Keel-back snake.

[camcamcam]

Hey all, my girlfriend came home from school today and told me about one of her friends neighbours selling a snake for $40 dollars. He claims it's a keelback.

Reason I'm posting this is that I believe he's dodgy, and caught the snake. He states "If no-one buys it tomorrow I'm going to put it back in the wild.
So he obviously got it from the wild, and wants to get some money for it.

Are you allowed to keep them as pets?
Should I just buy it and put it in the wild or keep it captive?
Is there someone I should report him to if I think it's very suspicious?
I'm also not sure how he knows it's a keelback, but it might be a different snake, not sure.

What's everyone think?

FYI: This guy selling it lives in Banora point, NSW.

 

[souldoubt]

You're allowed to keep them as pets but it is illegal for him to remove from the wild and sell it without approval to do so. The rough scaled snake is quite similar in appearance to the keelback but is highly venomous so be careful of that.

I guess you could report it to QPWS or Dept of environment and resource management I think they're called now but I'm not sure if they will do anything.

If you buy it you will need to transfer it over to your license from his, so that will give you a reasonable idea of if its wild caught or not - and $40 for a keelback sounds dodgy to me. However I wouldn't recommend buying it cause that will just encourage him to do it again in the future

 

[camcamcam]

Thanks for your help, souldoubt.
I will keep what you said in mind, and further discuss it.

 

[souldoubt]

No worries mate. If it is legit that's an incredibly cheap price for an awesome species, but I think you usually find that if it sounds too be too be true, then it is.

Good luck! Hopefully he ends up back in the wild if he is wild caught.

Andrew

 

[pseudechis4740]

Trading in illegally wild caught native fauna carries some fairly hefty court imposed fines. This usually involves paying the court costs of the prosecution on top of the fine. Quite an effective deterrent really. Avoid getting involved with people involved in this activity at all costs because if you get caught or even implicated and then convicted the financial burden you will carry for some time to come is just not worth it.