John, good questions.

Japan- Shane ok can probably answer this better than anybody. What I do know is that the Japanese may not have been into the reptile craze as early on as Europe and the US but they are well ahead of all the other far east countries. They are well known for very high end herps and i have seen things offered there that i have never seen in the US. They also demand high quality from their suppliers. So much so that if you look at the US exporter lists you will see the term "japanese perfect" on animals meaning simply that the animals are in primo condition. One of my exporters told me that when he sends a shipment they will complain about ANY defect (missing toenails, etc.).

Korea- Lloyd Lemke was importing turtles and some iguanas some years ago. He imported tons of turtles but the buddhists would buy them during holidays and write a message of hope on their backs and release them in the rivers/streams. Due to the environmental imact, Korea has not allowed red ear sliders to be imported for many years. Somewhere along the way tortoises were also banned but there are plenty of torts available from smugglers here (stars, radiated, pancake, you name it and they got them). I have imported for 3 or 4 years now. You name it and i import it (if it is legal). Mostly low / medium priced herps because the main market here is very young customers (21 and under). When i first started there was not any real dedicated importers and supplies were non existant. I was having to bake and crush egg shells and oysters for calcium. Later I found cuttlefish bone at china medicine shops. I finally got a pet supply importer to start carrying reptile supplies from manufacturers like zoo med. Since I started doing the reptile series for a sunday morning program called animal farm, the reptile craze has really taken off. The only problem now is that there are a lot of young guys importing and selling reptiles over the internet from their house. They are what i call reptile whores because they sell them dirt cheap so they can move them fast and do not have to feed or care for them long term. They are killing the pet stores. Fortunately I had enough forsight so when i imported for resale i held back the best stuff for future breeding projects. This year i should produce 500 or more kings and corns. I have actually already produced over 30 species since i set up over here. Of course i have done things like beardies, leopard geckos, veiled chameleons, boas, colubrids, etc. but some of my other projects are now starting to kick in. My albino boa is gravid (as well as many norms, My albino balls will produce this year as well. I also have many other projects in various stages such as D'alberts, amethystine, carpets, chondro, uromastyx (i love them and was probably one of the first in the US to produce Mali's back in the 80's). I also buy baby burms and retics and grow them big for my zoo market (I sell to all of the zoos in Korea). I do not sell retics to just anybody and did not plan to breed them but I actually got a few deals on some albinos, tigers and other morphs so i have set them up also to produce for zoos and responsible/experienced hobbyists. My argus monitor just laid eggs today for me!.

Indonesia- my friend over there has exported for many years. He has a huge and gorgeous farm were he also does a lot of breeding (not only native species but things like veiled and panther chameleons too). He imports a lot of herps for the pet trade also. I think the market there is not as strong but it is there none the less.

China- I have a friend from korea that used to live there. He went back there this year. He said there was a very good assortment of herps. Of course lots of turtles and tortoises too. I think that with China opening up and the economy kicking, that there will be a huge opportunity there for someone to make some money in the business. I am surprised that with the low cost of labor that someone has not started a huge breeding facility there (or maybe they have). Czech republic and indo probable produce most of the veils in the US market now for that very reason.

I do not know if i gave you an insight on the trade over here or just babbled on but either way I got to kill some time on my favorite forum so thanks for the question. I look forward to hear from some of the others on their point of view.

Thanks, Don

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