And U.S. Customs Service will catch the illegals on foreign arrivals. Agriculture officials also believe that there's a seller's market for illegal reptiles in Hawaii. Cravalho said snakes could be sold here easily for three times the original price. Snakes are also easily maintained. Some snakes don't need to eat for months.
Female snakes can also store sperm inside their bodies for a year, making breeding an easy task.
Cravalho said he's still confident that most island residents would rather keep snakes out of the state. Most of their captures are from neighbors' sightings. If pet store employees suspect a customer is keeping a snake, they say so, but rarely know for sure, Carvalho said. The state has no authority to check U.S. first-class or express mail because of various privacy laws. This makes smuggling snakes through the mail easy, said Domingo Cravalho Jr., Department of Agriculture Plant Quarantine spokesman.