The 5 DUMBEST Reptile Laws and One That Just Changed The Hobby Forever! 

What is the silliest reptile law you have in your area?

I was chocked when I heard they were euthanized. Here (Sweden) if some animal you own happens to become illegal to have, you get to have that animal until it passes away. I think taking their life away is insanely cruel, for both the reptile and the owner. 😅

SO glad USARK stopped that bill, as a military family with 8 reptiles we were nervous 😬

Perfectly legal for me to keep my cobras but no cornsnakes or eastern hogs. Makes loads of sense 😂

I've always wanted to see a "Shoulder Pet" list. like Diamond, or a ball, or several others you can almost set and forget on your shoulders while you walk around.

I agree 100%. Everything you mention is logical. Too bad there are people that make laws that have no idea what they are talking about.

Banning species that couldn’t survive in the wild is the one that’s always baffled me. I live on mainland Australia and each state has a list of species you can keep under their permit system. I’m very lucky, the state of Victoria, where I live has a long list of species we can keep. But in Tasmania, the little island at the bottom of Australia, you can only keep species that are native there. So no carpet pythons, bearded dragons, green tree frogs etc There’s like 3 species of venomous snakes, a couple of lizards and one or 2 frogs. But Tassie is freezing more often than not. No non native species would survive in the wild!! It just makes no sense. Wish the laws were made by people that actually understood what they were talking about. I’m all for avoiding introducing non native species to the wild- but there’s no way a feral population of beardies or bhp’s are going to set up shop in Tassie, NOT gonna happen!!!!!

Also super stoked that there is now a dubia substitute that is available to us! I am a licensed paralegal in Ontario and the law is often a shotgun, not a scalpel, and when laws are made without the right context and info, this is what you get.

Legal roaches for Canada?! THANK YOU!! :D Our blue tongue and schneider will be thrilled!!

First! Other than that I'm so glad you covered this material! Some of the laws we have to deal with in the hobby are absolutely ridiculous Adam! We happen to have some of those legal roaches from Ants as well! They have revolutionized the reptile hobby here! Keeping Native Species should be legal, no sense why not. Can't become invasive if it already exists here!!! I never understood the whole thing with dubias. Let's hope ARK and other groups keep pushing to get these laws revoked and stopped! As always thanks for your content! Love Reptiles of Lustria

As much as I appreciate how easy my state makes it for me to walk out of expos with venomous snakes... it's absolutely bonkers!

Yup… Here in Virginia a law passed last year that allows you to only own 1 native herp. Not one per species, but 1 animal. If you have a Bullfrog, you can’t also have an Eastern Gartersnake… Which is just as ridiculous as not having any… The only exceptions are Cornsnakes, Eastern Kingsnake, and Northern Pinesnake. The trade off was they did legalize Axolotls… 🙄

You can own corn snakes in my state, but because theyre endangered here, youre only allowed to keep certain morphs, and no dark eyes, even if you bred your own and they just happened to hatch out of the egg looking a certain way.

Not currently a reptile keeper, but an aquarium hobbyist in the US and the law would’ve greatly affected my hobby as well! Basically all that could cross state lines were dogs, cats and farm animals. Stand up to government overreach everywhere people! Loved your take on registration as well, it’s step one towards confiscation. Proud 2nd Amendment supporter here

Another great video from The Canadian G.O.A.T. Reptile keepers need to look no further than BSL related to dogs to see what's coming down the pipeline. Support USARK. Thanks for sharing Adam, take care buddy.👊🏾🪖🦅🇨🇱🇨🇦

I turned this into a drinking game every tine you said "Silly goose" Im on my way to get my stomach pumped lol love your videos love your nunber #1 with the same line of thinking!

