I'm trying to find info on wether it is legal to sell a western hognose (or any reptile) that has been wild collected, if it is a native species. On the Fauna Classified discussion board I got into an argument with two people about this. The argument is more about how I think it's wrong to take a snake from the wild to sell. It's nothing more than the pursuit of money. The guy doesn't even want to look into veterinary care, he just wants his money. The other person (supposedly a honose lover) keeps trying to remind me that because the snake is tame, it must be captive bred and born and nothing more than a lost pet. I've caught many hogs here in New Mexico (west of Texas), all but one have been intensely tame straight out of the wild. Anyway, this perked my interest into the matter. I can't seem to find any info, except that they are threatened in Illinois. When I type topics into search engines like Google, the words get jumbled up too much and too many off topic replies come up. Besides Fish and Wildlife, what are some good sites about this?
I know that in Ohio you are only allowed to collect four of each species of reptile from the wild and they have to be registered. This is to help prevent people from collecting too many and causing local extinctions. I would check with your state's Department of Natural Resources or the Parks Service (State Parks). One phone call and they should be able to tell you all you need to know about collecting reptiles from the wild in your area.
