All,



I just scanned it. Its main goal is to squeeze out the little guy who can't afford to conform to these standards. As a little guy that's how I read it. There are some good things in the document that would help the industry, however. I know of a certain former burmese python breeder that now does chondros, boas and colubrids in the Gainesville, Florida area that was talking a few years ago about doing something like this. His arguement was that the "backyard breeder" didn't have the over head he did and thus could under cut him on price. I find the opposite to be true. The "warehouse snake breeders" usually under cut the "backyard breeder." There are many more "backyard breeders" then big commercial guys. Another interesting fact is that many of the big guys in the industry use to be small guys. Now they have theirs and they want to close the door on you getting yours.



This sounds really familiar. Some of you may remember my arguements with a certain group of west Texas herpers. They claim to not be commercial when it comes to collecting from the wild. They want to throw the commercial guys under the bus so they can keep theirs. They claim to be recreational hobbyists. As with the fishing industry we know that the recreational folks greatly out number the commercial folks. Now, if the big breeders get their way, the small recreational hobbyists will now have to admit to being commercial and conform to these new commercial standards to be in the game.



This industry has always been interesting and cut throat. It will be interesting to see how this works out. I will support an individual's rights to be in the game at any level. However, it looks like we are moving towards the Wal-Mart model if we don't get castrated by the academics and AR groups first. Oh the joys of herpetoculture.



Welkerii

El Paso, TX

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