# What is it with corn snakes????



## garthy (Feb 25, 2011)

I can't believe how many corn snakes are here! I had a lady the other day said she was hoping to be given a couple of corn snakes just so she can turn them in. i told her to get as many as she can and euthenase (sp?) the lot.
What is wrong with people?
As far as I am concerned, anyone that is intelligent enough to keep reptiles properly, should also be intelligent enough to knoe the dangers of introduced species (albeit accidental). eg Burmese in Everglades, etc


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## Leeloofluff (Feb 25, 2011)

I'd rather see the smugglers euthanised, not the snakes.


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## Bez84 (Feb 25, 2011)

Lol exotics have been here longer then weve been keeping natives.. we will never be rid of them.


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## syeph8 (Feb 25, 2011)

Bez84 said:


> Lol exotics have been here longer then weve been keeping natives.. we will never be rid of them.


 
this still does not mean they should be encouraged. its the equivalent of saying "it's inevitable that we're going to run out of clean water, so why not start having 30 minute showers every day"


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## snakes123 (Feb 25, 2011)

Leeloofluff said:


> I'd rather see the smugglers euthanised, not the snakes.


 
Agreed. But i think we should be allowed to keep some exotics only on a class 5 licence or something like that only for the experienced keepers on the condition that they cant breed them.

Ben


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## Khagan (Feb 25, 2011)

Simply put, humans are greedy. Majority of people couldn't care less about our native environment, long as they got a pretty little snake.


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## pythons73 (Feb 25, 2011)

The old corn snakes are getting bashed around again,theres more Corns-milksnakes etc then alot of Natives.Why cant people just get over them,there here and killing a few wont even put a dent in the population.Quess how many people DONT have a reptile licence..HEAPS..and most own a exotic,ALOT of people that ive known started with Corns..I know some people that have a albino Burmese,and its a legit on licence reptile.So should we all get nasty because its a exotic and go kill it..


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## snakelady-viper (Feb 25, 2011)

Leeloofluff said:


> I'd rather see the smugglers euthanised, not the snakes.


 
I agree its not the snakes fault. But on the other hand most are bred here now. If they were to be licenced they should charge accordingly say $300 a year with a six month inspection and limit the amount held only a thought


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## snakes123 (Feb 25, 2011)

snakelady-viper said:


> I agree its not the snakes fault. But on the other hand most are bred here now. If they were to be licenced they should charge accordingly say $300 a year with a six month inspection and limit the amount held only a thought


 
Agree with inspection but maybe not that much cash each year. I think we are onto something 

Ben


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## GeckoJosh (Feb 25, 2011)

Corn snakes lol, I was offered a Rattle snake last month, you name it, if it has value someone has taken advantage of it


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## snakes123 (Feb 25, 2011)

Rattle snake...:O how much did the guy want? Not that i want a rattle snake i want a chameleon 

Ben


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## Khagan (Feb 25, 2011)

snakelady-viper said:


> I agree its not the snakes fault. But on the other hand most are bred here now. If they were to be licenced they should charge accordingly say $300 a year with a six month inspection and limit the amount held only a thought


 
What exactly would that accomplish? Who do you think that has corns would put their hand up and say "Yes please, put me on the record for $300 a year, invade my privacy every 6 months, and limit my animals i'd love that!"

We have a fairly easy and inexpensive licensing system for natives and there are people don't even follow that.


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## Jay84 (Feb 25, 2011)

They are here to stay, sometimes i think the way some keepers are treated by the wildlife authorities i feel like giving up my license and keeping the animals i dream of!


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## guzzo (Feb 25, 2011)

I have never heard of any in Darwin yet


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## GeckoJosh (Feb 25, 2011)

snakes123 said:


> Rattle snake...:O how much did the guy want? Not that i want a rattle snake i want a chameleon
> 
> Ben


Lol, I wont say, but you can get Chameleon and Rattlers cheaper than alot of Aussie species.
I dont really care though, I only hear about it cos my brother in law tells me cos he thinks it impresses me, I have more than enough fun with our native species


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## Exotic_Doc (Feb 25, 2011)

garthy said:


> I can't believe how many corn snakes are here! I had a lady the other day said she was hoping to be given a couple of corn snakes just so she can turn them in. i told her to get as many as she can and euthenase (sp?) the lot.
> What is wrong with people?
> As far as I am concerned, anyone that is intelligent enough to keep reptiles properly, should also be intelligent enough to knoe the dangers of introduced species (albeit accidental). eg Burmese in Everglades, etc



I think this lady should get a life instead of wait for corn snakes to turn them in . I am agaisnt exotics in australia and the destruction they cause, but atm i dont see any major issues with corn snakes for people to dedicate their lives to seizing them and having them killed...


