Wild Caught Survey

[NightHawk]

just wanted to know who has WC or imports, I say they, I mean boas of course, But any other species is fine.

I myself dont beleive in taking them from the wild, And i will not buy a wild caught or import.

Sorry, Didn't have alot of "choices" to put on there.

[El_Pirata]

I have caught a few myself in the jungle and taken them home. Getting them through customs both legally or illegally is a royal pain in the butt. While people do say that wild caught boas are not as docile as captive bred snakes I have found that wild caught are not that wild. I saw a huge one that was probably in the range of about 10' hanging in a tree. I had thought about grabbing it but rationality got the best of me when I figured how wild a snake that old might act. I was also lacking my heavy leather gloves which was the other determining factor.

[Panama_Red]

You forgot the option of farm bred imported, I have a few of those. I try to stay away from WC they can be such a pain.

[ratman]

I prefer to know as much as I can about the history of my snakes so I don't mess with them! :'(

[NightHawk]

Yeah it was 2am in the morning, I knew i left alot out LOL

[ratman]

Go to bed already! LOL :'(

[Randy_T.]

I have purchased wc animals...BUT (a big but..lol) I did not know that the animal that I was acquiring was wc until after the transaction...

And I do not agree with the practice..why purchase a wc animal when a cb is readily available.

[HerperCCC]

No wild caught here. I think with today's availability of CB animals, wild just isn't a good option. I only deal with CB, (with the exception of my Iguana, they are almost all farmed). I would encourage everyone to resist the temptation of buying wild caught animals. Though they may be a bit cheaper, the problems they MAY bring will probably cost you more in the long run.

[beastie]

i agree with CCC... no need for the average herper to mess with WC at all...



bc

[Boabrat]

I have and do own a couple 'wild caught' snakes, Soloman Island Ground Boas. These are snakes which are fairly common, and almost always WC even though people, even the ones selling them, may not know it. They are fairly difficult to breed in captivity, and then the babies have a very high mortality rate. I purchased these wild caughts with the idea of breeding them, but have since ran into problems with parasites and other health issues with several of the WC, some of which died. While I am not a big fan of WC reptiles, where do you think the breeders for new bloodlines come from? 7-11? In some species, like columbian boas for example, there is really not a large need for WC specimens. For other, less common species, WC may be the only choice. Or the affordable choice, for example captive bred Sol Isl Boas sell for 130++ $, and wild caught I can get for 1/5 of that for breeding stock. Sadly not all importers are as concerned about the health and long term well being of the snakes as we are. So sometimes illnesses/parasites are overlooked or not properly treated at an early stage.
I will say my surviving stock of Sol Isl Boas are very tame, good eaters and full of personality. I treat my WC slihtly differently than other snakes, I keep them in terrariums basically, mimicing thier natural environments to keep them as happy as possable. I also try to keep thier diets a bit more natural by feeding them feeder lizards as well as small rodents, none of which is F/T.

-John da BoaBrat

[CCS]

I do not knowingly buy WC or imports, I have taken one in as a rescue. An exception would be if the snake was truly amzing or different. I believe that we have enough breeding stock in the US to maintain a healthy gene pool. Only morph animals that would have been picked off anyway should be brought in now.
Chris