Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is just a theoratical question just for the sake of debate sence this has been such an active forum lately. I am not going to endorse either side of this debate and keep my personal thoughts on the subjest to my self. So the question is "Do you think Komodo Dragons will ever be in the pet trade". Note I said will not should as that changes what the question is. Also keep in mind this is just for fun so lets hear your thoughts.
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"We don't inherate the earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children"

They kinda were ......... for a moment.

I understand that by pet trade you mean anyone can get one. If they haven`t been sold in the past when things were really " fun ", I don`t see it happening in the future. I think the AR, conservational , environmental , lets go green agendas will make it to difficult. Not right, just to difficult.

In my opinion no matter how zoos try and play it off they are part of the pet. It`s just that you need a membership card to shop at their stores , like Sam`s club.

Ernie Eison
WESTWOOD ACRES REPTILE FARM INC.

Will they? I doubt it. However, I think they should allow private individuals to help manage the captive population--incorporate them into the ssp for V. komodensis (which, btw, would require the individual to give money to the ssp for in-situ Komodo conservation). I believe that a liscence should be required, as these are an endangered species and I don't believe just anyone should keep them. I thik all SSP's would benefit from controlled assistance from the private sector--free and willing help, so to speak. However, AZA would never allow it, for whatever reason; so as long as V. komodensis remains at risk (and thus under control of the komodo dragon ssp), we hobbyists will have to go to the zoo to enjoy these awesome creatures.

I like these kick around type questions. I won`t slap a number on how many US keepers could provide for a Komodo . I will say ,

Komodos have for all intensive purposes never been available to private owners (the General public) legally .................so.........................

While I'm all for open trade and private ownership in the case of an animal like a Komodo what would be the point of introducing it into the pet trade now ?

Breeding them would have no real importance . Most likely the people that could care for them with the exception of a handful wouldn't want them. I do understand that there are individuals that would love to own one that could take care of it. That said, I also believe as a whole nether the trade or the lizards are missing out on anything by us not having them. At this point captive Komodos with the exception of being tourist attractions are already basically useless.

These are a few more reasons why I don`t think Komodos will ever legally enter the pet trade.

Ernie Eison

WESTWOOD ACRES REPTILE FARM INC.

Actually, I've had a fair amount of experience with captive and wild Komodo's in Asia. Personally I'm not particularly interested in them and if I were could possibly get them. As Monitors go I am far more interested in Crocodile Monitors in terms of breeding them. The prasinus groups I'm working with now are more interesting to me. My real passion are Ground Iguanas in the West Indies [Cyclura]. These I have been keeping and breeding for 30 years. I still believe, however, that the private sector in many cases could house and breed Komodo's if they wished to do so. It is ridiculous that they are not allowed to be in private hands unless you join a "boy's club" of political origin's. My chief objection to the whole Komodo quagmire is based on that premise. The AZA breeds Komodo's primarily for publicity and funding reasons while many obscure and critically endangered Varanids are ignored because they have little pubic interest and would generate little money for them....

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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Really there are individuals who in the private sector and in our hobby that could realistically keep them, but the average person who would pay the premium just to have one would either do it all wrong, or fail and have an overpriced dead pet, or risk their own life in rediculous ways.
Im told that the AZA and the government of Indonsesia have a program to control who, and where any komodos go. Sometimes I think it has to do more with zoo and political funding than anything else. I have a list given to me years ago from mark Bayless of private organizations that had them worldwide (more in Europe than here, but some here also). It seems the more money and influence you can assist these organizations with, the more their private "shopping club" is open to you. I guess the point was reached a few years ago with komodos in so many zoos that they rarely allow them to breed now under the AZA program, until of course someone with deep pockets comes calling.
If someone realistically is capable of keeping them properly I have no problem with it, I certainly never would want to.