Frequency of wild-caught

[Ptorgeaux]

I recently got in an argument with a peer of mine about how many ball pythons in pet shops are captive bred. I said that I believe most are wild-caught, as I think I have read in various places. Is this indeed true? Also, I said that savannah monitors are very very seldom bred in captivity and most if not all in pet shops are wild-caught. Is this not true as well? Thanks for your input.

[lethargiic]

i will tell you right now that there are shops that WILL sell WC balls. but most will try to only keep captive breds, only because they dont want to put their stock in risk of getting diseased from incoming snakes.

Ive been going to incredible pets for over a year and have seen a couple of shipments of ball pythons being wild caught, only time i really see any CBs is when someone donates them or there's s clutch just born, and maybe an occasional stock of wc. but i will tell you now that about 90% of his boas and arboreals are wc.

As far as savannahs, most of them are imports. its not often to hear of someone breeding them still, but from word of mouth, the larger ones that get to 5-6 ft arent imported anymore because the locale they come from had its borders shut down for exportation, so now a days we'll see around here the smaller ones that grow to about 3-4 ft. it's just speculation but i doubt its rumour.

[Tsutton5]

the store that mine came from only sell CB snakes and reptiles... because of deseases... and the snakes come from his own stock or from local breeders...

	Captive Born Captive Born

[blkcrochunter]

A long time ago I worked at Petland Discounts in N.Y. There was a guy who knew the manager, and every few months he would come by with wc bps, and various other herps. They would just put them in tanks and put a price tag on them.

	Ball Python The Ball Python (Python regius), also known as the Royal Python, is a ground dwelling snake native to the savannahs and rain forests in western Africa, predominatly the countries of Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

	Wild caught wild caught

[telefrag]

most of the so called "captive bred" babies that we see on lists and in pet stores are indeed farmed imports, coming from wild females that are harvested and allowed to lay eggs, then incubated and hatched, then exported to Europe and the US.

I dont know of actual numbers, but over the years, the numbers coming in from overseas have dropped a little.

And on a brighter note, one thing the morph craze with bp's has done was generate legitimate and active interest in large scale breeding of normal type ball pythons.
So with the bad comes some good I guess.

but if you get a adult ball python in a pet store for under 100$ you can almost guarantee its wild caught.

	Morph A morph is a color or pattern variation that is proven to be genetic. Common morphs include albino, anerythristic, gentically striped, Hypomelanistic, and many others. Morphs also include combinations of simple traits such as "Sunglow" which is Albino and Hypomelanistic. These traits may be recessive traits, co-dominant traits, dominant traits, or created through selective breeding (ie Pastel).

[ChicagoCubs22]

i'd have to say considering pet stores do not regularly handle their snakes as owners do, i would say that they sell most if not all cb snakes, once they are produced/imported so that the customer gets the best out of the deal.

	Captive Born Captive Born

[JuliusSqueezer]

Originally Posted by ChicagoCubs22

i'd have to say considering pet stores do not regularly handle their snakes as owners do, i would say that they sell most if not all cb snakes, once they are produced/imported so that the customer gets the best out of the deal.

Huh?

	Captive Born Captive Born

[Ptorgeaux]

hahaha ditto.

[lethargiic]

Originally Posted by ChicagoCubs22

i'd have to say considering pet stores do not regularly handle their snakes as owners do,

isnt a store an inanimate object? i didnt know those can handle snakes.. =p

but telefrag pretty much explained it.