The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has made a significant move towards banning the importation and interstate transport of Boa Constrictors and Pythons in the United States. Quietly published in the Federal Register, the agency is accepting public comments until April 30th. If enacted this will devastate an already hard hit industry, dealing a fatal death blow to a large number of businesses dependent on this segment of the industry and drying up the supply of these pets to pet owners across the United States. Noted herpetologist, author, former zookeeper, and one of the leading private researchers and breeders of pythons in the United States, David Barker, had this to say...

This is the formal notification and request for public comments regarding the intention of USF&W Service to place ALL snakes in the genera Boa, Python, and Eunectes on the Injurious Wildlife List of the Lacey Act.

If enacted as regulation, this will ban the importation of said snakes into the USA , and ban all interstate transportation of said snakes.

There is a request made for public input and we feel it will be very important that all keepers with an interest in boas and pythons make written response before 30 April.

This is VERY important. Don’t take this lightly.

Once the importation and inter-state transport has been banned, there will be a rapid exodus of breeders of these species, and eventually they will disappear from the marketplace along with a significant number of businesses and jobs. Pet owners will feel the pinch as dry goods suppliers and caging manufacturers stop producing products for that segment of the hobby, and eventually it will be impossible to obtain a new pet boa or python.

To review the USF & W Service proposal, please look at the following document. http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=09000064803a565f

well thats not good.

i kind of understand why they do ut cuse ,most snakes in the boidae family are trouble pets in many ways. ie, their the ones unknowing people buy the most and then they these snakes grow huge and people just dutch them in the whild --> bermese pythons in the everglades. and it these snakes grow even bigger they can become a danger to owners and others.
i agree that there are some problems with snakes from the boidae family but this is not the best way to solve it.

i don't exactly know what will happon when the import is banned but i think breeders can keep the specemins we already have at a sustainable population to keep the trade going.

The ban also includes no shipping of them. So it would effectively shut the Boa and Python (even Balls are included in this) industry down. They are talking ALL species of Boas and Pythons. Balls, Angolans, Tree Boas, Kenyans, etc, etc.

And what is truly sad, the environmental aspect only effects a portion of Southern Florida. But they are considering a national ban. In the rest of the USA these animals are not capable of surviving. The climate will not allow it.

As far as being a danger, so is being in a car. A motorcycle. A plane. Trains. Buses. Playing countless sports. Dogs. Going parachuting, skiing, boating, mountain climbing, etc, etc, etc.

Last I heard this was the land of the free. I dont need the federal government deciding every aspect of my life for me. Although I must admit that everyday this country is looking more like the former USSR and not the USA.

As far as being a danger, so is being in a car. A motorcycle. A plane. Trains. Buses. Playing countless sports. Dogs. Going parachuting, skiing, boating, mountain climbing, etc, etc, etc.

yes i know but if a snake is a threat poeple react much more different to it, they just aren't used to snakes.

they are just over exagurating this, theirs no good reason to bann shipping inside the us ans as u said, the problems with boidae's are restricted to small area's and a handfull of species so their's no need to do this on such a big scale.

newname wrote:yes i know but if a snake is a threat poeple react much more different to it, they just aren't used to snakes.

I just dont understand how a snake in my home can be considered a threat. I am more of a threat to my neighbors than any of the snakes in my home.

well, for example. theire was something on national geo graphic about a full grown man that whas attacked by his 3,5 meter python. the man whas an experiances keeper but then he opend the cage the python attacked him out of instinct cuse he didn't have any pray to kill naturally and his instinct got the best of him. the guys wife called the cops and 5 cops tryd to release the man outof the pythins grip. eventually the man died.

it's not a common problem and it's not a big problem but when a snake grows over X long it becomes potentially dangerous and people over exagerate that.

i know ur snakes are not a threat but then again onley a handfull of species can reatch a size that may form a problem. and i dont see a good reason why all this chould happon on sutch a large scale.

and i bet ur neigtbors are more afraid of u

newname wrote:well, for example. theire was something on national geo graphic about a full grown man that whas attacked by his 3,5 meter python. the man whas an experiances keeper but then he opend the cage the python attacked him out of instinct cuse he didn't have any pray to kill naturally and his instinct got the best of him. the guys wife called the cops and 5 cops tryd to release the man outof the pythins grip. eventually the man died.

it's not a common problem and it's not a big problem but when a snake grows over X long it becomes potentially dangerous and people over exagerate that.

All of the below statistics are for the year 2004 in the USA. http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm
5,976 pedestrians died.
843 bicycle riders died.
44,933 in auto accidents died.
91 died while riding a horse or horse drawn carriage.
402 drowned in bath tubs.
625 drowned in swimming pools.
1,638 died falling down stairs.
27 by dog bite.
0 by nonvenomous reptiles.

Do freak accidents happen like the one you pointed out? Sure they do. But I think the numbers clearly show that large boas and pythons are the least of anyones worries. And any kind of legislation based on being a possible threat is purely fictional. As is the argument of them harming the environment across the USA considering only about 15%-20% of Florida has the type of climate that would allow their propagation. Every where else in the USA the first winter would kill them.

newname wrote:it's not a common problem and it's not a big problem but when a snake grows over X long it becomes potentially dangerous and people over exagerate that.

i don't say that they happon alot and that it's a realistic problem, infact i say it's overexagerrated.

and i don't support the banning of pythons or boas, imjust as much against it as you are.

im just pointing out why people react like they do and that is because whenever a freak accident happons it is all over the press.
and we cant ignore the fact that most people aren't comfortable with snakes and will not see anything positively comming from them.

What do we do to prevent this? Where do we send letters to? I am not giving up my babies. They can kill me first.

sidneymysnake wrote:What do we do to prevent this? Where do we send letters to? I am not giving up my babies. They can kill me first.

There is a link at the end of the original post in this thread that gives you all the information.

I tried, literally a dozen times to send a message through that website. Every time I clicked "Next Step" it brought me directly back to the same page that I was supposedly sending my information from. Either the site is down, or this particular branch of the site is acting on a continuous loop that disallows posting. Viva la revolucion!

does that mean corn snakes too?

Dragon_Girl wrote:does that mean corn snakes too?

No.

this is a frustrating situation. i mean, aren't a good amount of boas and pythons that are imported wild caught? i wouldn't be opposed to cutting back on some of that. shut down the companies that are taking the snakes out of their natural habitat and let the companies that are breeding captive animals continue to operate. because for the most part, its the wild caught reptiles that are the biggest threat to people. captive bred snakes know a humans touch from the moment they are born. humans aren't a threat to them. humans are their caretakers.

i know there are captive bred boas and pythons being imported, which makes this situation so difficult. as with many things in life you are usually forced to choose one way or another, there is no compromise...

why isnt there some sort of license or something required to import? i mean im sure there is, but put more restriction on the license and not the hobby.

abuck13 wrote:I tried, literally a dozen times to send a message through that website. Every time I clicked "Next Step" it brought me directly back to the same page that I was supposedly sending my information from. Either the site is down, or this particular branch of the site is acting on a continuous loop that disallows posting. Viva la revolucion!

I had that same problem so I'm just going to write a letter up and send it through snail mail. I am making everyone I know do the same so hopefully we can stop this from happening.