Some wild-caughts are nice, but captive-bred animals are almost always better looking. There are two reasons for this: one is because they are healthier and because breeders choose the best-looking animals to breed, and prettier parents produce prettier babies.

There's probably no problem that can occur with imports that can't occur with captive breds. It just that nearly all problems are much more likely to happen with imports. If you buy from a reputable breeder, your animal will be free of internal and external parasites, and will have little chance of carrying a serious disease. None of these things are necessarily true of imports.

Are these problems able to be treated and fixed? Sometimes easily. Sometimes at great trouble and expense. And sometimes not at all. It just depends. You pays your money and takes your chances when it comes to imports.

Breeders also breed for temperment, so captive-bred animals may be easier to tame. And of course, by definition, captive-bred animals are descended from parents who thrived and reproduced in captive conditions, so they are genetically more likely to thrive and reproduce themselves. Even when they are healthy and well-established for many years, imports don't necessarily breed as readily.

Captive-bred animals are a superior product in every way. That's the advice you'll get from just about anyone with experience. Somehow, though, you sound like a guy who's going to have to learn the hard way. I hope I'm wrong.

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