Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It would be great if it works!

http://projectorianne.org/recentnews.html
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Jesus is Lord!

I have been posting for a decade that the time has come to breed and release the Indigo and Pinesnake into prime and newly aquired lands/habitat, but the AR feds have been claiming that pathogens are a threat to other sp. in the area, nonsense! I have been a collector 25 years and never seen a snake die from being exposed to another, sometimes I collect 50 ratsnakes and most get stuffed into the same bag and none of my customers ever called me to say they're snake died, besides if the last remaining few did die the newly released individuals would take over the gene pool in that habitat, but I comend them for comming around to reason, but I would add that local breeders of snakes in Fla, Gorgia and Alabama should be required to breed at least one sp. of concern for the sole purpose of releasing to newly aquired lands by the FWC or the feds. ...Thanks for the link that made my day.

I certainly respect your field experience and am also happy at the prospect of some reintroduction programs where appropriate. However, the potential pathogen thing is real, and this can't just be done by any herp enthusiast willing to breed. All it takes is mites and viruses (sometimes from the other side of the globe) present in other members of the person's collection and the conseqeunces can be devastating. I have seen epidemics go through collections many times. They don't always kill everything dramatically or at once or at all. Sometimes it just affects reproduction. Many of these pathogens, particularly viral ones, haven't even been identified, and many identified ones are poorly undertstood even though we have known about them for 20 years or more. I have witnessed large groups(nearly 100) of previously healthy eastern box turtles, that were not heat stressed and were well taken care of, die one by one over a year despite good medical care. Same thing for big groups of redfoots, chondros and emeralds. There are well known cases of reintroduced tortoises in Nevada and California that infected wild populations with respiratory viruses. you can't count on mother nature to deal with pathogens that are completely new to a population. That's what happened to chestnut and elm trees, and now its happening to green ashes. Reintroduction is great but has to be done in the right way, and carefully.

THIS!!!!

Your right, I think it can and should be done by licensed breeders with a good rep in the bis, but I still dont know of a single incident in all my years, I understand that the risk is there but the feds are so anal retentive and think of it as rule. the contenders that big snakes have proven much more of a threat than a bug so far, it's worth a try and I am thrilled that the day has come, now how'bout the pinesnake...