I live in Florida so we definitely have some more intense laws but honestly as of right now, they're not that bad but I'm worried they'll get worse. Dubias are illegal here but we can have Discoids. Basically any non-native roach is illegal which makes sense to me because we have enough roaches for sure lol. Unfortunately a lot of the banned species are due to people releasing in the wild and the species taking over (burmese pythons, green iguanas). It's tough because responsible reptile owners have to pay for the actions of others. I am also a huge cat lover and the way people treat cats breaks my heart. I'm at the point where it should be a crime to breed cats or not fix your cat because literally there are SO MANY cats that need homes and feral cats having kittens on the street. I volunteer with an organization to get them fixed, released, and any kittens adopted out. But there's just way too many irresponsible people when it comes to cats. I don't think think cats should be hunted because that cat could be someone's pet. Sometimes they accidentally get out and someone (like myself) is desperately waiting for them to come home.

You missed the most obvious one ... In the USA it's illegal to sell a turtle with a shell length of under four inches. This law was supposedly passed because people thought young children would put baby turtles in their mouth and get salmonella poisoning. It somehow never occurred to the authors of the law that children could contract salmonella from ANY size turtle if they put their hands in their mouth after handling it.

The native thing is such a pain in the butt. I love bullsnakes. They're native to Illinois, 2 states away from me. But I can't go to Tinley, the biggest show in the nation and buy a bullsnake from there. Or, at least not without jumping through hoops with stupid paperwork and extra fees. WHY?! A captive bred snow morph bullsnake is doing nothing to the native wild population. Everything was spot on in this video. Love it.

Saskatchewan resident here. Ball pythons were actually *just* made legal!! Everyone’s so happy lol also, I don’t know if it was the meme or not, but the capital is Regina, not Saskatoon lmao. Nobody knows why but still

I'm in NC and got my NC wildlife permit to keep my tegu as soon as they started taking applications. But when I received it, the expiration date is the end of the year, which isn't even a year from the date of issuance. So it makes me wonder what they've got up their sleeves

I agree. In BC, it is illegal to keep False Water Cobra's for...... I honestly have no idea why. I've wanted one soo badly since seeing Emily and Ed's. So gorgeous and unique and amazing. Did all the research, was looking for one, than was checking the laws for funnsies, only to discover they were banned. I mean, crocodiles, hots, etc makes sense. But False Water Cobras? Why?

Saskatchewan recently (2021) changed their laws and we are now allowed some pythons and boas provincially, though some municipalities have restrictions still. I heard Saskatoon bylaws are supposed to change to match the province's restrictions. As far as I am aware, Sask. did new restrictions on some animals (ie. red eared sliders), and residents were required to notify the ministry prior to November last year to be able to keep them for the remainder of the animal's life.

I used to live in a city that literally was split in half between two states. We had a street named State Street and one half was one state and the other side was another state. It was interesting during the pandemic. Half the city was shut down. But the other was fully open.

Reptile Keepers: "Questions dumb laws". Government: "Because we said so".

In Illinois, I have to get a license and register my hognose because they are threatened or something here. And each year, I have to update that. They make it super easy (to own 1 at least) but still I am sure it discourages people. And, as you say, if they decide tomorrow that I can't have one, they are coming to get it.

London Ontario has a bylaw against having snakes over 2 feet long, its infuriating

The laws where you can't buy native animals, but *can* wild-collect them drive me up the wall. That's the opposite of conservation 🙄

I totally agree. Another example in the invert pet hobby in Canada is Giant African Land Snails (a semi-tropical large land snail species). There is so much controversy over these species. Yes, Florida has issues with one species in particular being invasive, but in Canada where if one got out it would die come late September when temperatures start to drop at night. I think often what happens is the United States makes a law and then Canada follows suit with blanket laws without really thinking why they are adopting similar laws. It gets so bad that it turns pet hobbyists against each other. FB forums are writhe with people chewing someone who is curious about GALS a new one just because they asked about them. When people are asked why there is the rule - they can't say why, they just state the rule over and over. It's absurd. To note: I am speaking about owning captive bred animals in Canada, not importing them from Africa. It's also unclear in canada whether this is only an import law or whether this is a total ban on captive owning (which as noted is absurd).

