Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just a few comments, in no particular order, and not meant to piss anyone off:
First, the captive Indigo gene pool is NOT thin at all, at least not on the east coast. Wild Indigos appeared in herp stores, yes, illegally, even into the 80's. A few folks, here and there bred them, and sold them, and many more folks brought Indigos back home from Florida for themselves, and I'm sure some still do, albeit far fewer. John Brunner, for one, bred many Indigos in the 70's from a LEGAL, diverse population, here in Pennsylvania.
There are many "old head" herpers in the Philly area who can go to Florida, every winter, and come back with photos of Indigos from their favorite secret spots, and though they no longer collect, the snakes are still there. Habitat loss is certainly an issue, as it is with nearly most threatened species,however there are still many areas where Indigos maintain good populations in Florida. Herpers often know where things are when researchers don't. Many researchers aren't locals and conclude that things are much rarer than they are. I'm NOT saying that Easterns are common, but how many hours does it take YOU to find a snake, even in an area where you grew up? How many snakes do you see on your average herp collecting trip? Dean makes a good illustration of my point by saying that the researchers he knows were sexing Indigos by shed skins. Now, how valid is that research?
Second, the passing on of information is a great thing, but accepting anything as doctrine, until totally proven out, is foolish. I'm referring to the keels on Easterns. Bad info becomes accepted as fact after it goes around enough. We need to be careful how we pass things on. I can remember when it was accepted that monitor lizards couldn't be bred in captivity, until pionerers like Joe Laslo, in Texas, sent out photos of the babies he was hatching. It just blew people away!
We all accepted that all boas were live bearers until Tracy Barker bred a pair of Sand Boas that produced eggs.
Lately, yet another lizard species had been found capable of parthenogenisis (producing fertile eggs with no male present) and this time a MALE baby hatched out, which has never been documented before.
I'm just saying we need to keep an open mind.
Lastly, just because we never heard of it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. A very close friend of mine had a piebald Eastern Indigo in the 70's and I've seen it's picture. Some people have the attitude that, "If I haven't heard of it, it just can't be!" lol
Guess what? There's all kinds of herps out there that NONE of us has seen yet; and I hope it always stays that way.
No offense intended to anyone.
Happy and fruitful New Year to all,
Steve B.

It is nice to see new blood on this forum. I relitivly new myself. The more opinions the better and the more we can draw from each other. Don't be a stranger and thank you for your views.
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"Life without risk is to merely exist."