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## moosenoose (Feb 25, 2011)

If I found one it'd live to a ripe old age under my roof. However its the people who bring these things in/or breed them in the knowledge they are potentially sentencing the animal to death if caught who need their heads read! The potential of disease spread by an animal bred here would be nothing short impossible.

We're allowed exotic birds and other animals, but seem switched on about other exotics like reptiles. Not a bad thing to be honest. Whilst I'd save one, I don't think they belong here. Too many irresponsible keepers for my liking.


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## euphorion (Feb 25, 2011)

I think i have been hiding under a rock as i have never personally seen or heard of anyone keeping exotics near me. Definitely need to get out of the house more!


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## saximus (Feb 25, 2011)

Haha how many people know you have reptiles? I've been offered corns a couple of times because people know I keep reps and assume I'd be interested. It's unfortunate but like with everything there are people who break the law. I don't really understand the appeal with them anyway. Our natives are so much cooler


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## Bez84 (Feb 25, 2011)

I saw yet another cornsnake this week and i live in port!
Had a bloke ring me wanting to buy some weaner rats for his corn snake i said bring it around (thinking he was full of it) and be hold he gets out of his car with a red adult corn around his neck lol of course he got it from his uncle who breeds then in you guess it sydney...But yeah over the years ive been offered all sorts of things, i used to spend alot of time down sydney attending tafe and i was offered everything from corns to boas, chameleons to iguanas not to mention exotic inverts.
I personally dont encourage exotic keeping as i think or natives are crackers but i also dont judge people who do keep them as longs as the animals are well looked after.
These animals have been bred here for many many generations so i dont see disease as an issue and as for exotics running wild in the australian bush all ive heard is the odd isolated population of corns im yet to see a boa eating a roo in the paper.


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## euphorion (Feb 25, 2011)

I don't have a problem with 'exotics' like cats, dog, or us for example. I just have a problem when people are bringing these animals into the country and posing a threat to our biosecurity. A snake is a snake, i won't keep exotics because i like to stick to the law. But frankly we all know they are here, just a shame we can't keep things under control and maintain the security of our natural environment at the same time.


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## killimike (Feb 26, 2011)

It doesn't seem taboo anymore to have jags or exotic GTPs.... they have as much moral legitimacy and disease risk as corn snakes. Legality and pest potential is another story 

Funny old world tho eh?


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## Wookie (Feb 26, 2011)

Khagan said:


> Simply put, humans are greedy. Majority of people couldn't care less about our native environment, long as they got a pretty little snake.


 
Everybody says that now but I guarantee if it was legalised everybody would get to the airport as fast as lightening to get them imported.


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## matt01 (Feb 26, 2011)

poor corn snakes, they get a bashing. Not that im pro corn snake but don't you think if a large carpet or venomous snake was introduced into the wild by an irresponsible keeper who couldn't look after it it would do more damage than a bright orange or white harmless snake. im thinking the first kookaburra that sees it will be like thank you very much.


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## cma_369 (Feb 26, 2011)

you can go down to the local duck ponds in my area and catch red eared sliders there if you want one. I'm happy to just leave them be there, seeing as the place is also over run with carp. if i was to ever come across them in a river though, they would not be goin back in
Also there are a few reported colonies living in the nepean river. 
I Have heard about snapping turtles being smuggled in the country to, i can only imagine the damage they would cause if they were to get in the wild.


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## pythons73 (Feb 26, 2011)

The problem is theres thousands of them here,they bred at 2years + and can double clutch.So thats 30-40+ per female.Euthanasing a few here and there will hardly put a small dent in the population.FACE IT not much can be done about it.Remember EVERYONE isnt on a public reptile forum and the majority people out there dont realise you even need a licence to keep any reptiles.The authorities havent got the resource to go door knocking.The bottom line is the authorities need harsher penalties with the people who smuggle in ANY reptile and maybe those who get caught with them..There here now and will still be here in 10years time..


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## garthy (Feb 26, 2011)

pythons73 said:


> The problem is theres thousands of them here,they bred at 2years + and can double clutch.So thats 30-40+ per female.Euthanasing a few here and there will hardly put a small dent in the population.FACE IT not much can be done about it.Remember EVERYONE isnt on a public reptile forum and the majority people out there dont realise you even need a licence to keep any reptiles.The authorities havent got the resource to go door knocking.The bottom line is the authorities need harsher penalties with the people who smuggle in ANY reptile and maybe those who get caught with them..There here now and will still be here in 10years time..