Your new iguana is beautiful! I hope you make a large planted enclosure for them.

great vid! side note on common eastern garters in Ontario, I've been told by multiple sources you can keep them here as long as they aren't the same morph as our wild ones. So if you find an albino/melanistic you'd be good to go. There is an awesome guy in London ON who has erythristic! The one that shocks me is you can keep a Capybara here. What a world we live in lol

Speaking of hots, a kid in NC let a zebra cobra loose a couple years ago! Not sure if he was keeping it legally or not but it caused some panic for sure.

It's funny with the roaches here in Canada because I clearly remember watching the guys at the local reptile store in London, Ontario opening a box filled with those green roaches. We were all wondering how that made it though the boader. London, Ontario had annoying size laws that no one really listened to. Now I'm in NB, outside the provincal laws, the only law in my city is you can't take your reptiles out for a walk 😂 hope it stays that way.

Great video! ❤ I’m curious as to what (if any) laws you think are smart swans. If you could redo all the reptile laws from scratch what do you think would work best for that support reptile keeping and discourage poaching?

The iridescence that your footage of the retics displays is phenomenal, beautiful animals. Unfortunately for me there’s a species ban where I live so I can’t even consider dwarf retics 😭

I am in the Kitchener Waterloo area. A bunch of years ago we went to battle with Waterloo city hall over reptiles and snakes. So literally on one road, it divided Kitchener and Waterloo down the middle of the road. Literally on one side of the street you could own large snakes, the other side you couldn't have any. It was a joke

Fortunately if I hate a law I dont follow it. I have venomous snakes that are illegal in my state, I happily transport my burmese python, retic and others over state lines, I keep native species well over the legal limit, I have a giant African Land Snail despite them being Illegal in the US, I keep massive snakes like my burmese python, retic and my monitors despite the fact that my state has size bans, and I never register any of my animals.

In New Zealand we cannot keep any snakes and most other reptiles because apparently tropical species could be a concern for native wildlife in our cold country where they would die in like a week

In Illinois, in terms of native species, you can catch them from the wild with a fishing license, but you can’t captive breed them or buy native species from outside the state unless the breeding stock is not from Illinois. So the law seems to encourage wild caught rather than ethical captive breeding.

Where I live created a new law that I can't keep corn snakes in WV now because they try and say they are native here but they were only found in one location in the 1920s. Luckily I didn't get one from an expo on impulse because I found out after the show.

These are some great points. I can't help but wonder if the North Carolina thing with tegus is because of all the trouble Florida's having with them? So much so that you're allowed to capture tegus and kill them there ☹ I love the TPB references, I immediately thought of the Sansquanch haha

I stand by the registration we have in the EU for European tortoises and similar animals. If they ban something, they only ban the sale so you can keep those pets until they die. What I have a problem with is the recent ban on the Lampropeltis species. They have overpopulated on the Canarian islands that are over 1000km from Europe and will be banned to sell next year... Like if you go by that, Mauritius is French, so it's also part of the EU and anything can survive there so we should literally ban every reptile or what?

In the UK we have a wild animal licence which includes truly venomous snakes and crocodilians which makes a lot of sense

You can now own ball pythons in Saskatchewan! Law changed last year. I just bought my first banana.

I’m in Ottawa and the bylaws are ridiculous. Can’t agree with you more about the size ban and registration! Even if my pet escaped, as you said multiple times in the video … it’s not surviving our winters lol

the absolute volume of silliness in these gooses

In Maine, you can take things like turtles and snakes from the wild without a license. As long as it's not protected and you don't intend to profit off it or move it across state lines. But we also have the dreaded, White List, for all exotic species. It's extremely limited especially to our neighbors in New Hampshire.

The silliest laws in arkansas is that we can't possess rock, Burmese, or reticulated pythons. But anacondas (green or yellow) are a gray area. This doesn't make sense due to the crazy winters we have. No they aren't as cold as Canada and other places but it gets cold and I don't believe they would survive.

