Well,.....yes, the interest has seemed to fade in them over the course of years since their first introduction into the hobby around the early 90's. Before that, they were basically unobtainable. They first went for big bucks, and I even paid $250 a piece for my hatchlings back in the mid 90's. A few years prior to that, a buddy of mine paid $400 for his subadult pure andesiana.



I never knew of any true locality specific lines though, but they were very genuine andesiana that had to have originate from the higher elevations of Colombia in the Andes mountains.



There decline in popularity has no doubt been that good phenotypic examples are simply not all that eye-popping to most folks, and only the people that lke to work with snakes that are exactly how they are SUPPOSED to be for the most part(like me and some others) are going to appreciate them more.



Also, since they have been produced in substantial numbers since then, they aren't as "rare" as they once were, so given all these factors, along with many hobbyist wanting snakes with more vivid colors/patterns, it;s pretty easy to understand how they might not be as popular as they once were. I still appreciate them, but no longer have mine. There are a good number of people that still work with them though, and I've recently seen ads offering them for sale just recently too. You just have to look around on some different stes, and you will definitely find some.



I am not real sure about the importation aspect from Colombia, but they don't need to be imported anyway since there are still at least a decent number being produced, even though I definitely agree, they aren't in quite the numbers they used to be.



Try to make SURE you know exactly what you are looking at too, and look closely at photos, as we all know that lots of snakes are cross composits of ssp. now days.....very sad actually..





~Doug







-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"



my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

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