While I applaud your efforts, your report will fall on deaf ears at the TP&W. Why is it all you reptile guys and gals don't get it? TP&W could not give one damn about us as a group. They would just rather delete us from the TP&W altogether. This culture of not wanting reptile collectors has been in place since the 1970's. First the told us when stuff was protected that it could be transferred from one person to another as long as there was a pre-act document on file. As soon as a few people did this - they said they did not issue letters of transfer. Then in 1987 they asked anyone who had pre-act LEGAL protected reptiles/amphibians to fill out their paperwork with the total number and ssp. you possessed - then have either a game warden - what a joke - like any of them would actually know what they were even looking at - or a recognized biologist and notarize and return it. Upon receipt - TP&W sent letters of permission that stated " these specimens and their offspring can be held for whatever purposes you deem appropriate as pre-regulation". The exemption in the regs was .006. Now 25 years later, they are telling me that not only can I not transfer any of them, but it is illegal for me to even breed them. Clearly the intention is to get protected ssp. out of private hands. I sent their attorney a price list five years ago and have not heard a word from them since.
When are you people going to wake up and understand that the TP&W does not give a damn about us?
And Chris - your documentation is very slanted because you are getting info from people that collect only a few days per year. Try asking some of us locals - I'm sort of local - about what is crawling arouns out here. I spend most of my time in VV County. Alterna are the most common snake there by far. This season I have collected a total of 94 nights. I have 28 alterna, two annulata, 1 lepidus, 5 atrox - all dead, and a few other DOR's I could not identify.

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