Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a point I would like to make regarding herpetoculture. In defending against the arguments of anti-exotic politicians, we often say that breeding reptiles in captivity is one way to prevent the extinction of these animals. Since reptiles are disappearing across the planet, this is a very penetrating statement for someone who wants to conserve nature.

But is this really what we are doing? Let's look at the ball python, for example. Python regius has been bred en masse for decades, and this popularity has been fueled by the "production" of some very striking morphs, including albinos and leucistics. However, any biologist will tell you that such creatures cannot survive in the wild. Albinos can hardly be exposed to sunlight, or their health is threatened. Other morphs create problems as well; how on earth could a lavender ball python avoid detection by predators if its camouflage has been stripped away? Since many of these traits are recessive, the pythons' offspring wouldn't be any better off, though whether such an animal would live long enough to breed is debatable.

What I am saying is, if ball pythons were to become critically endangered in the wild, how could captive-bred individuals serve the wild populations if the vast majority of them were unable to survive in the wild? A reintroducing program would certainly be a dramatic failure if all of the captive pythons were genetically anomalous.

So is the captive breeding of such species as the ball python, corn snake, king snake, bearded dragon, and leopard gecko really giving us a reservoir of specimens in case wild populations were to become endangered? It would appear not. My point is this: perhaps it is unwise to continually be trying to "engineer" oddball reptiles simply because they are more visually pleasing to someone who cannot appreciate reptiles otherwise. Instead, why not concentrate on exploring "normal" animals for all their ordinary glory? Is a normal ball python really all that bad? And when the wolves come knocking at our doors with things like HR 669, can we really say that professional breeders are aiding conservation?

Best regards,
Pinstripe

I dont mean to be rude but what you are saying if full of a lot of holes. First of all captive breeding of ball pythons already helps conserve the wild population, there are not near as many imported ball pythons as there used to be. Even though it was the reptile industries fault in the first place, there is a demand for reptiles. So they can either be captive breed or taken out of the wild. When buying a lot of these reptiles you mentioned you dont even have to worry about them being wild caught anymore, isnt that a good thing?

Also I dont recall anyone saying they breed reptile morphs incase they need to be released into the wild. And do you have any clue how many normal ball pythons are still produced?

I understand where you are coming from but I think you have a lot of facts wrong. If people stopped breeding reptiles many species would take a hard hit when they became heavily imported again.

Also Monitor breeding still needs a lot of work, as it is rare for most species.

dont wory some idiots will eventualy start breeding them in rack systhem. for now morality stops them.

it is the nature of things to extant and extint, humans fools themself thinking otherwise.

keep them for fun

Thank you for your responses. Obviously Varanus is not a morph-ridden genus in captivity, I guess I posted here because I knew you guys wouldn't get too angry

I just wanted to clarify this issue for myself. I am not a reptile breeder and don't fully understand the business but I was interested in how captive breeding aids conservation.

Best regards,
pinstripe

I mean dont get me wrong there is a lot wrong with the reptile breeding industry, and it is the reptile industry that got the demand for reptiles so high, but at this point there is some good in it. And there are a few good breeders out there. Luckily for a good bit of the monitor side of it they are pretty expensive and harder to keep.

As for the monitor side of it I wish there were more people breeding. Not mass breeding like balls and leopard geckos, but good people doing it right. There are way to many imported monitors.

I mean dont get me wrong there is a lot wrong with the reptile breeding industry, and it is the reptile industry that got the demand for reptiles so high

That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. The demand is already there. When I got interested in reptiles the was no "industry" . I'll bet you're one of those people who think the "gun industry is why people kill each other as well.

really? then where did the demand for reptiles come from?

Just a bit of advice here, you should do yourself a favor and either never work for yourself or follow an absolutely tried and true path when it comes to your own business because you very obviously do not understand the first rule of business. Demand does not rise out of product availability. Product availability rises out of demand. That is why they don't sell Air conditioners above the arctic circle or snow mobiles in florida there is no law saying you can't do either but obviously you would fail.
And if by chance you are one of those tools who just happens to buy things JUST because people are selling them...I'm running a special on dead branches and old broken bricks you can e-mail me for more info.