 
I have heard people say before " I'm not going to recycle because what would my little bit do?"


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## whyme (Feb 26, 2011)

I'd have one.


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## GeckoJosh (Feb 26, 2011)

cma_369 said:


> you can go down to the local duck ponds in my area and catch red eared sliders there if you want one. I'm happy to just leave them be there, seeing as the place is also over run with carp. if i was to ever come across them in a river though, they would not be goin back in
> Also there are a few reported colonies living in the nepean river.
> I Have heard about snapping turtles being smuggled in the country to, i can only imagine the damage they would cause if they were to get in the wild.


Im pretty sure the Snapping turtle at ARP was handed in


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## smegalreptileboy (Feb 26, 2011)

people let them go because they are worried about getting caught if they did the same as we did with our natives an amnesty and put them on our licence so it wasn't to hard to get a licence for them people would do it their is already enough of them hear and their been her for many years a very long time and if they legalised it and did it properly and put tax on shipping and put them in to quarantine imo its better to put them through quarantine then having them shipped here illegally and as long *** they dont charge heaps of money it would work we have to be cheaper then the black market this is y im saiying put them on our licence and sort them out into class one and class two eg corn snakes and ball pythons and little boar's class one and reticulated pythons and big boar's class two and the same with the lizards and the same with venomous animals sort them out into the categories 1,2,3 thatz wat i think they should do and theirs already enough animals here hopefully we wouldent have to ship any in im only saying do the shipping so animals that aren't already he we can bring in legally other wise the black markets going to start shiping them animals in and it would also be a good way to get some of our captive lines out there so people stop catching them out the wild and shipping them out and dont put a no breading band on them other wise nobody will do it except the real reptile keepers we have to beat the black market and do it propeerly cheers cameron


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## Grogshla (Feb 26, 2011)

sure they are great snakes but they are illegal here. 
Should be treated the same as any other illegal object


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## Inkage (Feb 26, 2011)

Always with the corns... Nobody seems concerned about monkeys..Hedgehogs... Ocelots.. And all the other badies out there..


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## smegalreptileboy (Feb 26, 2011)

they should do the same licence thing i siad about the reptiles on the last page its the only way to stop it been done illegally and to do it safely


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## Eddie2257 (Feb 26, 2011)

the snaping turtle at the reptile park was found in a sydney storn water drain. must of gotten to big for someone.


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## smegalreptileboy (Feb 27, 2011)

so what do people think of my idea i reckon its the only way to beat the black market and stop these beautiful reptiles getting killed


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## Khagan (Feb 27, 2011)

smegalreptileboy said:


> so what do people think of my idea i reckon its the only way to beat the black market and stop these beautiful reptiles getting killed


 
No, it wouldn't work. These people are already dodgy enough to go and find illegal animals, what makes you think they'll PAY to have their collection monitored, when they can continue on anonymously and freely?


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## HoffOff (Feb 27, 2011)

smegalreptileboy said:


> so what do people think of my idea i reckon its the only way to beat the black market and stop these beautiful reptiles getting killed


 
To just put them on the license?, how would that possibly help?.


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## smegalreptileboy (Feb 27, 2011)

Khagan said:


> No, it wouldn't work. These people are already dodgy enough to go and find illegal animals, what makes you think they'll PAY to have their collection monitored, when they can continue on anonymously and freely?


 its worth a shot we have no other choice these beautiful reptiles dont deserve to be killed and think off the future for our younger generation reptile keepers getting into it we have to set an example for them y would they wont to pay for a licence and the money for a legal snake when u can bye or an albino corn snake for $25.00 or even have them given to u its this or people that bread snakes have to lower their price right down i reckon it would work if they put them on our licence that we already have and u dont have to paiy more money for u licence and they used the same rules they use now people siad it wouldn't work when they brang the licence out for our snakes and it worked and i now use can say i wazernt their but i have friends that where and i also have friends that did't do it and they regreted not doing it and now have their licence and are doing it properly


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## cleobhp (Feb 27, 2011)

It would only encourage more reptile smuggling as if the gov let ppl keep these exotics then the dodgy ppl that are bringing them in would have found a market for them, and just bring more in. I don't like to see these innocent animals killed, but we have to do all we can to protect the beautiful native species we have, I think you will find that the ppl who have these animals have a huge ego as well.


