Council permit required to keep reptiles

[user 270]

I recently found out that my local council has a bylaw requiring anyone wanting to keep reptiles to obtain a permit. When I was at the council on Tuesday to find out what I needed to do to get a permit, I was told that I was the first person to enquire about the permit. :shock:

The pet shop owner tells customers that it is up to them to find out if a permit is required although he knows that one is required. :roll: He has also admitted that he's sold several snakes to Horsham residents.

The reason that I was not online last night is that I was busy writing an application letter for my permit. I hope my application is accepted or else I may have a big green enclosure for sale.

I was just wondering. Do any APS members check with their local council to see if a permit is required to keep retiles of if there are any council regulations for keeping reptiles?

Would be interesting to know.

Cheers,
Wombat.

 

[zard]

RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

WOW i had never heard of that before.. more money to slog people for a popular past time.. why do you need a council permit? is it only for outdoor enclosures?? you already have the apropriate licence which is strictly monitered. i think they should concerntrate on the likes of cats which are a nucience to many people because most owners let them roam while reptiles are all in a contained area and highly unlikely to ecsape and be a nucience to the neighbourhood.. oh and they are native so even if one was lost around the place it would be in good company with those of its own kind and is highly unlikely to do any environmental damage.. the same can not be said for cats.

*is too rural to be affected anyway*

 

[OuZo]

RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

nup i've never bothered wombat and i dont think i will bother. if something comes of it i'd just say that i have the appropriate licence and i wasn't aware that there were any extra permits required and deal with it then.

oh and they are native so even if one was lost around the place it would be in good company with those of its own kind and is highly unlikely to do any environmental damage.. the same can not be said for cats.

yeah they're native to australia but not necessarily to the area they're kept in! if my central netteds get out i dont think they'd find any of their own kind down here in sunny melbourne!

 

[user 270]

Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

why do you need a council permit? is it only for outdoor enclosures??

I need a council permit because the council says I do. It affects all reptiles both housed inside a outside.

*is too rural to be affected anyway*

You are right. You don't need a permit if your property is zoned Rural but I live in town and my property is zoned Residential, so I need a permit.

Actually I just logged off when I saw my typo in the heading. So I logged back in again to fix it but I was too late. You had already replied.

Cheers,
Wombat.

 

[zard]

RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

LOL, i didnt even notice the oopsie

 

[instar]

RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Jeff ???????

 

[salebrosus]

RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Wombat,
When did this law come in? Surely the pet store is negligent or misleading in his practices. Isn't it illegal to sell somone a snake without the proper documents whether it is a NPWS keepers licence , import/export permit or council licence?
Simone.

 

[Menagerie]

RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Is this just VIC?

 

[Scorpio19]

RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Is this just another money grabbing effort by your local government...personally, i have paid for my licence to keep reptiles, i couldnt care less about any local council bylaw.

 

[herptrader]

RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Different councils have different permit requirments for all sorts of things.

I believe most councils require you to get a permit if you breed rodents. I know a few people that have these permits but none got there permits until after the council approached them. I would be waiting for the council to approach you and tell you that you require a permit.

If you do get a permit it will likely place a limit on the number of reptiles they say you can keep. If you have half a dozen breeding pairs of say pythons, come hatching season any sensible sounding number will most likely end up being too small.

 

[herptrader]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

I don't think this is Jeff's area. Local government is far removed from State level departments.

Jeff ???????

 

[moosenoose]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Is this just another money grabbing effort by your local government...personally, i have paid for my licence to keep reptiles, i couldnt care less about any local council bylaw.

That sounds about right! Plus it's just typical of a local council to pull a stunt like this and not inform anyone! Much like their local elections!! Stuff them I say! :evil:

 

[herptrader]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Permits generally are not expensive and often do not incure a fee.

More often that not the cost of issuing the permit exceeds the administration costs. This is probably one reason why they do not go around demanding you get a permit unless somebody has made an issue of the situation.

Is this just another money grabbing effort by your local government...personally, i have paid for my licence to keep reptiles, i couldnt care less about any local council bylaw.

That sounds about right! Plus it's just typical of a local council to pull a stunt like this and not inform anyone! Much like their local elections!! Stuff them I say! :evil:

 

[herptrader]

I did some digging on my local government web site. It seem that the shire of Monash might have some general bylaws relating to numbers:

http://www.monash.vic.gov.au/services/animals.html#number

As far as I can tell there is no specific mention of reptiles.

 

[angelrose]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Wombat,
When did this law come in? Surely the pet store is negligent or misleading in his practices. Isn't it illegal to sell somone a snake without the proper documents whether it is a NPWS keepers licence , import/export permit or council licence?
Simone.

The pet store is in no way neglegant, 1. he doesnt know for a fact that you are going to keep it in his local council area, 2 as long as you have a state parks permit he is legally allowed to sell to you that is the guideline of his comkmjercial licence, ive seen these, and it does not state anything about adhering to local council by-laws or informing others of said by-laws. He's right it IS up to the customer to know whether or not they need any extra permits such as COUNCIL, IMPORT, EXPORT etc. etc.... And to get an export permit himself if the need should arrive, such as him notice the buyer does not have a state licence.......

Angel

 

[rodentrancher]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Re Council permit for breeding Rodents? Well here in the Riverland, if you are only a hobby business like us, you don't need council permission as long as you keep within a $20,000 turnover per year(hmm, wish we had enough rodents breeding to make that much money eh?) If we expand later this year or next year, we might have to register as a business, then the probs might start with Local Council and the EPA mob? Oh well, we'll see how we go? Cheers Cheryl

 

[Retic]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

Our local council requires a permit if you keep more than 100 mice BUT the girl I spoke to said it is almost impossible to police so basically don't worry about it as long as they are kept securely and don't bother the neighbours.

 

[rodentrancher]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

We live 13ks out of Renmark in a hobby block area, have great neighbours who really don't give a $hit, and besides we work very hard at keeping everything clean and non smelly :lol:

 

[hey_im_sam]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

I just found out about this recently as well. My girlfriend works for one of the local councils and when I was talking about moving my herps up here she said 'are you allowed that many on your coucil permit?'. A blank look crossed my face. Council permits can be pretty insane though, I'm not going to bother... Not like I'm meant to have them in a rental house either I'll maybe look into it and if the permit allows me to do what I want, maybe I will. If it doesn't I won't. Simple

 

[Simon_Archibald]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Council permit required to keep retiles

I'm pretty sure that most domestic pets are what is referred to by council as "Companion Animals". This includes things like Dogs, Cats, etc.

I rang up the council here and asked if they had ANY restrictions on ANYTHING to do with reptile keeping and housing. They said it's none of their business and that it was a NPWS matter...as long as I stayed within licence regulations I'm totally legal.

I went on to give an example: If I escape-proofed the backyard, would I be allowed to keep adult goannas in the yard free-range instead of having a lockable sealed enclosure. Once again they said that was fine if it didn't contradict licence conditions. I then asked NPWS and they said fine also...as long as the reptiles aren't venomous.

Say what you want about NSW authorities but I've had nothing but good experience with them. I think they're a damn reasonable bunch of people

Of course this doesn't relate to your local council situation but an interesting story none-the-less

Simon Archibald