Reptile & Amphibian Forums

collecting 10 atroxes to breed or sale ? Keeping in realm of the permit bag limit of Texas , mind you per trip or is it yearly on residents ? Couldn't this be construed as " commercialization " if you are collecting species to make monies. I don't know if some of us think it this way meaning, I've got people out right disapproving the " pick up anything " and applying commercialization to it but they would surely collect and do state " i would keep any and all alterna, lepidus or celaenops ". In fact some of these same people do keep every snake of the above but yet has that strong opinion of commercialization. I for one, don't see the difference or the justification of them not thinking they are not commercializing ?
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I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......

if you collect a snake with the plan of selling its captive produced offspring....that is a commercial use of the snake...rationalize all you wish, if you profit off it, its a commercial event....what if you gave the young away to other collectors???....barter/trade is also considered profit production...IRS says so.....anyway what do i know................

...I dont know & dont know if I really care...as long as the take is legal & biologically justified. I for one... have bought many snakes over the years & am grateful people put up w/ the smelly things so I can buy them at a fraction of the cost & 2x the quality of wild ones.
I also like to get outdoors & explore nature. Sometimes I catch wild herps, mostly for feeders.
I suggest we try to refrain from judging one another...&, share the interest realizing there are several ways to njoy fieldherping, & come together when the habitat or a population on public land is threatened. Sportake from roadcuts is biologically a non-issue, what happens to the wildlife after it has been taken is also a biological non-issue... unless the herper is foolish & releases the animals back to the wild.

Cheers, RxR

I hear ya, Regalringneck. Good post. Just got back from alterna land myself with blueking(Zee) and he got a Juno Rd. lepidus, 4 Langtry alterna, while I brought back a mighty Hypsigena and a kind herper blessed me with a suboc. All my specimens will go to the Coastal Bend Zoo and Zee gave me the lepidus for the zoo also. The plan was to collect 1 or a pair of each species from west Texas for a display, and possibly for use in conjunction with the Reptile and Amphibian Merit Badge in the local scout troops. All in all, had to say it was an adventure that was made all the sweeter because of all the info garnered from the Alterna page. Saw: 1 aor suboc, 2 dor suboc, 2 dor atrox, 3 dor southern plains rats, 1 aor lepidus, 4 aor alterna, 2 aor Crotophytus c. collaris, 1 aor possible Gambelia w. wislizenii, tmtc Coleonyx brevis, tmtc Cophosaurus t. texanus, tmtc Holbrookia lacerata, 2 Sceloporus p. poinettii, tmtc Sceloporus u. undulatus, 1 Sceloporus m. merriami, tmtc Uta stanburiana, tmtc Cnemidophorus sexlineatus viridus, tmtc tarantulas, tmtc millipedes and centipedes, a wind scorpion, tmtc scorpions, tmtc skunks, racoons, possums, armadillos, deer, and turkeys, a family of gray foxes,and a family of civits. A great trip to a great place! Congratulations to Carston on his 4 alterna in 23 hours 55 minutes, absolutely astounding as they were on all four corners of Langtry. I'll get 'er done next time!
Todd

Oh yeah, I missed one corn snake on the way home in North Carolina but I saw it. Does that count, Zee? LOL!
Todd
And I waded in the Pacific so I really accomplished something!

There is no difference whether the animal is alterna or atrox, it is still commercialization of wildlife. That being said, I am not against commercialization of wildlife. As long as it is legal and done in a way where populations remain in a renewable condition. In instances where it is currently illegal, it should be legalized again. I am, however, opposed to people collecting large amounts of wild herps for the purpose of direct resale. I think that captive production of herps should be encouraged.