Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, I have been considering Micro Chipping my snakes (at least the top end ones) as part of keeping track of them and making it part of the sale when I sell babies. The cost to get the chip is small, about $35.00 per snake and I am sure that with a 100 or so snakes being chipped it would drop the cost even further. Now to register the Chip with the registry is a fee of $40.00 per snake. My thoughts are this (and this is what I need your input on)
1)With the Top end snakes selling for $500.00 or more, do you think that it is worth the $75.00 per animal for the chip and registration.
2) Would you as a buyer be more willing to buy a chipped snaked vs. a non-chipped snake.
3) as the buyer would you prefer to have the option to register the snake yourself or already have it done and have the cost worked into the price of the snake?
4)As a buyer would you feel that this is a good security idea for your snake or just a waste of time and money?
Please let me know what your thoughts are.
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

I personally have considered investing in a chip lot (I have a vet friend who can order them for around 20-25 a piece if I pick up 20 or more at a time) My reasoning for chipping was slightly different then just for high end snakes, although I was planning on doing the same thing.. (to help prevent theft, and identifying the animals and lineage)

The main reason I was considering using chipping was with any crosses I may produce in the future, that way an obvious identification would be able to be done and a documented record of the lineage would always be on file.

As far as the chipping of high end animals that you may sell, I think it should be an option but the buyer would be required to pay the filing fee. (that way if they felt like it they could) I believe Bob Clark offers the chipping with all of his animals.. (I could be mistaken)

Sorry for rambling.. Tired, so I will shut up now and try and gather my thoughts..lol
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

It could be the start of a boa registry to track lineage. Pure localities or breeds(like BCC vs BCI) could be identified with little effort and arbitration, rather than "it looks like this or that". But are the chips small enough for a 3-4 moth old, where do they put them- underbelly or back? Eventually, it should also require a DNA test of the father, via a shedded skin sample. This is what the AKC does with dogs. It would no doubt be costly, but those of us who care about purity, would pay for it. I guess I would make the registry optional for the purchaser though.
Later-
Matt Schubarth

Well the chip thing is good and has been around for a little while now, as it would be costly to the breeder to cover the cost of the chip & registry especially if you produce over a 100 snakes per year, most customers are already looking for the "best " price and that added $75. may be a turn off especially if someone where to buy a trio of snakes that would be an additional $225. for the order.
I also was curious as to the asfe age of a baby snake to be chipped even 6 month old Hog Islands are still small.
You also have the problem of little town USA that does not have a scanner at the local vet office.
But I do agree that one day we will all probably and should do so chip our animals for gene recognition or inbreeding awareness, because we all have bred fathers to daughters and brothers to sisters and sons to mothers its just part of having to do so when a new gene is out there to be proven out, but think about the people who buy the littermates as pairs don't you think they will breed them to eachother again and again.

My final opinion would be that the buyer that wants a chip implant be the one to cover the cost of the chip and they can register them themselves. After all even if an animal is chipped it doesn't garuntee the person who had it chipped was being truthful, anyone can chip a normal snake and say it is a het, so chipping is not a garuntee it is an I.D. if the animal has been stolen or lost it may be identified.
A picture I.D. with the breeders stamp would work against any misleadings from a second party.

Talk to you later,
Nick

My thoughts...
I don't see the need to microchip most non-native snake species unless they're high-end hets OR endangered in their native habitat. If its a het that I'm paying $1000's for, such as het for Pied BP's, it may be worth it. I don't see a need for it if the snake is the actual morph though, unless (once again) its a super high end morph or very rare. For instance, a hypo boa doesn't necessarily need a microchip to identify that its hypo but a het pied BP may be more valued if microchipped. Also, with snakes over a few thousand dollars, its well worth the cost b/c if they're ever stolen and recovered later on, they could possibly be returned BUT how many times has this actually occurred in the past? If I unknowingly bought a stolen snake, I would never know to check if its microchipped (how many people do that?). It somewhat reminds me of LoJack in cars.lol.

Furthermore, some states require microchips to be placed in native snake species once they're a certain STV length for purposes of identifying them if ever accidentally released into the wild. If this were the case, and I could own an otherwise banned reptile so long as its tagged with a microchip, then I would be willing to pay extra. Also, I think it should be the breeder who registers the snake's microchip in any scenario.
There is no reason to tag it if the buyer doesn't register it therefore it should be an all or none deal on the sellers part.

I think it should be an optional offer if you're selling boas in the 500-1200 price range. However, if its an Eastern Indigo or an Angolan Python or a boa upwards of $2k..then it may very well be worth it for the price or rarity of the species. Just my 2cents.

btw jim...i was checking out your costa rica pics again on your website...unbelievable...maybe someday...
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Sincerely,
Jason
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My Website & Pics (click here)

I was talking with my Vet yesterday about the chipping and she told me this story that happened in their office just last week.....
A new client had brought in a macaw to be housed for the weekend. He was going out of town and need to have the bird kept at the Vets Office. (they routinly keep pets as a bording service) they also routinley scan all animals that come into the office for micro chips. They scanned this bird and found a micro chip in her. The contacted the Chip regestry and got the owners info on the bird. The registered owner of the bird was not the same person who brought the bird in, so they called the registered owner and found out that the bird had been stolen just a week prior to being brought into the vets office. Well to make a long story short, The guy who brought the bird in was indeed the guy who stole the bird, he went to jail and the bird was returned to its owner.
The other thing is our Local Animal service (the dog catchers) also scann all animals brought in, so if your snake gets loose and the neighbor calls them because it is in her back yard, you can get it back that way too. I just don't know how wide spread the use is in other areas.
Thanks
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

You can take several photos of the snake and some sort of business I.D and snake info and place it on a disc and give that to the buyer as proof and a sort of photo catalog, with the animal eating, size , and obveous markings. that way when that snake is sold the cd goes with it, and we all know how cheap it is to burn on a disc.
I may try that myself along with the Birth Certificates. what an added selling promo!!
take care,
Nick

Where does the chip go exactly?

The other question, is there any other unique identifier that could be used for verification purposes? Maybe a picture of caudal scales, or something like that? I'm not sure if they would always vary by individual snake...

Thanks,
tc

Not sure on either count. I don't know where they would insert the chip at, I did not get that far in the questions. As far as other id marks. I do take Digital pics of all my babies, so I can normally look for saddle marks and stuff like that with a good quality photo. However, unless you store the pictures on some other format other then your hard drive you can loose the pictures as I did when I switched my computer in 2001, I missed an entire file of photos to switch over. Saving them to disk would be a better idea
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

The chip goes in the back half of the snake, just under the skin, you could easily put one in a 6mo hogg island. In my opinion there is not much benefit of getting a chip implanted in most boas, most hets are pretty cheap anymore, and I see no reason to put it in visuals. If someone steals my motley, albino, etc. they are probably not going to stop if they know it is microchipped. Ball hets, some may be worth it, so you can go back to the breeder when they do not prove out. Craig