Quote:
Originally Posted by frogparty
Its a fantastic idea, and when I start purchasing frogs where site location is of such importance I will surely ask for and keep track of all the pertinent data.
What then happens to all the "lines" already in the states? What about all the blue and black auratus, "bronze" auratus, leucs, etc. Are these animals simply to be undervalued, only because they aernt site specific? From a true collectors standpoint I guess they are.
If outits like UE were the only importers of these animals then there wouldnt be an issue. But "grab and go" importation is going to continue until naive people quit buyng cheapr animals offerd by these outfits.
Kingsnake is a PERFECT example of this, not only with darts, but everything. Lots of different sects of the herp hobby value site specifi morphs, colors, etc. I see numeros queries on arachnoboards, and in regards to grey banded kingsnakes about the TRUE location information. Yet the site is overloaded with "blue jean" pumilio for $60 a piece, not to mention all kinds of our native herps dubiously offered by people.I know in WA you can't legally sell wildlife thats native to the state, but I see native salamanders for sale on there all the time, with no notice about not allowing sales w/in state
So, whats to be done? Discourage "grab and go" importation every chance you get. Support quality outfits that provide the info you want.
Get a reccomendation about a supplier before purchasing from them.
And I guess just be happy with no location display animals, or just pair up frogs based on looks and sell them as yellow w/ white leg pumilio or whatever and not try to deduce locality info based solely on phenotype.
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Well said. While I am clearly in support of obtaining site specific frogs we also have to consider that most frogs that are imported (and many that we produce for sale to others) ultimately end up in the general pet trade. Some of the folks that acquire these frogs get interested and do more research, acquire more frogs, etc. and in the process develop an appreciation for locality data and an appreciation of the conservation aspects of the hobby (supporting TWI and UE). However, sad as it may be, that will likely always be a very small subset of those who maintain poison frogs, even among those that participate on DB and other forums.
Now what does that mean? Personally, I have frogs that are both site specific (UE/INIBICO/SNDF) and frogs that are known only by import date and/or import line, as well as some that have no locality at all. Clearly, we should work to preserve what currently exists in the hobby by whatever means we can (import date, phenotype, etc) and just manage those frogs by the data that we have available (much like how those of us working with Mantella sp. currently manage the captive populations since site data is non-existent) while at the same time doing our best to acquire future species with site data. In my opinion, having both old line frogs and new line frogs with site data isn't necessarily a bad thing.
