This is a continuation from this thread:
Pumilio I.D.?
I'm fully aware that outfits such as Understory Explorer offers
extremely site-specific frogs and does so using a code system, similar to the killifish hobby...and this is fantastic.
However, in regard to frogs from countries like Panama (primarily
Dendrobates auratus and
Oophaga pumilio), hordes of them come in with vague (at best) or cryptic information regarding where they were collected, what population they might have been from, etc. and hobbyists are usually forced to group and find breeding animals based purely on phenotypic similarities (which may or may not be the best indicators of same-population frogs). For instance, there are numerous "Blue and Black" auratus populations in Panama, some of them several hundred kilometers apart. To only give the country of origin is not sufficient for responsible captive management...and relying on importations isn't fully reliable as frogs may be collected from different populations and over a wide range, then put in the same box and exported all together.
This has caused much frustration within the hobby, yet has never been improved. Most hobbyists are unaware that the situation will never improve, and more specific locale and collection info will never be taken and/or given, unless pressure is applied by them to the collectors, ex/importers, and distributors.
Exploring exactly
how to bring about this change, as well identifying current problems that exist within the system, is the purpose of this thread.
