Sadly, people find a way to get animals in.
There's someone on MM recently using a friend's death to 'inherit' multiple animals from Australia. And has openly said how excited they are to have new pure lines available soon in the US. So who knows how well even that sort of thing is managed there.
Mostly on the outside looking in on localities and different lines of species...but this is my take on a bit. Someone with better knowledge can feel free to correct me.
Regarding the line issue. It can be really difficult. Especially when it comes to the more protected species and imports. Dwarf retics are one of the ones being bred as locality lines. You'll see a lot of % numbers being thrown around between them. That's because of the outcrossing for particular genes or mixing of the localities. Once you outcross, no matter how much you cross back to that locality, it will never be pure again.
Otherwise... You ideally would want a few pairs from the localities you want that way you could cross the offspring from one pair into another. Some line breeding in reptiles isn't as bad as it is on mammals, but to be safe, you want to avoid it as much as possible when you can.
Being local to an area where you are allowed to collect can be a great boon to this sort of thing, but as long as it's done responsibly. But also remember you're looking at needing to deworm and medicate all of those animals as well, so starting with something like a group of 3.6 or such feels better to me than herping for what I need. It can also be a bit more expensive, but you can look for breeders who keep meticulous records for their lines as well. That way you can be sure that the line hasn't been fuddled with something else.
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