Back in the 70's when it was legal to still collect Mexico, I was lucky enough to be able to accompany some friends that were keepers at the several of the zoo's here in Texas for a month in Old Mexico. It was also about this time I met Randy Limburg, who back in those days was considered one of the best collectors in the country. Captive propogation at this time was non existant and the best we could hope for was to catch a gravid female and incubate the eggs, which was a touch & go propositon at best in those days. With all that said the below is a combination of what I was able to learn while in Mexico and also glean from others that were collecting Mexico etc.
First realize that everything coming out of Mexico was on a permit basis and you were allowed a certain number of reptiles on any given permit. In most cases they really didn't care what you brought out just that the numbers were matching. So most people concentrated on the colorful and eye catching reptiles of the area. Animals such as pueblan milks, sinaloan milks, knoblocki etc were much more appealling to the eye and were imported as versus any of the pituophis.
Think about it from a comercial collectors standpoint and you will understand why so few deppei deppei or deppei jani were brought out. First in the pet trade gophers, bulls and pines had a terrrible reputation as being hisser's and biters. Not calm like corns, kings etc. And not near as pretty as the tri-colored animals.
Combine that with the fact that neonates were very drab in color and did not get the beautiful colorations they have until they were adults. When collecting the majority of the deppei group you saw were neonates and were very unimpressive to most. So even though on that trip I saw 30 or 40 pits ( jani, deppei and capes) I was unable to talk the permit holder into collecting any of them.
The major way to collect these guys was like here in Texas for bulls, road riding at night in the differeent areas of the country. We also found a few raisng rocks, using mirrors to look into rock fractures and various types of debris in the different areas while field collecting and walking the respective areas.
In 1976 we brought a group of Cape Gophers numbering about 60 into the country through El Paso. They were some of the beginnings of the capes we still have in the collection. Most were sold to others and they were a hard sell being "gopher Snakes which very few foks wanted. They at the time were bringing 10.00 ea. and we also brought in about 100 beaded lizards which retailed for 75- 100.00 at the time which will give you some reference as far as cost etc.
About this same time Randy brought out his group of deppei deppei from around Durango Mexico. There seems to be quite a bit of difference in the Durango area animals and the deppei deppei from the other areas. When someone does some more research, I personally believe they will end up a separate SSP. Much my delight and with Randy being a long time friend I was able to get hold of a few of them eventually.
Collecting in Mexico was a real treat and I wish modern day herpers could experience it. The method used to collect Nelsons milks etc were very unique to that species etc etc.
I have been back a few more times over the years and it is indeed a herper paridise. I envy the Zoo folks that get to go down and work in that country on a fairly regular basis.
Any there are a few musing of an old herper that longs for the way things were sometimes. But this hobby has come a long way over the years and is really becoming mainstream which is in most ways is a good thing. I can only hope that the younger guys and girls getting into the hobby can be as enthralled with it as I have been for many years. It is indeed an privilage to work with these wonderful animals and to have a forum for exchange of information like this web site.
John Cherry
Cherryville Farms
Cherryville Farms
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