Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug 351
EDIT: One last point: don't be confused....there is a HUGE difference between a person who knows what they are doing keeping one individual and collected large numbers for sale to people who don't from wild populations.
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I agree with this completely, I have no issue with people keeping field collected animals as long as they are collected legally and responsibly. I have a number of field collected critters myself. That said, there is a legal issue in play here. It is illegal to release a captive animal under any circumstances. Once you take an animal home and introduce it to your collection, feed it, etc., you cannot release it (you have probably already passed this point with this animal really). There are reasons wildlife rehabbers have to be licensed. If you keep a wild animal it is your responsibility for the rest of its life. You can't even sell it without a permit (the permit is easy to get though, it's about 60 dollars). You can relocate wild snakes a short distance, again with a valid hunting license and on private property. But it is best not to move them more than a few hundred yards as they tend to have a small home range, and moving them outside of this home range is essentially a death sentence.
As for the specific ID of this animal, Redstripe Ribbon Snakes (
Thamnophis proximus rubrilineatus) are only found on the Edwards Plateau in central Texas. If you are anywhere else in Texas it is not a
T. p. rubrilineatus, no matter what color the dorsal stripe is.
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