As a Canadian I think it’s beyond stupid I can’t keep native species one of my favorite snakes of all time is a gray rat snake thanks Canada

Just FYI in the south eastern U.S. the laws regarding snakes, has a lot to do with old snake handling churches. They used to go out and capture all sorts of native snakes to use in religious practice. (They were pretty disposable too)

I love the term “sillygoosery”

Axolotls being banned in several U.S. states is one of the most ridiculous things EVER. They die at the drop of a hat with even slightly wrong conditions. My girl has permanently damaged gills from something that happened years ago (before I even got her). I can’t imagine her surviving more than a day if I dumped her

Yeah Colorado has some weird laws for sure. I get some of them, especially against poaching, but some of them are silly.

Never pegged you for a gun guy, but the registration/confiscation argument was exactly what I was thinking and then you said it.

THANK you USARK! And thanks Adam for making this video that I wholeheartedly agree with!

Hi, Mr. Adam, sir. Missourians can have hognose snakes, however, they have to go through the state Conservation Department and register for keeping a venomous snake. I know that the Conservation Department will complete a home inspection process to confirm that it won't get loose. I don't know if there is a limit on how many you can have but I do know that a separate registration for each venomous species that is kept. So someone who wants both a rattlesnake and a hognose snake will need two separate registrations and inspections.

My state's (South Carolina) law on turtles.... got really weird. I totally get conservation for a lot of them. But you have to register to breed, and can't have over like a limit if you don't.... I want one.... finding one local is a nightmare, nothing online pops up by searching and I'm not good enough at searching forums and things to find it. (Eventually I may go the mail order route, but 99% of the UPS & Fedex drivers here just throw my packages down on the porch, so I'd have to be stalking for them.)

I wonder if the native species thing has to do with captive bred animals mixing with local, native populations.

Wait until you find out about the animal laws here in TN. The only legal way to keep native species is with a permit for rehabilitation, or if you explicitly have a record that you adopted it from an official, usually out of state, seller. Like if you find a baby possums or baby bird that needs help, it's illegal to keep it without a rehabilitation permit. I understand that TN has national parks but it doesn't matter how far away you are from one of those sites, it's illegal to herp or house a native species, no matter how plentiful the species is. So if you want a really cool newt or salamander but it's native here, you are going to have to either buy it out of another state or risk buying it online, and there is no guarantee that it will be allowed back to where you live. It's very frustrating.

While I do love keeping reptiles I also work in reptile and amphibian conservation and therefore have mixed feelings about such laws. You talk about poaching several times. Unfortunately it is not only about what people take out of the wild but also what they bring in. Even if a reptile or amphibian species has no potential to be invasive in a certain place, their pathogens might. With the pet trade a fungal disease was introduced to europe recently and it killed off 95% of local salamander populations. Because of such examples it can make sense to restrict trade across borders. In general I think we as a community have to step up our game and make sure we do not threaten wildlife by introducing species or pathogens. Otherwise we cannot complain about such laws.

There used to be restrictions based on certain large species of snakes here, but that was repealed. I suspect they knew those who wanted them were keeping them anyway and it wasn't causing any issue so the cost to try to enforce the regulation just didn't make sense. There are hoops to jump through to keep venomous snakes (as there should be). Rear fanged venomous are in kind of a grey area (even more so for western hognose snakes which are native). You can do it by paying a fee and filling out some paperwork.

You are the best RU-vidr ever wicked wickens reptile have a great day have a cool day have a super day wicked wickens reptile

I raise birds and we have similar laws to these. Although most of the birds I own either require a state license, a federal license or you need to have paperwork from a licensed owner giving you permission to own certain birds. Most birds do not need to be registered individually, as long as you have a federal license you can own mostly anything that isn’t a raptor or predatory bird.

Interesting comments on registration... I wonder, here in my small city you have to register all dogs, so would the same risk apply, if one day suddenly the govt. decides to ban this type of dog, they know you have it, would your dog be a risk of being confiscated ? I totally agree with the idea of licensing. Especially if you're having a BIG reptile, to show that you know how to handle it and care for it properly.

