I like the idea of being able to register a certain number of snakes for a low fee, because I certainly don't want to price out small breeders (I might be one by this time next year!) I keep thinking of all the added benefits; the AKC gives the dog world a point of clear leadership in the eyes of the legislature, and they've been successful lobbying against a lot of the animal rights legislation being pushed by the fringe elements. I know we have USARK, but a registry would give us a much better idea of how many people are actually breeding and how powerful our voting bloc really is.
As far as starting up, I think it'd be tough but worth it in the end. Just like with dog registries, we'd have start from somewhere, even if it just means registering what you have with no idea where it really came from, then building its pedigree from there. With new snakes coming out of Africa still, I don't know when we'd be able to "close the stud books" or even if we'd want to.
Although we're going to have to have a better ID system. I'm not naming my snake "Murphy's Secret Fire of Dublinshire" or some crap like that.![]()