Jason Wakelin
01-21-05, 04:44 PM
Last night I took the time to go through a couple of boxes of herp stuff I haven't looked at for quite a while. I had a great time checking out old wholesale lists from the late 70's through the 80's, and some of the early private breeders' lists. I also got a kick out of checking out my old notes I'd written on my first animals (same time period). First issues of Reptiles, the Vivarium, and magazines long since defunct. I'd forgotten about all the herp societies that I used to subscribe to, and found a complete set of the first 5 years of the OHS newsletters.
But what really "blew my mind" is a copy of Longevity of Reptiles and Amphibians in North American Collections, J. Kevin Bowler, c. 1975. This is produced by the Philadelphia Herpetological Society, so I'm sure there have been updated copies produced since 1975. The variety of species listed is not that vast, but by the standards of that time would seem comprehensive. For example only 2 species of Dart Frog are recorded and 3 species of Rana.
What is really interesting however, is the extremely short lifespan of the animals (for the most part). And the amount of wild caught animals that were recorded in this compilation.
For example, of the 113 Amphibian species listed ALL were listed as being wild caught at the time recording started. Turtles and Tortoises, again 113 species listed, only 2 captive born. 109 species of Lizard, not even 1 listed as captive born. And this includes the Leopard Gecko. In the family Boidae there are 48 species and subspecies listed. Only the Burmese Python, Boa Constrictor, and Guyana Rainbow Boa were captive bred/hatched. 129 species of Colubrid, 4 captive born and one of them is an Egg Eating Snake! Both major families of venomous snake fare the same, but what gets me are the Rattlesnakes. 35 species and subspecies listed, 1, the Red Diamondback was captive born. And of course no captive hatched Crocodilians.
As for captive longevities, it's not so "cut and dried", as some of the specimens listed would still have been alive at the time of recording. But just for fun/curiosity I'll list a couple of them. Normally 1.1.1 would mean male.female.unknown, but next it will mean years.months.days. Dart Frog (Dendrobates pumilio) 1.9.9. Of all the Gopherus species of Tortoises the longest lived was 8.6.0, and the shortest 2.9.15. Greek Tortoise 4.8.13. Lined Day Gecko (P. lineata) 3.0.26. Common Basilisk 3.4.18. Mountain Short Horned Lizard (P. douglassi) 1.0.15. Jacksons Chameleon 1.10.0. Interestingly enough pretty much all the Boas and Pythons did quite well with the exception of Candoia asper 5.11.25. Same goes for most Colubrids and venomous Snakes. There are some exceptions but most of those species are "lesser known" (even today), and are certainly not commercially viable. Crocodilians fared the same except Paleosuchus palpebrosus at 2.5.9.
So, if you've made it this far, you may be wondering "what exactly is the guy trying to say?". And to be honest so am I. So give me a couple of seconds to collect my thoughts................
Okay got it. This herp community/industry is only as strong as its members want it to be. Sounds pretty basic right? Sure, but think about it for a second. How many people out there would be keeping and breeding their animals without advice, or books, or caresheets? How many exotic animal vets would be out there if 12 and 13 year old kids weren't allowed to foster their love for Reptiles and Amphibians? How many new and helpful products would be available for our animals if no one really cared?
So after 20+ years in this hobby here's my advice (if you care); 1
) join your local herp club, and participate, 2) foster the interest of the newbies, as they will become the lifeblood of the hobby eventually, and 3) fight any new restrictive by-laws as they may one day force the hobby "underground". We've come a long way, and I'm looking forward to the next 20 years!
Thanks,
Jason Wakelin
But what really "blew my mind" is a copy of Longevity of Reptiles and Amphibians in North American Collections, J. Kevin Bowler, c. 1975. This is produced by the Philadelphia Herpetological Society, so I'm sure there have been updated copies produced since 1975. The variety of species listed is not that vast, but by the standards of that time would seem comprehensive. For example only 2 species of Dart Frog are recorded and 3 species of Rana.
What is really interesting however, is the extremely short lifespan of the animals (for the most part). And the amount of wild caught animals that were recorded in this compilation.
For example, of the 113 Amphibian species listed ALL were listed as being wild caught at the time recording started. Turtles and Tortoises, again 113 species listed, only 2 captive born. 109 species of Lizard, not even 1 listed as captive born. And this includes the Leopard Gecko. In the family Boidae there are 48 species and subspecies listed. Only the Burmese Python, Boa Constrictor, and Guyana Rainbow Boa were captive bred/hatched. 129 species of Colubrid, 4 captive born and one of them is an Egg Eating Snake! Both major families of venomous snake fare the same, but what gets me are the Rattlesnakes. 35 species and subspecies listed, 1, the Red Diamondback was captive born. And of course no captive hatched Crocodilians.
As for captive longevities, it's not so "cut and dried", as some of the specimens listed would still have been alive at the time of recording. But just for fun/curiosity I'll list a couple of them. Normally 1.1.1 would mean male.female.unknown, but next it will mean years.months.days. Dart Frog (Dendrobates pumilio) 1.9.9. Of all the Gopherus species of Tortoises the longest lived was 8.6.0, and the shortest 2.9.15. Greek Tortoise 4.8.13. Lined Day Gecko (P. lineata) 3.0.26. Common Basilisk 3.4.18. Mountain Short Horned Lizard (P. douglassi) 1.0.15. Jacksons Chameleon 1.10.0. Interestingly enough pretty much all the Boas and Pythons did quite well with the exception of Candoia asper 5.11.25. Same goes for most Colubrids and venomous Snakes. There are some exceptions but most of those species are "lesser known" (even today), and are certainly not commercially viable. Crocodilians fared the same except Paleosuchus palpebrosus at 2.5.9.
So, if you've made it this far, you may be wondering "what exactly is the guy trying to say?". And to be honest so am I. So give me a couple of seconds to collect my thoughts................
Okay got it. This herp community/industry is only as strong as its members want it to be. Sounds pretty basic right? Sure, but think about it for a second. How many people out there would be keeping and breeding their animals without advice, or books, or caresheets? How many exotic animal vets would be out there if 12 and 13 year old kids weren't allowed to foster their love for Reptiles and Amphibians? How many new and helpful products would be available for our animals if no one really cared?
So after 20+ years in this hobby here's my advice (if you care); 1
) join your local herp club, and participate, 2) foster the interest of the newbies, as they will become the lifeblood of the hobby eventually, and 3) fight any new restrictive by-laws as they may one day force the hobby "underground". We've come a long way, and I'm looking forward to the next 20 years!
Thanks,
Jason Wakelin