John, TC,

Thanks for the input. I've always suspected that the high mortality with some species was due largely to gross neglect (and missing parts), but I wasn't sure. You'd think that the exporters could get herps directly, instead of through the food markets.

Of course, I hope to find a gravid conspic, but I'll be happy with anything. The area where I will be herping is south of my current latitude, so at least the snakes from that particular area aren't especially accustomed to a severe climate. Two of the three that I found were at relatively low elevation......I want to think it was right around 1000'. Maintaining cooler temps in the summer won't be a problem, so I guess I'll just have to be very diligent in acclimating them. I think the idea of deparisitizing them afterward is sound; I also imagine that the parasite load would be lowish, but who knows??

I'm looking forward to this summer! I'll be in Japan from May 8th thru 30th, and then doing some herping with TC shortly afterward......should be a blast!

Oh yeah, I finally got my new toy, and some good reading material:


Dreaming of May..........

Shane
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