To be honest with you many things "considered endangered" are NOT and in fact quite common in the wild. THE MOST COMMON MONITOR IN ASIA IS VARANUS BENGALENSIS AND IS ON THE U.S. ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST. I've seen numerous websites with supposed numbers of wild Cyclura that I know for sure are far less than actual wild numbers. A friend of mine did a survey of wild Cuban Crocodiles and personally told me there likely were in excess of 10,000 wild ones but the published amounts were 3,000-4,000. I asked him why the published info was less than he told me and he said he liked to err on the side of the croc. In other words it's good business to have rare things one can get grants to "save". This is NOT something new and is something that will be continued. Someone like me could take any rare Cyclura and in a few years have so many you'd have to give them away practically. This year alone I've hatched just under 50 Cyclura cornuta and that's without even trying hard and with breeding just a few pairs. Rhino's are a good example of what I'm saying. The few remnants of Cyclura ricordi that are in U.S. collections are rarely bred yet I bred them EVERY YEAR when I was working with them. It's all about where you live and how you keep them. Personally I think SOME of the private breeders are far better than most institutions. Before I get flamed by any Zoo folks I think some are doing a decent job BUT if your financial survival depended on how many you produced your success rate would improve. That is just plain common sense...
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Tom Crutchfield

www.tomcrutchfield.com

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