) is just a matter of paying money ($AUD40 per year), a class 2 requires you having a class 1 for a year and proof that you have sucessfully kept reptiles. Forget importing reptiles, thre is a almost non-existant possiblity of getting a permit and the animals wil require 13 months quarrantine. Movement of reptiles between states (except WA) requires red-tape but (at least in SA) importing reptiles just requires filling in a form (NO Money) and waiting for permission.
As for prices, have a look at the trading pages on this site and here are some URLS of sellers
(NOTE : Breeding has just started down here and the shelves are near empty - they will fill up shortly)
http://reptile.senet.com.au/price.html
http://www.reptilesdownunder.com/ahc/search.php
http://www.snakesnt.com/
http://herptrader.com.au/

I've included pails for scales butI can't find his price list
http://www.pailsforscales.com/home.htm

 

[NoOne]

You have no chance at all in bringing your snakes with you. You'll have to start over when you get here.
Hatchlings start becoming avalible from November and i think you would find most of our prices pretty good.

 

[africancichlidau]

Pails for scales price list is there, you have to go to the relevant page and then "mouse over" where it says "mouse over" for price list Strange but true, maybe he was trained by the Croc hunter

 

[kevyn]

First off thanks so much for all your replies. I can't recall who offered to email a copy of the licensing laws and all that but I'll mail you soon. To answer Belle-Belinda's question I keep burmese pythons (including the albinos), ball pythons (royal pythons), spotted pythons, rosy boas, boa constrictors, amazon tree boas, jungle carpet pythons, wagler's temple pit vipers. I should be getting a majove rattlesnake pretty quick, and will be adding some bloods and short tail pythons, as well as some retics, most likely the tigers and super tigers. Oh ya, I forgot my iguana. I'll post some pictures soon once I get a chance to explore the site abit more and figure how things work. My albino burm rocks as does the temple viper. I'm hoping to get some baby gaboons in the spring (late March, April, May here) and some sri lankin palm vipers and some white lipped vipers. Thanks again all.

 

[lutzd]

What are you planning on doing with all of your snakes when you come over here, because you won't be able to bring them with you!

Sounds like a very impressive collection. It'd break my heart to have to leave a collection like that.. :cry:

 

[nobojono]

.

imagine what he could have here after selling his collection tho :shock:

 

[kevyn]

Actually alot of that stuff is really cheat here. Albino burms are actually more expensive in the U.S. I don't know what I'll do with them, its killing me the thought of it though. Maybe something will come up. My new mantra is: I love elapids, I love elapids.

 

[Amy]

In WA our rules are extremly strict (may be the most strict) when it comes to importing. As people have already stated, you cant bring your snakes into Australia from Overseas. Once you get to Australia, if you decide to settle in West Aus, you will not be able to buy snakes/reptiles from any other state or territory. WA bred snakes only. We can not feed live food and have a limited list of what reptiles we can keep as pets. We have only been allowed to keep reptiles as pets since March 7th of this year.

As for prices, because we have only just been toldwe can keep snakes as pets, prices are sky high. a Stimsons Python which could cost 150$ - 300$ etc from any other state will cost around 600 -700 aussie dollars here. Prices should come down as herping becomes more popular in WA

 

[Robert]

Hi Kevyn,
Sunny Queensland is the place to be.(I'll cop it for that,but it is true),We have a couple of licences aswell.A Recreational Licence-Allowing you to keep most python's,colubrid's and Lizards.
There is also a Specialist Licence-Allowing you to keep Rare Python's and Elapids etc.Easy access to all animals via internet paper's but no shop's.Shipping interstate requires amovement advise but is very cheap.Welcome to APS.Hope to see some of your collection one day in the gallery it sounds great.

 

[africancichlidau]

Hi Kev, I have sent you an email with some stuff to read and have emailed the department asking them for licensing details and species lists etc so I will forward that when I get it.

 

[Fuscus]

To follow on from Amy feeding of live food (ie furball , birds and maybe frogs - others don't count) is illegal in all states - it is illegal in SA. People in other states please tell us, can you legally feed live mammals to reptiles?

 

[NoOne]

Don't know if it's legal in NSW but who cares, how are they going to catch ya.

 

[Amy]

Just quickly (at work)

Fuscus: we West Aussies cant feed any live animal to a snake including mice, rats and what not. (Dont know if crickets count etc.)

No-one: If someone (supplier, pet shop owner, a person who comes to your front door trying to get you to convert) even suspects you of feeding live animals to snakes, you'll be investigated and if found guilty, well, hope you have a deeeep back pocket.