[RobRoyce]

Does Dendroboard have a stance on buying / sourcing dart frogs? What percentage of members require that their frogs be captive bred? Does anyone only adopt unwanted frogs? Who buys from Tesoros de Colombia or similar conservation and breeding programs? Finally, who donates to conservation after buying frogs or donates annually / monthly to a cause? This has been a really rewarding hobby so far, but I fear the damage it is doing to the environment. My local plant and frog store has ambitions to do a breeding program and conservatory in the city which seems great, but also felt a little like greenwashing.

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

 

[fishingguy12345]

The answer for me is: captive bred, adopting from other people who are leaving the hobby.

I support the work that places like wikiri and tesoros do but haven't bought anything frogs from either of those sources.

 

[ashdavisa]

I personally only buy captive bred and stick to vendors/hobbyists selling captive bred animals (rather than flipping WC for profit), plus occasional donations to conservation programs. The stress (for the frog) of moving a WC animal to a box isn't worth it for selfish reasons and certainly not helpful to the hobby.

That said, I understand the need to acquire WC frogs for the sake of creating a sustainable captive population so that, ideally, we don't have to import them anymore and have the option to supplement struggling wild populations. I'm not equipped to take that on though, so buying captive bred is the responsible choice in my situation.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

I buy only captive bred and try to source lines from Understory Enterprises and the like.

Virtually all the WC frogs in the hobby/general pet market are there because they are cheap, but as such they are targeted toward novice keepers who don't have the knowledge (or the need, frankly) to care for anything but CB. All common (and uncommon) hobby species are available CB, and should only be purchased as CB.

You didn't ask, but I also don't buy (anything, live or otherwise, for that matter) from chain animal stores, not for any reason, and not at any price.

 

[Fahad]

I only keep a couple of species; living in Ontario, I've bought CBB exclusively from Understory Enterprises and generally know the origin of their breeding stock one step back; e.g. Tesoros or Aaron Handzlik, etc.

I'm unlikely to add more than one or two species in the future because I'm pretty specialized, but chances are they would come from UE or direct from Tesoros or WIKIRI etc.

It's nice that when I do sell offspring myself, I can say that my frogs are single origin and have never been in the same room as anything WC.

I'm sure there are some hobbyists out there equipped with the knowledge and facilities to obtain WC stock and put in the work of quarantining, fecal exams etc. in order to bring in fresh genetics or establish a new line, but personally I have zero interest in dealing with any of that, ethical questions aside.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

My local plant and frog store has ambitions to do a breeding program and conservatory in the city which seems great, but also felt a little like greenwashing.

If I'm understanding your concern here, these threads may be interesting to you:

Can Captive Breeding Reduce Demand for WC?

This topic was raised in another thread: E.mysterious legality To allow the other thread to remain on topic, I've created a new thread here to discuss the question, "Can Captive Breeding Reduce Demand for WC?", which I think is very important to explore. Here is the last post from the other...

www.dendroboard.com

Wild Caught vs Captive Bred and Conservation Efforts

This is just a personal observation of the posts I have seen on here. I'm relatively new to this board and don't mean to stir things up. These are just genuine personal observations. To let you know quickly where I'm coming from. I have worked in the pet trade for over 30 years. I have...

www.dendroboard.com

There are more, but these are the least likely of the bunch to instigate a melee.

 

[DPfarr]

Sustainability and captive breeding can be two very different topics. Captive bred does not under the animal is living with any quality of life or any favors for the species. There are a couple vendors that negate any benefit of captive breeding programs.

 

[bulbophyllum]

What damage to the environment are you concerned about?

Speaking of dart frog in particular I think this hobby is pretty well regulated. People are wild collecting frogs but, that is a small percentage of the frogs out there.