I am so mad...Hognose snakes are banded in Hungary for example...because it counts as a venomous snake...ridiculous...

Let's be honest the laws pretty much always come from the dog and cat crowd. People that think dogs and cats are the only pets and literally think they can make decisions for others. Those folks love to say it's because of feral reptiles but feral cats are the US's worst feral issue. 🤦🤦

Americans are stubborn and stuck in our ways, we can acknowledge the metric system is better and makes more sense, but changing to it is apparently out of the question

Wildlife conservation policy background here: A lot of the interstate transport laws are about cracking down on the transport and smuggling of legally dubious/illegal animal products and animals-less about somebody’s pet tegu and much more about the (really serious) problems of people trafficking endangered and/or poached animals and/or body parts for the exotic pet trade and for “traditional medicines” and skin collectors/etc. I’m talking things like wild cats and even big cats (people get caught trafficking tiger and leopard cubs all the time), parrots and rare birds (looots of parrots, it’s one of the biggest sources of smuggling revenue because they’re often endangered/restricted and they take years to raise and reproduce slowly in captivity), endangered turtles and lizards, monkeys (usually baby monkeys for the pet trade), lemurs and bushbabies, restricted saltwater fish and corals, and so on. These happen in the absence of a uniform federal policy, and often because individual states have widely different policy environments about things like animal welfare and so forth-for example some states like Oklahoma are extremely lax in that regard which is why the Tiger King debacle could happen there. Likewise, Iowa is often called the “puppy mill capital of America” because their state legislature is aggressively against any animal welfare regulation at all, because they are all owned by farm lobbyists. So what ends up happening is that people go and procure animals in those places and then drive them across the state lines to sell or whatever. Ultimately you need good, comprehensive advocacy and lobbying in order to craft legislation that works for responsible keepers and enthusiasts while curbing the kinds of smuggling, poaching, or simply unethical keeping/breeding of animals that I think we can all agree should be stopped. Speaking as a biologist, it’s disturbingly easy for people with the money/wherewithal/desire to get their hands on primates and rare birds-and those animals often end up suffering terribly as a result.

Regina is the capital come on fellow canadian lol

In Germany, we recently had a law started that you cannot sell Reptiles on the biggest animal „marketplace“ which is gonna change so much since most people get their reptiles from there.

As an American whom enjoys their 2A, I love you even more.

In Missouri we can still keep any of the restricted native species (hognose, garters, bullsnakes, etc), we just have to have a permit and keep records of where animals come from and where they go.

Thank god for usark, i almost had to abandon my dream of working with reptiles because i dont wanna stay where i currently live(i hate it here, its a state on the coast so its super fricken cold when its not summer)

Celsius is great for temperature of water, but it's terrible for room temperature. the difference between 60 and 70 f is more clearly communicated than 15.5 c and 21.1c

I would really enjoy some kind of turtle related video

Yeah, the Fiji banded law is crazy If it wasn't illegal, I would get one right away. It would blow up in popularity. Like the tropical counterpart of a bearded dragon. I'm in favor of requiring licenses for certain species instead of straight-up banning. Sure, it may be expensive and a hassle, but at least you know the person willing to go through that hassle is responsible.

In China, all animals on the CITES list are illegal(including ball pythons and iguanas), and someone was sentenced to three years in prison for keeping a Sulcata tortoise. However, there are no restrictions on keeping venomous snakes like Chinese green tree viper.

I totally agree. The laws in Oregon regarding garter snakes, for example, are just STUPID. You can't sell them. If you catch one, you can't let it go.. etc.

Oh my goodness. I live in New Jersey and my vet is in Pennsylvania. Only 28 minutes away. I would of been screwed if that bill passed.

Thank you. I live in Georgia and would love to have a corn snake. The funny thing is a few years ago I saw a corn snake care guide for sale inside my local pet smart. WTF, I can learn to take care of them but not keep them?

