Once more again you say one thing and then agree in a later sentence with me while appearing to disagree. There are not now and have never been any REAL snake breeding farms in China. Possibly there are places that hold snakes there to sell to consumers etc. There have been Bear Breeding Farms, Tiger Farms, Chinese Alligators. Currently there are a few folks MOSTLY in Hong Kong [which if you haven't heard belongs to China now] which breed local Chinese Snakes. If anyone hatched D. acutus it was by catching a gravid female and getting lucky with the eggs. Vic asked about a threat to Herpetoculture here and I answered him correctly. Then you lead everyone to believe that the Chinese are somehow mastering the mass breeding of their local snakes for food consumption there. I have spoken at length to a two very good herpers in Hong Kong about mainland China and what is happening there since both travel extensively throughout regions with interesting herps frequently. They tell me that NO ONE except for a few hobbiest even try to keep snakes alive much less breed them. In China animals of any species are kept with little regard for their feelings. In the Snake Market in Kowloon snakes are held in lg. wire cages with mixed species piled on top of each other until they die or one is selected for food. Hong Kong has ALWAYS been the driving force for marketing Chinese herps abroad both then and now. You would know that if you were really 65 years old and were really in the Reptile Business. It is extremely difficult to travel in mainland China unless you use the bus system which is not feasible for a nonchinese speaking traveler but could be done. The biggest problem for Sam is to get healthy herps back to Hong Kong where he lives. Even for a Chinese he says it's very difficult and then you say there are these HUGE farms breeding and ranching snakes since the 70's. I've said that there are attempts to breed the Cuora trifasciata Turtles happening now and there NOT even able to do that with any kind of consistentcy yet Dennis Uhrig cranks them out annually here in Florida and Ralph Bruno used to do so as well. Read some of the TSA articles about shipments of turtles and tortoises that are caught being smuggled to China because their native chelonians have been eaten to the brink of extinction.. The Chinese are the BEST entrepaneurs in the world and have businesses the world over BUT the keeping and breeding of herps is NOT something their used to doing. I'm sure there are places selling snakes all over China BUT their NOT breeding anything yet and I believe it will be a LONG TIME unless someone goes there and gives them knowledge and aid as they have for the Panda's before that will happen. By the way I googled Zao and found lots of scientific papers but nothing about breeding snakes or snake farms as you say. It's well known he is a leading Chinese taxonomist and I've read many of his published papers but nothing on snake farms....Once again you pretend to be some sort of Zen Master Reptile Industry expert talking the talk without ever having walked the walk....
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Tom Crutchfield

www.tomcrutchfield.com

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