Fifteen years is a looong time.

On February 8, 1997 kingsnake.com first appeared on the internet; It has been 5,478 days, or 137,952 hours, or 8,277,120 minutes from when our servers first went active. Since then our reptile and amphibian community has been visited by millions of people from around the world who have posted millions of photos and messages about their pets. Yahoo and Amazon.com may be older, but Google, YouTube, and of course Facebook are still our junior.

When I first started this web site few reptile people had even seen the internet, now the internet is so ingrained in our daily lives, in our community, and in our industry, we wonder how we were able to function without it. Along the way kingsnake.com has documented much of it, good and bad, and stored in it's archives is essentially a history of the reptile communities last decade and a half. Wading through it brings back a lot of memories of great animals, events, experiences, and friends that have long past. It will be interesting to see what changes the next 15 years bring.

kingsnake.com will be celebrating it's 15th anniversary all year at a variety of Reptile and Amphibian events, including this weekends NARBC expo in Arlington Texas. Please stop by our booth, pick up a free kingsnake.com window sticker and let us know how long you have been reading kingsnake.com! If you can't make it to this weekends show then tune in here for updates from the expo floor.

I want to thank the many users, advertisers, sponsors, volunteers, and staffers who have made kingsnake.com what it is today: the largest, most relevant, and most popular reptile community on the internet. - Jeff Barringer

Click below to see images of kingsnake.com throughout the years...

Yet another state, Illinois, has proposed a law on "Dangerous Animals" that includes constrictor snakes. The Illinois Dangerous Animals Act of 2012, Senate Bill SB3264, introduced by Sen. Heather A. Steans on Wednesday identifies a class of animals that qualify as dangerous animals, requires that a person must hold a Dangerous Animal Permit or a Limited Entry Permit to possess a dangerous animal in the State and sets forth requirements that must be met before the Department of Natural Resources may issue a Dangerous Animal Permit or a Limited Entry Permit, among other things.

According to the bill as proposed reptiles and amphibians impacted by this legislation include:

(14) Venomous reptiles, regardless of whether they have been surgically altered, including, but not limited to, venomous species of the following families or genera of the order Squamata: Helodermatidae, such as gila monsters and beaded lizards; Elapidae, such as cobras and coral snakes; Hydrophiidae, such as sea snakes; Viperidae and Crotalinae, such as vipers and pit vipers; Atractaspididae, such as burrowing asps; as well as colubrids such as the: Alsophis, such as the West Indian racers; Boiga, such as boigas and mangrove snakes; Conophis such as road guarders; Dispholidus, such as Boomslang; Hydrodynastes, such as false water cobras; Hemirhagerrhis, such as bark snakes; Macropisthodon, such as varied or hooded keelbacks; Madagascarophis, such as Madagascar common snakes; Malpolon, such as Montpellier snakes; Mimophis, such as Mahafaly sand snakes; Phalotris, such as
collared snakes; Philodryas, such as palm snakes or green racers; Psammophis, such as sand snakes or racers; Psammophylax, such as skaapstekers; Rhabdophis, such as keelbacks; Rhamphiophis, such as beaked snakes; Tachymenis, such as slender snakes or false vipers; Thelotornis, such as Twig snakes; Thrasops, such as black tree snakes; Tomodon, such as Pampas snakes; Waglerophis, such as Wagler's snakes; Xenodon, such as false fer-de-lances; Boiga irregularis, including specimens or eggs of the brown tree snake; and any others that the Department designates, by administrative rule, as outlined or deemed medically significant.

(15) All members of the Boidae family, such as boas, pythons, and anacondas as provided by the Department by administrative rule.
(16) All members of the order Crocodilia, such as crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gavials; members of the Varanidae family, such as Nile, water, and crocodile monitors as well as Komodo dragons.
(17) Medically significant poisonous amphibians capable of causing bodily harm to humans or animals, including, but not limited to, Bufo marinus, such as cane or marine toads, and Bufo alvarius, such as Colorado River toads.

Just for good measure they have also included a variety of spiders and scorpions as well.

Thanks to Jeff West for bringing this to my attention.

To read the full text of the bill as introduced, please continue reading...

According to a PIJAC Pet Alert released this morning, one of the proposed bills to prohibit ownership of various species of animals in Virginia has been put on hold while the sponsor, Delegate Chris Peace (R), considers a number of changes. HB 1242, as originally written, would have prohibited the possession, sale, transfer, or breeding of certain listed species, subject to some statutory exceptions. Species subject to the proposed ban included:

• All species and hybrids of the genera Canis (wolves and related species), Cuon (dholes), Lycaon (African wild dogs), and Chrysocyon (maned wolves); excluding Canis lupus familiaris (domestic dogs) and Canis lupus familiaris hybrids
  
• All species and hybrids of the family Felidae (all felids); excluding Felis catus (domestic cats) and Felis catus hybrids
  
• All species and hybrids of bears
  
• All species of hyena and aardwolf
  
• All species of alligators, crocodiles, caimans, and gharials
  
• All species and hybrids of apes, galagos, lemurs, lorises, and monkeys, excluding humans
  
• All species of elephants
  
• All species and hybrids of the family Atractaspididae, such as mole vipers
  
• All species “that may be described as family Pythonidae”
  
• All species and hybrids of the genera Apodora (pythons), Eunectes (anacondas), Liasis (pythons), Morelia (pythons), and Python (pythons); excluding Morelia viridis (green tree pythons), Python anchietae (Angolan pythons), and Python regius (ball or royal pythons)
  
• All species and hybrids of the genera Dispholidus (boomslangs), Rhabdophis (keelbacks), and Thelotornis (twig snakes)
  
• All species of the family Elapidae, “to include all species that may be described as family Hydrophiidae,” such as cobras, mambas, coral snakes, and sea snakes
  
• All species of the family Viperidae, such as rattlesnakes, pit vipers, and puff adders.
  

No further action will occur on HB 1242 this legislative session, but the bill will remain in committee for further consideration during the second year of the session (2013).

"PIJAC will continue working with the sponsor concerning objections to this legislation. Please note that Senate Bill 477, which also bans possession of certain species of animals, remains active at this time. The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation & Natural Resources. PIJAC is working with interested parties on addressing concerns about this legislation as well. PIJAC will publish an updated PetAlert when there is any change in status on either of these bills. For additional information on these bills, or other legislation impacting the keeping, breeding or selling of pets, please feel free to contact PIJAC’s Michael Maddox at 202-452-1525, ext. 106, or via email at michael@pijac.org with questions or concerns. "