Thoughts on Collecting

[Louie]

I agree collecting is important. But I believe you should need a license, something like a fishing license where you have a limit. Some poeple just go over board and there needs to be a limit.

I agree at min a fishing license should be needed so some money goes to wildland preservation.

A limit should also be the rule. I looked for over a year for scarlet king but looked in the wrong areas than found a hot spot with several . Some collectors would have taken them all .

 

[Louie]

I have noticed that everyone on this site seems to be very anti- collecting and just wanted to get a better idea of your point of view.

I collect from the wild (in small numbers) and on occasion will keep/ sell/ trade what I have caught. Usually it would only be an exceptional specimen or a unique color morph that I would collect but I feel that on occasion, wild animals MUST be captured in order to introduce new blood into captive collections.

For instance, Texas rat snakes are very inbred which has led to a deformity where the eyes of many specimen protrude more than they should. This on its own may not seem too bad but if continued without intervention, the inbreeding could potentially become a serious problem. This is why new specimen should be caught from the wild to help spur on the captive population.

My favorite way of thinking about this is to imagine that if an animal becomes popular enough as a pet then it will no longer have any worries as far as extinction goes. "Conservation through Commercialization". An example of this would be bearded dragons. Not so many years ago they were declining in numbers in Australia when several hundred were illegally imported into the US. From then on, there have been no problems with this animal because it is now breed in captivity by more than just zoos but the common hobbyist as well. This means that even if there was some sort of disaster in the wild, there would be a sufficient amount of these animals in captivity to insure their survival.

Tell me what you guys think, I am open to both sides.
Not trying to argue, just trying to get a real discussion going.

In your case your a responcible person and you know herps. Your not going to collect an indigo (I have never seen one) or tear up an area looking for something but many do.

I was fishing last week and saw the new "reptiles of the Glades" posted in a few areas . It was posted by construction co which is doing Glades restoration .
Have you ever seen a Ball python?

If I ever come across an albino or piebald Ball Python while collecting will keep it but imagine the chance of that is ZERO lol.

 

[Louie]

Just to jump in with a short. Take the Mojave desert area, now their are crows out their snatching up every little herp they can find. They get a lot of ppl out their without a license and they just keep going out and taking stuff. How fast do these things breed compared to how fast ppl snatch them along with the crows and other predators. You hardly see squat at some of these places anymore. Im not done lol, just for now. Ive got both sides, but this I just mentioned bugs me.

"They get a lot of ppl out their without a license and they just keep going out and taking stuff"

Yes thats a problem here also and no way wardens can do anything as some of these locations are so out of the way.
What Florida does have going for it is lots marsh, swamp like areas that are impossible for humans to walk on as you sink like quicksand .
So they provide safe areas for herps .
Here its illegal to collect in Glades park itself but so many still do it and no need to as lots areas outside of Glades with herps.

 

[dogofwar]

Although I keep fish, I attended a herp show last year (just wanted to check it out...and bought some worms)... and was suprised at how anti-wild caught the herp world is vs. the fish world.

In the fish world, many people are under the impression that the only "pure" fish are wild caught (or offspring of wild caught) and that fish that wild fish are superior in color, etc. There's also a belief among many that taking fish from the wild - legally or illegally - is good for the hobby and conservation because it makes new fish available and established captive lines.

This seems to be the opposite of the herp world...

Matt

 

[Vicious_Fish]

I agree at min a fishing license should be needed so some money goes to wildland preservation.

A limit should also be the rule. I looked for over a year for scarlet king but looked in the wrong areas than found a hot spot with several . Some collectors would have taken them all .

Here in PA you need a fishing license to collect and keep most reptiles and amphibians. And of course there are some species that you can't keep all together.

 

[mark23adams]

There are scenarios when it is ok:
-invasive species
-overpopulated species
-CERTAIN stable populations(because a stable population can quickly become in danger)
-if an animal is threatened or endangered the only ones allowed to collect or disturb should be zoos and wildlife officials, but often times the more rare an animal is the more sought after it becomes

 

[fishjude78]

I am for it for most the reasons you stated but


I think we have to be careful here in the way rereleaseing is used the one case I can think of to use as a point right now would be the Florida panther My last trip to the glades area was last year and the impression I got from two different park officers was that the captive breeding which included unfortunately a lot of in breeding and out crossing with the south and central puma ended up killing the true Florida panther DNA so now they where already lead to believe that the Florida panther has already sircome to extinction.
and
of course TV will tell you that it wasn't fish and wildlife but it was all the pet mountain lions that were let go by irresponsible pet keepers and the cages that where destroyed by hurricane Andrew sounds to me like the same bell and whistles there playing now again.

That's actually not true... the florida panther is still very much alive, though there are thought to be only about 50 left in the wild. They are inbreeding and this causes the characteristic of a crooked tail, and one testacle in the male, however this is not due to the intervention of humans, it is due to the low genetic diversity of the species itself.... Just wanted to clarify that....

 

[Louie]

Here in PA you need a fishing license to collect and keep most reptiles and amphibians. And of course there are some species that you can't keep all together.

PA from what I understand is very much into protecting its wild life/lands. I love the Catskills in summer which as you know is off season there since no skiing .

The wild lands are fantastic

 

[snakeguy101]

That's actually not true... the florida panther is still very much alive, though there are thought to be only about 50 left in the wild. They are inbreeding and this causes the characteristic of a crooked tail, and one testacle in the male, however this is not due to the intervention of humans, it is due to the low genetic diversity of the species itself.... Just wanted to clarify that....

No, the FL panther has been crossed with mountain lions to prevent some of the inbreeding but that was a last resort in order to save at least some of the genetics of the FL panther.

 

[fishjude78]

No, the FL panther has been crossed with mountain lions to prevent some of the inbreeding but that was a last resort in order to save at least some of the genetics of the FL panther.

I never said that they hadn't been crossed, I was correcting him on the fact that that florida panthers are not extinct..... yet.