I guess it is time. I have an issue for any or all of the herpers that lurk around Kingsnake Forums to think about. I am wondering if you have heard about the guy that asked the woman if she would go to bed with him for a million dollars, she says yes, then he says “now that we have established what you are let’s haggle on the price”. You may have also heard about the guy that says he would never pay for sex but, then you hear about how he spent over $200 on a date hoping he would get lucky. Let’s talk about how “big” or “little” a hypocrite you may be and at what price or cost.

To start, here are a few questions for you to answer honestly, if you are able. 1. How many of you that keep any type of herp or animal have never had one die while in your captivity? How many of you have had to euthanize animals that you captive bred because they would not eat, you could not get the proper food, or just did not want to care for because they were too much trouble or not worth $$$$ enough to take the time? 2. What did you do with the dead animals? 3. Where did the animals you keep or kept come from? Were they wild caught or captive bred? Where did all the founder stock from all captive bred herps originate? How many of you bought or traded for the animals you keep? How many of you have ever SOLD or traded an animal you collected or captive bred? How many of you have imported animals from another state or country for the purpose of making a $$$$$?

Someone please correct me if I am wrong. There are absolutely zero animals that have been created by man for the purpose of keeping in captivity. Every single type of animal that is kept in captivity, for whatever reason, was originally wild. So that being said, if someone had NOT gone out and captured the founding stock of herps that people are now captive breeding, there would be no captive breeding. If new stock were not added there would be no diversity in the offspring and none of the different morphs. Bottom line, all captive herps came from the wild and new wild herps are still desirable. If some herpers that are actually good at collecting (say alterna) did not do it, how would the poor guy from New York ever be able to have one? The same thing holds true for any importers or captive breeders.

Now let’s put what I have said so far into perspective. Of all the herps that have been kept (however you acquired them) and died, what do you have to show for them? Did you eat them, tan the hides, mount them, preserve them for science, or did you simply dispose of them? I submit that they were for the most part wasted. Did you pocket any $$$$?

With that in mind let’s talk about the use of animals. We know we breed lots of animals for food, for example cattle, sheep, hogs, chickens and so on. We also hunt lots of game/non-game animals and fish for the purpose of eating and trophies. Some herps are legally collected/harvested for commercial purposes (food), for example turtles (of various types) and rattlesnakes. Not only are the rattlesnakes providing a food source they are using the hides, heads, rattles, gall bladders, and even extracting the venom. They are not simply wasted.

When Herpers got together to rescind the road collecting laws in Texas, they used the argument that there would be a huge loss of $$$$ to the local economy in the West Texas towns. In other words herpers used their activities to convince law makers that they contribute to the local communities so they can pursue their goals with respect to herping. The same thing goes on with towns like Sweetwater, Taylor, Freer and other cities in other states. The real difference is that those towns really do rely on the revenue that comes from the round-ups mostly through attractions, vendors, gate fees, show fees and so on. Here is a real bone to chew on – the snakes taken to round-ups are taken from private property with owners permission because they do not want them on their property. Road collectors are taking animals that wander off of the private property and doing so without knowing whether or not the land owner wants the herps on their property.

Whether you keep one or many herps, breed a few or thousands, capture one or hundreds, sell or trade any number, you are exploiting them at some level.

So if you really think about this, how big a hypocrite are you????

ECTimaeus

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