Imports

Hey everyone.

So I just had a quick question that's been on my mind lately. What's the average amount of ball pythons that are imported each year? Are we causing ball pythons to become endangered at all in the wild or is their population remaining stable and completely fine? I just get a guilty conscience easily and was wondering this. Thanks for any info you can provide!

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

They are CITES regulated, so they are in no danger. In some areas they are considered pests.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

I read an annual report study done from 1997-2003? It stated that they used to catch wild gravid females and after Latin eggs they released the female back into the wild. That has recently changed as the government in Ghana has told people to sell the females because they are an invasive species and the population is growing so fast. The US is currently the biggest importer of ball pythons I want to say roughly 100k a year but they are in no danger.


Please excuse any errors sent from my crap phone.

Awesome thanks for the replies :).

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

Imagine how awesome it would be to go on a trip to Ghana and collect them. Just the *idea* of finding something no one has seen... /dream :please:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RoseyReps

Imagine how awesome it would be to go on a trip to Ghana and collect them. Just the *idea* of finding something no one has seen... /dream :please:

---

Haha I would totally love to do this! :D
Would definitely help with Ghana's tourism as well.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

We should all plan a trip there together :D

I already talked to the girlfriend about taking a trip to Africa an she's ok with it. Can't get anyone to help me out with snake farmer contacts once I get there though. Everyone is so hush hush about it. Kinda sucks.


Please excuse any errors sent from my crap phone.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rat160

I already talked to the girlfriend about taking a trip to Africa an she's ok with it. Can't get anyone to help me out with snake farmer contacts once I get there though. Everyone is so hush hush about it. Kinda sucks.


Please excuse any errors sent from my crap phone.

---

with alot of people trying to produce the next big morph the people that do have connections will never give em up. kinda sucks but thats the way things go.

Round trip from Toronto is only 1500 lol

As much as I'd love to go to Ghana and maybe find them myself, I'd settle for being one of the privileged few who get to see the imports before anyone else, and pick out what they want first.

That would literally trump any and all experiences in my lifetime.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by heylookitsjon

As much as I'd love to go to Ghana and maybe find them myself, I'd settle for being one of the privileged few who get to see the imports before anyone else, and pick out what they want first.

That would literally trump any and all experiences in my lifetime.

---

Thats what Im talking about, I dont want to find them in the wild, I just want to be able to visit a snake farm and hand pick some babies.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rat160

Thats what Im talking about, I dont want to find them in the wild, I just want to be able to visit a snake farm and hand pick some babies.

---

They don't sell to the general public a few hand picked babies. That isn't worth their time, nor does it make financial sense to them. You'd have to purchase thousands of babies at a time, and you'd have to have an import license to bring them into the country.

Additionally - even if you could hand select a few, the costs to get all the paperwork in order to import them would make it cost prohibitive for a few fancy normals (any new mutations are offered to the big boys for big bucks).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RoseyReps

Imagine how awesome it would be to go on a trip to Ghana and collect them. Just the *idea* of finding something no one has seen... /dream :please:

---

Yes please lol!

I think people tend to romanticize this. Brian from BHB paid $70,000 after all for his single sunset ball python.

There is no money to be made this way in ball pythons any longer, unless you're somebody who's been around long enough to have a guy in Africa working for you.

Not to mention that it would be dangerous and expensive to go yourself to see the snakes, and the fact that baby ball pythons are sold by the thousands as Robin mentioned.

All in all, while I can appreciate the importance of importation to the hobby, I personally find it to be a cruel practice considering all that the snakes go through before arriving here.