Wild Caught Versus Captive Bred

[bcr229]

An ad for a recently-imported juvenile WC female has caught my eye. The seller has had her for less than a month and the ad states that he has treated her for mites/ticks, worms, etc. She's also not eating yet.

Assuming that the seller gets her eating regularly, am I insane for considering buying her? Are there any husbandry issues, both initial and long-term, when dealing with a WC import versus a captive-bred snake? How about personalities, are the WC snakes typically flightier or snappier? Most of mine are pretty laid back, I only have one BP with "attitude" (and she has it in spades).

Normally I QT for 60 days but I do have someone who could keep her isolated off-site for me for 6-12 months, where she would be the only snake on the property, so there's minimal risk to the rest of my collection.

The seller is only an hour away, so no worries about shipping stress or the snake not being as advertised, since I could look at her in person before putting down any money.

Thoughts?

[reptileexperts]

It's going to be YOUR snake, so get the snake YOU want :-) Ultimately. . .

Buying WC is becoming a moot topic and something that does need to stop IMO - on the one side it's providing a way of life for some locals in Africa, but on the other side, you are removing a snake from its natural home, and forcing it to a captive life, when we already breed more than can be realistically sold each year here in the states *sigh*. I understand the desire for the next big morph and dinkers and what not, but new genes pop up in captivity as well from random snakes that may ultimately prove out.

As far as your general concerns are. I have a WC ball python from 1999, turned 14 this year and is still going strong and doing well. He was a very picky feeder at the start, but feeds like clockwork. As long as it is kept in QT - treated for parasites (worms) and you use very good mite prevention. You should be fine.

My little pressure rant aside - if its the snake that you want, it is OK to raise a w/c vs captive. Do I feel its a good move? No because it encourages the importation even more. But never the less. Good QT, good preventative, you'll be fine.

Cheers

[satomi325]

I personally don't have WC animals, but from what I've read and heard is that they can be notoriously difficult to feed and start up.
I think Gale (angllady2) has a WC female.
And you can ask Brant (Major League Reptiles). He imports snakes all the time.

Other than the feeding issue, they're pretty much the same temperament wise as CB ones.

[dart]

Although, I can't say anything about juveniles on up to adults. I have purchased "baby bags" for 2 years now. They're hatchlings directly from Africa. We quarantine them for 3 months. You start them up just like any other baby ball python. Ours have all done great. Our oldest girls should be breedable this season!

I have heard that trying to get adults to eat can be difficult. ASF's tend to work great with getting them to eat finally, but I heard it can take months.

Ultimately, it's up to you. If you're up for the task and think you can do it. Then go for it!

[Crazymonkee]

My girl was a hatchling import, aside from her only eating live, she's docile as can be.
She's now 4 months old
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4

[Pythonfriend]

one thing is for sure:

these african import hatchlings are the cheapest BP possible, since they go for around 7 dollars per piece in africa. if you place a typical order like for example 500, price may be even lower.

But you wont even know for sure if its a wild caught. they have these trading cooperatives where people bring their hatchlings for cash, and they get sorted and inspected and then combined into large shipments. this is also where the hunt for dinkers and new genes begins, people with money can come and pick out dinkers, also anything unusual gets set aside.

anyway the people that come to sell their snakes may be trappers, but most will catch gravid females and hatch out the babies and then let the female go and sell the hatchlings. then there also are farm breeders that keep BPs in a sort of semi-wild state, and real breeders bring their normals and low-quality morphs there.

most of what is considered wild caught is in fact captive hatched, meaning they caught a gravid female and kept the eggs and released the female. much will also be farm bred, where they keep semi-wild colonies of BPs in large enclosures. Real wild caught is rare. So the overwhelming majority will be in human care from the day they hatch.

honestly i think the only real differences are the price and the amount of parasites. these hatchlings may have been through a lot, the only advantage is an economic one: its a low price, high quantity, high reliability source of normal hatchling BPs of unknown genetics. perfect for big traders and big chains. When you want to order 1000 normal hatchlings, the africa connection will get the deal because even the biggest breeders in europe or the USA will have trouble with it.

[mechnut450]

WE don't have any wild caught snakes but I acquired a bp that was gravid and was hatch in captivity she a sweet little snakes and will be used to produce some clutches in the far future ( I plan on allowing her to grow for 4 years before I breed ( as of right now ) she a sub Saharan baby.

As for the wild vs captivity I do believe that the import does need to be cut way back to protect the wild snakes as well to prevent any issues to the current market as I know vraigslist is flooded with snakes once they laid their eggs at times .

[mechnut450]

[QUOTE=dart;2157188
I have heard that trying to get adults to eat can be difficult. ASF's tend to work great with getting them to eat finally, but I heard it can take months.

Ultimately, it's up to you. If you're up for the task and think you can do it. Then go for it![/QUOTE]

this is true getting wild females to eat is hard my friend just spent 8 months to get one he acquired to eat . his other friend gave up on getting the one he had to eat and dumped her at a show. (which sucks cause I would of taken her and spent the time getting her to eat and turned her into a pet as she was so pretty)

[OctagonGecko729]

We purchased a subsaharan WC girl last year. She is scared to death of rats. She can only be fed ASFs. She will eat 5 ASF adults back to back if given the chance but wouldnt touch anything else. My girl was already de-wormed and de-ticked before purchasing. However, the ticks can crawl into the cloaca and latch on, they then shed the eggs and the eggs can then re-infect the snake. We put her on a 3 month cycle of provent a mite and she is cleared. The life cycle of african ticks is 1 month.

[Badgemash]

If you really like her then fine, I'm going to skip past the ethical arguements about WC because others have already covered those subjects. This is what I remember from MANY years ago working an a pet shop that sold wild caught BPs, hopefully things are better these days.

Ticks - they all seem to have them somewhere, and it takes months of multiple treatments to get rid of them for good.

Parasites - assume they're in there, and be prepared to do regular fecal exams and treatments until the gut is in good balance.

Feeding - the fact that she has not eaten is a red flag for me, most of the WC snakes I saw back then would starve to death, but we also didn't have ASFs readily available then either. You need to be prepared for a potentially lifelong ASF eater. Until feeding is resolved, the parasite treatment issue is also going to be complicated.

I'm not saying she will definitely have all of these issues, but you should be prepared for the worst case scenario so you can go into it knowing what to expect. Sometimes that animal is just "the one," even when it goes against rational thinking, the heart does not often speak to the brain (at least mine doesn't). If you really like her, and are really prepared for all of her potential baggage, then go for it.

ETA - I don't remember any of them being particularly snappy, they were pretty shy.