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## baxtor (Feb 27, 2011)

smegalreptileboy said:


> people let them go because they are worried about getting caught if they did the same as we did with our natives an amnesty and put them on our licence so it wasn't to hard to get a licence for them people would do it their is already enough of them hear and their been her for many years a very long time and if they legalised it and did it properly and put tax on shipping and put them in to quarantine imo its better to put them through quarantine then having them shipped here illegally and as long *** they dont charge heaps of money it would work we have to be cheaper then the black market this is y im saiying put them on our licence and sort them out into class one and class two eg corn snakes and ball pythons and little boar's class one and reticulated pythons and big boar's class two and the same with the lizards and the same with venomous animals sort them out into the categories 1,2,3 thatz wat i think they should do and theirs already enough animals here hopefully we wouldent have to ship any in im only saying do the shipping so animals that aren't already he we can bring in legally other wise the black markets going to start shiping them animals in and it would also be a good way to get some of our captive lines out there so people stop catching them out the wild and shipping them out and dont put a no breading band on them other wise nobody will do it except the real reptile keepers we have to beat the black market and do it propeerly cheers cameron


 


smegalreptileboy said:


> its worth a shot we have no other choice these beautiful reptiles dont deserve to be killed and think off the future for our younger generation reptile keepers getting into it we have to set an example for them y would they wont to pay for a licence and the money for a legal snake when u can bye or an albino corn snake for $25.00 or even have them given to u its this or people that bread snakes have to lower their price right down i reckon it would work if they put them on our licence that we already have and u dont have to paiy more money for u licence and they used the same rules they use now people siad it wouldn't work when they brang the licence out for our snakes and it worked and i now use can say i wazernt their but i have friends that where and i also have friends that did't do it and they regreted not doing it and now have their licence and are doing it properly



OK I give up, I know it's bad form to criticise and all that but but how about chucking in at least a couple of punctuations.


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## smegalreptileboy (Feb 27, 2011)

snakeman112 said:


> To just put them on the license?, how would that possibly help?.


 
to stop the beautiful reptiles getting killed and to stop them getting illegal ship in and put them through quarantine so theirs no risk off decease's how would u now if ur neighbours mates got some illegally shiped in and touch them then come over and touch ur reptiles it happens and if they make a licence for them and make it to hard and charge to much for it then now ones going to do it wat people have to learn is where not going to stop them getting shipped in so lets make it legal and do it properly if we dont where only going to loose our younger reptile keepers to exotic snakes where already loosing some of the experienced reptile keepers to them because they carnt sell their stock any more cause every one breading the same looking animals this is y morphing is working so good and i remember when some off u experienced reptile keepers picked on little kids for talking about morphing no use a breading them and selling them imo use picked on the little kids so use can be the first to do it but where getting off subject and their is more reasons i can think off but im not going to put them in hear



smegalreptileboy said:


> to stop the beautiful reptiles getting killed and to stop them getting illegal ship in and put them through quarantine so theirs no risk off decease's how would u now if ur neighbours mates got some illegally shiped in and touch them then come over and touch ur reptiles it happens and if they make a licence for them and make it to hard and charge to much for it then now ones going to do it wat people have to learn is where not going to stop them getting shipped in so lets make it legal and do it properly if we dont where only going to loose our younger reptile keepers to exotic snakes where already loosing some of the experienced reptile keepers to them because they carnt sell their stock any more cause every one breading the same looking animals this is y morphing is working so good and i remember when some off u experienced reptile keepers picked on little kids for talking about morphing no use a breading them and selling them imo use picked on the little kids so use can be the first to do it but where getting off subject and their is more reasons i can think off but im not going to put them in hear


 
lol neighbours and mates


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## Jackrabbit (Feb 27, 2011)

snakes123 said:


> Agreed. But i think we should be allowed to keep some exotics only on a class 5 licence or something like that only for the experienced keepers on the condition that they cant breed them.


 
Given we can't stop the exotics from coming into the country, how do you expect to stop those that have them from breeding them?


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## Exotic_Doc (Feb 27, 2011)

Mate i dont think it will work. There is no way you can control illegal breeding and management of exoticsl. From what i understand ,your saying that the prices of our natives have to be dropped in order to rival the exotics when a newbie wants to buy his first snake and do it legit? If you cant control them when they are illegal, there is no way you can control them if they are . You would lose grasp of exotic management and breeding, possibily with deadly results. Btw mate i really dont want to criticize but your grammar is BADD( bye, bread, brang( this word does not exist in the english language), siad,wazernt,paiy)? I am only saying this because im finding it really hard to grasp the point you are trying to get across. No offence intended at all  cheers btw whether it works or not i think this is a good discussion


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## Khagan (Feb 27, 2011)

I think you have a kinda naive view on how things work Smegalreptileboy =p. Putting them on licence legally would have no effect, as i stated people even keep our legal natives off licence. It's the fact of people will defy any rules/laws 'just cause they can', not everyone cares to do things legally. They are flying under the radar right now and paying nothing, why would they change it. Plus these days, not many things need to be smuggled in. By now we have so many exotics here they'd be bred and even have (insert number here) generation Australian captive bred exotics.


