matamata turtle

[chris09]

who cares if they came with CITES, its pretty revolting that people actually want wild caught turtles of a species that is too large and specialized for most people to keep. apparantly no one cares about how many die though during the whole capture/transport process. you think they just go out there, gently pick turtles up, put them in a box and send them on their way? hell no. a lot of animals in south america have to die just so someone can have a pet matamata turtle. DO NOT ENCOURAGE THE TRADE IN WILDLIFE, BUY CAPTIVE BRED ANIMALS ONLY. Doesn't anyone else find this somewhat disturbing/sickening?

I can understand taking a few wild caught animals for zoos and serious EXPERT keepers who intend to seriously pursue captive breeding...but having hundreds of turtles ripped from the wild just to be pets for the casual owner...ugh...

[Cloudkicker]

First off let me start by saying I am also completely and totally against taking an animal out of its natural environment to serve the purpose of being a pet. I believe animals, especially species on the brink of extinction in the wild, should only be introduced into captive conditions to reproduce and re-populate wild populations. This can now be seen happening with most if not all the asian(and surrounding areas) turtle/tortoise species, several species of sea turtles and countless other critically endangered species. Unfortunately adult specimens and the re-introduced offspring are still being exploited to serve food, pet and medicine markets around the world with no regard to the animals themselves or the future of their existance in the wild...

chris09: I can honestly say I feel the same way you do about the wildlife trade.... My original post in response to Gibbus's was supposed to come across as sarcastic, I was by no means trying to "encourage" gibbus to bring in a 100 lot of wc mata mata's, I was simply waiting to see the response, give my opinion and point out basically everything you already have. Also, in response to your "how can anyone say they like reptiles....." quote in your initial response, since I know that comment was directed at me, all I can say is, out of 156 reptiles I own, only 8 are long term captive wild caughts, those being russian tortoises and my pair of forsten tortoises. I plan on keeping the offspring from both species to establish small colonies... you could almost say I "intend to seriously pursue captive breeding". The point I'm trying to get across is that I DON'T support the trade in wildcaught animals unless they are being put into a captive breeding program.

Piers: You're right, I meant $400-$800 Cdn, $200+U.S.

Cheers,

-Andrew-

[Piers]

Well I say captive all the way, when you can get it!
Chris09,sometimes getting animals from the wild is your only choise. Some captive animals are too inbred or no one has bred enough of them to be made to the public.
Also I always try to get people to pair up the animals they buy. I think reptiles,amphibians and fish too should be paired up and bred. One reason is its great to see the whole thing from mating to birth and another reason is more you breed the less is taken out of the wild.
Do you realize most firsts in reptile breedings come from privet breeders not zoos?
If we all waited for captive bred animals, nobody would have anything.
Piers