That snake law is in effect where I live, in Illinois, you can't have a snake that on average gets over 8ft

that law they were trying to pass was mainly made for privately owned big cats.then politicians got a hold of it and really messed it up.

You're so right about everything! I was ready to buy a pure Kalatoa retic, until I found out my state bans them by name, as well as burms and anacondas. So now I'm looking into a Timor python instead. I also would love to have box turtles, but because our native box turtles are vulnerable, the entire genus Terrapene is banned. Even if I wanted a captive bred, non-native box turtle, I'm still out of luck.

I live in New Jersey and we can keep albino corn snakes but not normal because they’re native makes no sense at all.

Oh also you forgot to mention this. I live in ga (in case you cant see my previous comment), and while I'm not allowed to go buy a captive bred corn snake or hognose snake cuz they live here, I am legally allowed to catch and/or keep a venomous snake like a cottonmouth, copperhead, or rattle snake that also live here.. it makes no sense.

If it recall correctly, you actually CAN collect a small number of valley gartersnakes if you have a small fish and game license in Ontario, but I haven't actually done that yet, so I'm not 100% certain.

If I recall correctly, Louisiana has laws about keeping box turtles because they're native here.

OMG it's colder in Missouri right now than in Canada.

It's like New Brunswick can keep hognose snakes but Nova Scotia aren't allowed makes no sense

Here in Greece almost every household has a tortoise but I always wanted to keep our native agamid

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the Fiji iguanas are not ILLEGAL to own - they're just like any other ESA species - they can't be sold across state lines, and they can't be imported into the U.S. If they had been imported 50 years ago and successfully established, they'd be just like radiated tortoises. Everybody would have them in places like Florida, Texas, Arizona and California, and it would be illegal to sell them across state lanes without a captive bred wildlife permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Speaking of ruffled feathers, I'm all for licences and registration for any animal that can pose a risk to someone if it gets out. So, in the case of reptiles, crocodilians, snakes/lizards with medically significant venom, your big monitors, etc. The reasoning for this is: 1: Keeping reptiles is not a right. You don't need it to keep a cobra to live a happy and fulfilling life. So, if you want to keep one, you should be able to prove you can do so without it posing a risk to yourself or others. 2: With exotic venomous reptiles, sourcing antivenom can be a nightmare if a someone gets tagged by an escaped non-native snake. Knowing what exotics are in the area gives local medical staff information that could save someone's life. 3: A lot of the issues caused by law changes leading to seizure of animals are down to the US and Canada not thinking through it's customs laws back in the day, and having to back-peddle now because they've suddenly realised just how bad they are (though I also realise that in some cases, it's just PR spin). Now, I know that sucks for the keepers, and I feel for you, I really do, but it's something that was going to happen.

In my state, you can get a giraffe, but not a mildly venomous snake? (False water cobras, mangrove snakes, that.) Even more stupid, you somehow can still get a hognose. Oh yeah, you can also get a caiman. My state is insane lol

I glad I live in South Carolina which allows any reptile to be kept without a permit.

Just found your channel, and it's very informative. Really enjoy.. BTW, Regina is the capitol of Saskatchewan not Saskatoon. That would be like saying Mississauga is the capital of Ontario 😀

i’m in colorado and the hognose thing is so annoying. i can’t buy sell or breed them in the state but i can catch up to 12 wild ones and keep them as pets 🤷‍♀️

Never expected "Registration leads to confiscation" brought up in a reptile video. This man is a secret American.

Against bylaws in many towns in Ontario too 😢I was going to get ball pythons but then realized that my town doesn’t allow

As a Coloradoan, I can definately agree about the hognose laws here. Technically we can have EASTERN hognoses but we aren't allowed to catch, buy or sell western hognoses here. We can get liscenses for cobras but a western hognose is a no go.

Registration and licensure have always been about public subjugation and never served as their guise protection. The problem with licensure is that they will use it as a tool to enforce other policies. You don't pay your library fee, we take your driver's license.