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## cma_369 (Feb 27, 2011)

Nah these snapping turtles were not stolen from the reptile park, they have been smuggled into australia.
I know this because a guy i was chatting to at a pet shop mentioned that he had one of them in the past, but it got to big for his 5 ft tank and a tad to vicious for him to deal with so he passed it onto some one else. 
People can get anything through the border still be it drugs, firearms or even exotics.


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## wranga (Feb 27, 2011)

people speed, people park where they shouldnt, people take drugs, people keep exotics. your never going to stop it. just get over it and accept their here to stay. you dont have to agree and keep one yourself


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## giglamesh (Mar 1, 2011)

i wanted a hedgehog about a year ago but found out they were illegal so that cut the idea into pieces. 
maybe there should be another amnesty like the one they had previously. perhaps they would then get an idea on how large the issue is and perhaps change the rules and regulations.


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## garthy (Mar 1, 2011)

wranga said:


> people speed, people park where they shouldnt, people take drugs, people keep exotics. your never going to stop it. just get over it and accept their here to stay. you dont have to agree and keep one yourself


 
"getting over it" is condoning their behaviour


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## Red-Ink (Mar 1, 2011)

not trying to be negative here but with so many "sightings" I've heard over the years....... still no pics though, just makes me wonder


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## Dannyboi (Mar 1, 2011)

Zeeza put a pic up the other day about the one the boy down the road found it was a nice looking one too.


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## saximus (Mar 1, 2011)

I remember a member posted pics on here of a corn that her neighbour supposedly found. I'm not commenting on the validity of this claim but she got slammed for it. Maybe people don't want the same reaction


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## Red-Ink (Mar 1, 2011)

Dannyboi said:


> Zeeza put a pic up the other day about the one the boy down the road found it was a nice looking one too.


 
Point me to the thread please


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## MrSpike (Mar 1, 2011)

I'd rather see all you idiot's euth'd just so I stop seeing the same fricken thread every month. 

If your all so worried about conservation go run over some cats or shoot some foxes.


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## saximus (Mar 1, 2011)

Red-Ink said:


> Point me to the thread please


 
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/general-discussion-42/well-will-look-found-154167/


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## Jay84 (Mar 1, 2011)

MrSpike said:


> I'd rather see all you idiot's euth'd just so I stop seeing the same fricken thread every month.
> 
> If your all so worried about conservation go run over some cats or shoot some foxes.



lol


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## Dannyboi (Mar 1, 2011)

MrSpike said:


> I'd rather see all you idiot's euth'd just so I stop seeing the same fricken thread every month.
> 
> If your all so worried about conservation go run over some cats or shoot some foxes.


 8 foxes per square kilometer in suburbia no one has any idea how close and real the problem is. My brother helped with the conservation effort with cats the other day. Poor thing.


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## benjamind2010 (Mar 3, 2011)

Chance of establishment, about 50%.
Chance of colonisation, about 25%.
Chance of becoming an environmental pest (think more corn snakes found in the wild than say carpet or diamond pythons in coastal NSW) about 12.5%.

All up, a compound risk of about 20% +/- 5%.

Is this too high a risk, or is it manageable?

I'm also of the educated opinion that breeders who have established large numbers of breeding stock wouldn't want Australian government to legalise or license exotics because that would pose a lot of competition on these breeder's business model. So, I guess that's why they don't want them here. It's not that they pose a significant environmental threat because that's already proven beyond reasonable doubt that escaped non-natives can be problematic, but why are people allowed to keep cats and dogs then? Why are people allowed to keep rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, mice, exotic birds, exotic fish?

I've been studying this issue for a few months now, and it seems to be all about REPTILES. Sorry, but it smacks of something other than environmental conservation. It's more likely that people in positions of power do not like snakes (very understandable - when I was 10 I hated snakes and I only found out that most snakes were harmless when I was 19) or the market is so small and condensed that the breeders in the most advantageous position (and most likely to have the biggest say) just say NO because they don't want people breeding $100 snakes that are 10 times prettier than snakes that these breeders are asking several hundred dollars a piece for.

It can't get any simpler than that, and that is how I am looking at it now.


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