Your not the only one with this dilemna....

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Posted by tj on December 10, 2002 at 12:02:23:

In Reply to: will i be supporting importation?? pls read and give opinion posted by kristin on December 10, 2002 at 10:06:08:

I was in the same position as you. I ,for the most part, ONLY buy captive bred animals (well, at least to my knowledge they are captive bred), but came across a pair of asian vines at a show. I asked if they were cb, and the girl said yes, which I knew they weren't (they were 1.1 adults for $40), but bought them anyway in hopes to possibly breed them. After one of them died due to a mouth injury, I chose to trade off the other, I really got sick of feeding live lizards to it. The bottom line is this, you might be waiting a long time until someone finally has some luck with them. If you want to buy a wild-caught animal, that is your choice, I would hope you would buy a pair to at least try to breed them (you maybe the first). I would never buy a snake that is wild-caught if it was a species that is readily captive bred, unfortunately asian vines are not. At the last Hamburg show I must have turned down 20 snakes because they were wc, I'd rather pay the extra $50 for cb. As far as people making the effort to breed them, there are quite a few, they are just difficult snakes to figure out. Certain snakes must be imported to start breeding colonies, it's unavoidable, the only problem I have are the guys who go out and catch snakes (repeatedly) that can be captive bred, only to put a few bucks in their pocket.
my 2 cents
-tom

:i was considering buying a wild-caught asian vinesnake. I really would love to have one, but i feel like i will be supporting the very thing I have always opposed. I have mixed feelings on the subject because i have ball pythons, beardies, a tegu and a veiled cham who were all (at one point in their heritage) imported. My husband thinks I should wait until they are captive bred here in the states, but it seems like no one is making that effort. I see some people in the forums who claim to have wild-caught/imported animals and everyone keeps quiet about the taboo. What is your overall opinion about importation? Give me your thoughts because i am really torn here. Thanks for your thoughts. -K

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