Snails illegal in Arizona?

[mouseturd13]

Hello all! I have been wanting to get a snail, but the petsmart in my area has stopped carrying both mystery and nerite snails. I am assuming they are no longer legal... I am curious if anyone know which snails are illegal in Arizona. I know there have been some issues with Apple snails but I can’t seem to find any information on which snails are no longer allowed and which are. :( I have no local fish stores besides pet smart either. 

 

Any input is much appreciated! 

[Sykes]

Have you tried asking Petsmart? If they're not legal for you to own, then they're not legal for them to sell locally, so if they recently stopped carrying them they should be able to tell you if that's the reason or if they'll be getting more in stock. 

 

Allegedly this website (Arizona game and fish department) has a full list of restricted pets on it somewhere, but I'm having difficulty finding it. From what I could find on other sites, it sounds like the apple snail and chinese mystery snail are a no-go. I didn't see anything about nerite snails though. They also require brackish water to reproduce, so seems less likely they'd be considered an invasive species to make a restricted list, but I don't know for sure.

[mouseturd13]

@Sykes Yeah I checked the AZ game and fish website and couldn't find a list either. I heard that nerites are still legal, but I'm not sure why PetSmart stopped carrying them. Maybe they just aren't that popular in my area. I haven't seem many hobbyists here in town. I will probably just have to wait for the weather to get a little cooler and order online. Thank you for the help!

[mouseturd13]

I got an answer from the AZ fish and game. Posting for future reference in case someone else is looking for answers. 

[Preston John]

Although the “mystery snail” (Pomacea bridgesii) that is sold in most pet stores is in the genus Pomacea, it is not one of the species of concern by the AZGFD. A good way to know if you have a species that will get you in trouble is if they have pink/red eggs. The ones you want are the snails that lay tan eggs. 

All the local Aquaruim shops here in the Phoenix metro area have them available for sale. They sometimes call me to identify them if they have someone drop them at their shops. 

I also keep a few cool species of snail and you are welcome to have some:

• Marisa cornuarietis (Giant ramshorn 2”)
• Thiara winteri (spiky trumpet snail)
• Plus lots of other bladder and pond species

[Polyfish9k]

I would be interested in ramshorns if you have any

[amrkizer]

On 10/17/2020 at 9:13 AM, Preston John said:

Although the “mystery snail” (Pomacea bridgesii) that is sold in most pet stores is in the genus Pomacea, it is not one of the species of concern by the AZGFD. A good way to know if you have a species that will get you in trouble is if they have pink/red eggs. The ones you want are the snails that lay tan eggs. 

All the local Aquaruim shops here in the Phoenix metro area have them available for sale. They sometimes call me to identify them if they have someone drop them at their shops. 

I also keep a few cool species of snail and you are welcome to have some:

• Marisa cornuarietis (Giant ramshorn 2”)
• Thiara winteri (spiky trumpet snail)
• Plus lots of other bladder and pond species

These are the kind of eggs I have. Are these okay? I’ve been wanting to sell some of my snails online because I have too many, but don’t want to do anything illegal (I’m in Gilbert). Thanks!

[H.K.Luterman]

3 hours ago, amrkizer said:

These are the kind of eggs I have. Are these okay? I’ve been wanting to sell some of my snails online because I have too many, but don’t want to do anything illegal (I’m in Gilbert). Thanks!

Looks like Mystery snail eggs to me. I looked up apple snail eggs for comparison, and wow, yeah they're really pink.