Reptile & Amphibian Forums

anyone want to venture a guess as to the size of the current captive population of couperi in this country (plus canada?).

i'm giving a little presentation to my department and i know someone will ask.

jeff? robert? bueller?

thanks in advance,

matt

Guesstimate?? 300 /-
-----
Carl W Gossett
Garage Door Herps
Monument,Colorado...northern territory of the Great Republic of Texas

Good luck with this one. I know of breeders and keepers who never come up on this forum. And I'm sure there are many others. I'd guess 400

/- 300

You didn't mention if this is in regards to private individuals or public entities (zoos, nature centers, museums, etc.). There are far more in the private sector (probably in the 300-400 range...that's merely a guess w/out any data to back it up). I would venture that there are less than 100 in zoos, museums, nature centers, etc. which is a real shame (and I big reason why I now typically donate all of my offspring, when I have some, to these agencies as conservation education is a powerful tool to help save these animals and their habitat).

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
Lake Forest, IL

>>anyone want to venture a guess as to the size of the current captive population of couperi in this country (plus canada?).
>>
>>i'm giving a little presentation to my department and i know someone will ask.
>>
>>jeff? robert? bueller?
>>
>>thanks in advance,
>>
>>matt
-----
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

There are currently only 43 D. couperi being maintaned in zoological enitites worldwide, but I would suspect we could double this number, due to the number of institutions, especially private, that do not contribute to ISIS.
As others have indicated, teh private sector harbors the greater number of captive specimens and I believe the number to be a bit higher than the others and would say there are approximately 500-600 D. couperi total in the US and Canada. You must keep in mind, many folks working with them do not visit the foruams, as I know many folks who had no clue who Robert Bruce, was up until 2-3 years ago, though he had upward of 40 specimens within his own collection and I have to wonder how many other "basement" breeders there are out there.

Best regards,

Jeff
-----
Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

I'm thinking Jeff's guess is as good as any. ISIS is only required for AZA certified zoos, so there are lots more that don't contrubute to ISIS.
Lot's of private sector guys, especially the old bastards, don't post on-line about anything because they've seen too many sting operations, by the Feds and certain states, and they don't want the risk of having their animals impounded by gun toting agents.
Seriously.

remark!!!
-----
Carl W Gossett
Garage Door Herps
Monument,Colorado...northern territory of the Great Republic of Texas

Thanks everyone for all your best guesses.

matt

Dear Matt,

Jeff and I were just talking about this a few days ago. I think Jeff's estimate of 500 to 600 is probably a good one.

I have 71 Easterns in my snake room right now. These are roughly divided into thirds as adults, yearlings and hatchlings.

Robert Bruce.