Damage To Wild Populations

[guidofatherof5]

It has been awhile since I've looked through the classified section of kingsnake.com
Since I linked it for a forum member I decided to check it out.
I found an ad titled "Plains Garter Snake wild caught juveniles and adults"
Here's the pricing:
$12.00 each 3/$11.00 each 6/$10.00 each 12/$9.00 each

$9.00 for 12 snakes. Not much value there.

I don't know but I can imagine how he obtains these snakes. He probably buys them by the bucket full from kids in the neighborhood.
I didn't post this to trash the person selling the snakes but to draw attention to the possible damage being done to wild populations.
If he's selling snakes this cheap the only way he's going to make any money is to sell large numbers. This in turn hurt those wild populations even more.
I personally feel this is terrible.:mad:
Sorry, I just had to vent.

[RedSidedSPR]

I've seen stuff like that. Especially with green snakes, and garters. It sucks

[Didymus20X6]

Maybe he lives close to that garter snake house that was on the news.

[RedSidedSPR]

Funny. (except those were wanderings)

[drache]

I didn't post this to trash the person selling the snakes but to draw attention to the possible damage being done to wild populations.
If he's selling snakes this cheap the only way he's going to make any money is to sell large numbers. This in turn hurt those wild populations even more.
I personally feel this is terrible.:mad:
Sorry, I just had to vent.
what's worse is that at that price they probably end up as king snake feeders
at the thought of that I feel so deflated that there's not much venting left in me

[guidofatherof5]

what's worse is that at that price they probably end up as king snake feeders
at the thought of that I feel so deflated that there's not much venting left in me

I never thought that they might be sold as food. Now I'm at another level of angry.
I can't imagine some poor T. radix being used as food or any snake for that matter.
I know it's done. I just don't like it.

[d_virginiana]

They do it with water snakes as well. I've seen several ads for wc water snakes under $5 a piece specifically being sold as feeders!
I really have a problem with ppl selling wc animals... I mean, I know some people find really great specimens in the wild and want to breed them, and I don't really mind that but I don't like it when the primary animals sold are wc and not cb. :(

[guidofatherof5]

Doing a little more investigation(force of habit). I've found out that the seller(she) is out of Florida.
T. radix doesn't range into Florida.
So she's got contacts in their natural range who are raiding populations.
I'm not sure how else to word it. I know she has a business but once again it looks like money is the only driving force.

[snakehill]

I've seen that ad on kingsnake.com Is there anything we can do about this?:confused:

[RedSidedSPR]

I never thought that they might be sold as food. Now I'm at another level of angry.
I can't imagine some poor T. radix being used as food or any snake for that matter.
I know it's done. I just don't like it.


Doing a little more investigation(force of habit). I've found out that the seller(she) is out of Florida.
T. radix doesn't range into Florida.
So she's got contacts in their natural range who are raiding populations.
I'm not sure how else to word it. I know she has a business but once again it looks like money is the only driving force.

What i was gonna say, i can't say. 'Cause there are mods on this forum.

But yes. They sell snakes as food all the time. Banded water snakes, green snakes, I've seen LOTS of "food".

[snakehill]

We could contact the Florida DEM. They are probably not even aware that this is going on! :mad:

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

There is really nothing that can be done about it :(

That's the harsh, but brutal reality of the situation... Now at that price it's not likely they are kingsnake food as you can buy mice and rats for a fraction of that and you don't hav to pay overnight shipping on top of it. It's more likely they are for cobra keepers, and pet store owners. if you are going to use snakes as feeders at least breed the darned things yourself! It's more work but at least you are not taking a happy snake that was sunbasking and loving life and treating it as a worthless item. I don't like the idea of wild snakes being used as feeders at all, if you need to rape wild snakes to feed one snake, you need to learn some new techniques or find a new type of snake to keep. Or you could do it the hard way and breed them as food which no one should have anything against. But nobody will do it that way because it's not enough t sustain even one hungry snake. I myself use the bodies of any babies I have born that become failures to thrive as food for other things in my collection. Especially my giant centipedes.... But that is only after they have died or I have put them out first.

[snakehill]

I am trying to find contact numbers online.;)

[infernalis]

I agree with Shannon here folks. This practice is years old now, and those companies are not going to stop trafficking snakes as long as there is money in it.

If there was anything the law could do, or anything illegal going on, it would have been shut down long ago.

[RdubSnider]

That's terrible. And since there not worth much they rarely if ever get fed while waiting to be sold

[snakehill]

Sometimes you'd be surprised what a phone call from the right person could do!;)

[RedSidedSPR]

Yup. I seriously doubt there's anything we can do, but...

[jitami]

Based on other complaints I've heard about the classifieds there, calling the contact numbers likely won't get you anywhere, either. Couldn't hurt, I guess, but don't get your hopes up.

Not that it helps much, but the way I read it at 12 snakes they'd be $9 each, so $108 plus shipping... still way too cheap and way too many, though :( Unless there are special circumstances I just can't justify buying/selling wc animals.