Taking aquatic invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, and nongame fish for private use

A little info I found for Va field herepers:

4VAC15-360-10. Taking aquatic invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, and nongame fish for private use.

A. Possession limits. Except as otherwise provided for in § 29.1-418 of the Code of Virginia, 4VAC15-20-130, subdivision 8 of 4VAC15-320-40 and the sections of this chapter, it shall be lawful to capture and possess live for private use and not for sale no more than five individuals of any single native or naturalized (as defined in 4VAC15-20-50) species of amphibian and reptile and 20 individuals of any single native or naturalized (as defined in 4VAC15-20-50) species of aquatic invertebrate and nongame fish unless specifically listed below:

4. The daily limit for bullfrogs shall be 15 and for snapping turtles shall be 5. Bullfrogs and snapping turtles may not be taken from the banks or waters of designated stocked trout waters.

5. The following species may not be taken in any number for private use: candy darter, eastern hellbender, diamondback terrapin, and spotted turtle.

6. Native amphibians and reptiles, as defined in 4VAC15-20-50, that are captured within the Commonwealth and possessed live for private use and not for sale may be liberated under the following conditions:

a. Period of captivity does not exceed 30 days;

b. Animals must be liberated at the site of capture;

c. Animals must have been housed separately from other wild-caught and domestic animals; and

d. Animals that demonstrate symptoms of disease or illness or that have sustained injury during their captivity may not be released.

The DGIF is now issuing permits to licensed pet stores and captive breeders for them to sell three species of captive-bred snakes (4 VAC 15-360-50): eastern kingsnake, mole kingsnake, and corn snake. No other snakes native to Virginia can be bought or sold in Virginia, and there are size limits as to what can be sold.

If the native snakes allowed for sale by permit were produced in captivity they may be sold at larger than 12"-16".

Check with your county as county ordinances are changing and becoming more stringent and may restrict what you can do more than the state does.

Buying and Selling Wildlife in Va:

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/laws/buyingselling.asp

Collecting, Exhibiting, and Releasing Wildlife:

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/permits/guide.asp

random statement my dads the senior wild life bioligst for the state of virginia

byrd'sballs wrote:

random statement my dads the senior wild life bioligst for the state of virginia

thats pretty freaking cool!

Got to see a lot of cool stuff growing up.

byrd'sballs wrote:

random statement my dads the senior wild life bioligst for the state of virginia

I totally want his job!!!

I have to admit number 4 made me giggle...but good stuff to know. Now I wish they could enforce it. I'm especially tired of wild caught stuff for sale en masse at shows.

They do enforce it a lot more then you think. They do undercover stings like they do undercover drug deals. If personalty seen a few people hand cuffed and crying. I would recommend doing it and excepting to get away with it.

Wouldn't recommend it.

byrd'sballs wrote:

Got to see a lot of cool stuff growing up.

What are some highlights of stuff you saw growing up?

Well i was the only lid on the block with a leash tame alligator. We had serveral rattlesnake speckled timber and pigmys. My dad picked up a hurt bob cat oneday and it got loose in our garage. . And I know of a very small pond that you can wade in at night and catch all the tiger salamanders you could want...

Nice! You could probably write an interesting book based on your experiences.

I'm not too sure about that but I did have some pretty great times with my pops. How well do you know my dad?

I don't know him well at all. I may of met him once and exchanged a few emails when he was with the dgif.

Oh I got ya

I would love to take a field trip to see the tiger salamanders....and of course take some pics and leave them in the wild...

Perhaps someone can clarify this for me. The law reads we can have 5 natives for personal use. That is 5 per person, right? My wife and I are both reptile enthusiast and owners. So, could we have 10 of one certain species in our home?

I'm pretty sure it's per location. I think it's one of those gray areas that would really be at the discretion of the officer you were dealing with. I'd keep it to 5.

I thought it was per person

per person is my understanding. i dont want to call and ask, cause its like saying, HEY...I HAVE MORE THEN MY LIMIT OVER HERE. =)

Now I have a question of my own, I am military and live in VA and will till spring ish 2014... I really want to get a couple baby/juvenile RES this coming year, but in 2014 I'm going to move back to IL (where I'm from) and go to college, what's the law on WC and then leaving the state?

The law reads that you can take “for personal use.” If taking them back home is your personal use, I think you are fine as far as VA is concerned. Just make sure its ok to take them to IL.

I'm going to look into IL law actually soon to male sure I can bring ALL my reptiles and such with me, I have gained a decent start to a collection and am adding to it regularly lol... I am starting to plan out custom made enclosures for most now with an indoor turtle pond tank build that I believe will be epic if I can pull it off. I really like the idea of going and searching out some RES and then isolate them and eventually introduce them into my DBT tank.

I ran across a NC rescue the other night. They were listing 12 RES that they are giving away. I will try to find the site when I get home and send you the link.

That would be awesome if you find it

just got home....here it is....
http://ccsbreptilerescue.webs.com/

Thank you, unfortunately that's a 5+ hour drive one way lol...

So at the VLM show I asked about the 5 per person limit, and it is per person, not house hold... They only enforce the limits when animals are being neglected and captured to sell illegally and what not. They said that unless there are calls made saying you doing something illegal in that sense then there is no need to worry.

Bassically they said they do not have the funding/man power to search out and enforce most of those laws. I know no one wanted to bit the bullet and ask, so I did lol

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/regulations/nongame.asp

any albino species may also be kept, bred, and sold as well. So for those of you that love the black rat snakes you can breed them as well. I was also told that this includes the leucistics as well even though they are technically not albino.