Wild Pets and Laboratory Animals: Snakes Endangered Species Handbook

Trade

Wild Pets and Laboratory Animals: Snakes

The keeping of snakes as pets is a growing trend in the United States and elsewhere. It involves the removal of thousands of these animals from the wild, endangering many species. Some species of American snakes have become threatened by trade. The Florida Indigo Snake (Drymarchon corais couperi), listed as Threatened on the U.S. Endangered Species Act and a protected species throughout its range in the Southeast, can sell for $300 or more, and illegal trade has been very difficult to control. Snakes and other reptiles may be illegally captured in states protecting them, then transported to other states that allow sale of reptiles. These poached rare reptiles are also misrepresented as having been bred in captivity to avoid Lacey Act prosecutions. Many of these illegal reptiles are advertised on the Internet, where a new and huge market for reptile pets has developed, and many are sold illegally through the mail. Some pet shops sell illegally obtained reptiles, either knowingly or unknowingly. The market for rare snakes has grown to such an extent that an increasing number of species are threatened by capture.

Snakes have become prestigious status symbols for some people. Pythons and boa constrictors of various species are popular pets in spite of--or perhaps because of--their enormous size. They can reach lengths of 20 feet or more, and these large constrictors prefer live prey the size of rabbits. They present a danger to their owners and to the public, especially children, should they escape from captivity. In the summer of 1996, a 9-foot-long Burmese Python, kept as a pet by a man and his pregnant wife, was allowed to roam the house freely. The snake wrapped itself around the wife and began biting her in the back, refusing to let go even when the husband tried prying it off with a crowbar. He then called emergency 911 paramedics, who cut off its head with a hacksaw to kill it. Several cases of large constrictors, such as boas and pythons, biting adults and children have been publicized in recent years.