I'll try to give an update.
I took Lucy to to Cape Fear Serpentarium. The guy took a quick look and said it was a eastern Kingsnake. Personally I don't think you can look at a common kingsnake and decide it's an eastern as fast as he did. If you're looking at a wild snake that was found in a certain area I think you can be quite certain which one you have.
Anyway, the guy told as far as he knew there was no "Protected" kingsnakes. I told him that the Outer banks King was on the species of special concerns list. He told me that that list really don't mean anything. There is no protection for animals on that list. The state told me different. They said that you couldn't keep, sell, or kill the animals on that list.
The guy there showed me their permit to keep endangered animals and it listed all the snakes on that list. It listed the southern hognose. Last I checked the Sothern hognose was on the species of special concern list not the endangered. Maybe my info is out of date concerning that, but that doesn't explain the other differences in their info.
He also said that banning one species because it resembled another is very strange. On the way home I thought of something else really weird. If it is illegal to have an eastern kingsnake because it closely resembles an outerbanks, then why is it not illegal to have an eastern hognse because it's harder to tell them apart from the Southern (which is endangered) than it is to tell the two kingsnakes.
Anyway the guy called the herpetologist that decides which reptiles to put on the different lists and left a message for him to call him back. He also left a message to the woman I talked to from the state that started all this.
I'm going to call him tomorrow and see if he has heard anything.
After I got home the vet I left the message with called me back and I made an appointment for Nov 3rd to take her in. They are going to take pics, do scale counts and determine which species she is.
Today I got a call form the wildlife officer that I was trying to get intouch with in the first place. So I asked him about the kingsnake issue. He told me that he was unaware of any protection for eastern kingsnakes. He's going to research it and call me back. He did tell me that you are not allowed to keep any wild animals without a permit. The woman from the state told me that you can have up to 4 wild snakes. So it seems that nobody really knows whats the laws are even the people that enforces them. These are the same people that protects the cp's here.
I'll keep you informed.
I took Lucy to to Cape Fear Serpentarium. The guy took a quick look and said it was a eastern Kingsnake. Personally I don't think you can look at a common kingsnake and decide it's an eastern as fast as he did. If you're looking at a wild snake that was found in a certain area I think you can be quite certain which one you have.
Anyway, the guy told as far as he knew there was no "Protected" kingsnakes. I told him that the Outer banks King was on the species of special concerns list. He told me that that list really don't mean anything. There is no protection for animals on that list. The state told me different. They said that you couldn't keep, sell, or kill the animals on that list.
The guy there showed me their permit to keep endangered animals and it listed all the snakes on that list. It listed the southern hognose. Last I checked the Sothern hognose was on the species of special concern list not the endangered. Maybe my info is out of date concerning that, but that doesn't explain the other differences in their info.
He also said that banning one species because it resembled another is very strange. On the way home I thought of something else really weird. If it is illegal to have an eastern kingsnake because it closely resembles an outerbanks, then why is it not illegal to have an eastern hognse because it's harder to tell them apart from the Southern (which is endangered) than it is to tell the two kingsnakes.
Anyway the guy called the herpetologist that decides which reptiles to put on the different lists and left a message for him to call him back. He also left a message to the woman I talked to from the state that started all this.
I'm going to call him tomorrow and see if he has heard anything.
After I got home the vet I left the message with called me back and I made an appointment for Nov 3rd to take her in. They are going to take pics, do scale counts and determine which species she is.
Today I got a call form the wildlife officer that I was trying to get intouch with in the first place. So I asked him about the kingsnake issue. He told me that he was unaware of any protection for eastern kingsnakes. He's going to research it and call me back. He did tell me that you are not allowed to keep any wild animals without a permit. The woman from the state told me that you can have up to 4 wild snakes. So it seems that nobody really knows whats the laws are even the people that enforces them. These are the same people that protects the cp's here.
I'll keep you informed.