Wild Caught corns

[dartguy]

I feel sad that people would still take an animal out of the wild to make a profit. With all the captive bred animals available, I wish the wild animals could be left alone.

I feel sorry for animals that have to be in cages, and can only imagine how they feel while being shipped, and just wonder what a corn might 'think or feel' when it has known 'freedom'. I suppose my thoughts are slightly hipocritical since I have corns and others in cages, however I 'justify' this by knowing they are CB and never 'knew' freedom.

Also I understand that all CB corns come from WC but thats not the point. I'm only speaking about the present, and whats available now.

I would love to hear other opinoins about this however I don't need to be attacked over it. It is just my opinion.

I'm interested if others share these same views, so I've posted a poll.

PS - In the poll, It should read never KNOWINGLY buy a WC corn

 

[13mur 6]

I would not keep a WC animal unless I caught it myself. This is because I could readily assess the state the animal is in once it's caught and do the proper cleaning. If someone else caught it, then I have no clue how long they've had their parasite loads in captivity, or if the other person did anything to aleviate that load.

I do believe though that an occasionaly WC is necessary to keep gene pools fresh, the corns available for market right now are so heavily inbred that they've lost alot of their "strength" and "vitality".

I think as long as the WC snake has plenty of space (as in a huge tank on the order of 40-80 gals), enough hiding places and proper thermoclimes, it would probably feel more secure, since predators no long exist in it's habitat and heck, he gets FED! He doesn't have to hunt anymore. This is also assuming you've "cleaned" the snake.

But I'm with you when you feel people selling WC's for a profit is wrong. If it's for me personally, I'll do what's needed to keep the snake healthy, people who catch those snakes soley for the purposes of selling and making a profit probably wouldn't care less (it maximizes revenue).

-13mur 6

 

[Chip]

Ahh, you're gonna hate me!

I just got a wild caught corn snake sent to me from the Okeetee hunt club area. I'd assume he's a '00 model, by the size, but he could be a '99 since brumated his first winter and probably not as well fed as my c/bs.
I've dealt with a guy (until now, he's bought my snakes) who hunts the perimeter there in Jasper county every year. Says there's a flock of snake hunters every spring (over a hundred the warm March Saturday he found mine), but the harvest is always good. He gets quite a few, but turns his fussy eaters, aggressive ones, or ones that don't meet his standard loose there. So I sent a hundred bucks for a male, sight unseen. It was opaque and mistook me for food the first few handlings, but turned out to be very nice. Not big black borders, or super bright colors, but a pretty Okeetee and good change in genes, at least.
I do feel bad for pulling an adult out of the population. But he will get to breed, eat regularly, avoid predation, cars, and ignorant people with sticks or shovels. I do notice him working the blanket box hoping to travel, and pull him out and handle him far more than my c/bs, so part of me does certainly want to send him back to the wild, especially since I only intend to breed him once.
I'm in NC and maybe 5 or 6 hours away, so after mating with the female I have in mind, hope to make a beach trip (plus an hour) to turn him loose again. I also have folks really wanting to buy him, so I'll let you know what I do (and be honest).

 

[dartguy]

NAH ELROJO

I dont hate ya!
I read two excellent points here.

1st from 13 re: genetics and second from elrojo re: idiots with sticks and shovels

keep em coming



ps I find it interesting that 2 people said they prefer WC and would love to from them

 

[CrazyCorn]

Well ok ill play....

I'm one of the people that actually prefer WC, locality animals rule. The colors from different areas amazes me! I have 4 locality animals: 2 Port St. Lucie FL, 1 West Palm Beach, and a weird rosy colored one from somewhere on the west coast, they all have great attitudes, and are loving (I'm not kidding) they love to sit with me but my cb rather climb around. So all in all I love them the most and rather buy WC. thoguht i still do like the color morphs.

 

[dartguy]

crazycorn

could you post pics?

 

[fateamber]

I think with corns its not that bad to get wc cos there is still plenty of them in the wild but with other species like ball pythons because of their high demand there numbers in the wild are decrecing, although i probably shouldn't say that when mine is captive farmed? well somthing like that.

 

[CrazyCorn]

OK dartguy i will shoe you my favorite 2 of 4, first off ivory 40" female from Port St. Lucie Fl.

and her head shot.

and now missy 35" female from West Palm beach Fl.

and i have two others, one rosy colored from the west coast of Fl and a juv. also from Port St. Lucie Fl.

 

[drizzt_19]

Nice Corns CC

Back to the subject... I prefer CB due to lack of parasites and you can usally get records about any possible illnesses, feed and shed dates, etc...Of course if I can not get the records , then I probably wouldn't buy it...

I would buy WC if I found a reputable dealer/field collector that quarantines and has all animals vet checked , feeding , can give me all locality specs , and most of all pics of the individual in question from different angles...

Sometimes you need a little fresh blood in the lines and there is no better way then to get a WC...The only downfall is the possibility of getting a burnt out breeder....

I guess I'm the type that if it's interesting enough and I can get good background info, I'll take it whether it's CB or WC...

Just my thoughts

 

[pinatamonkey]

You forgot the "I prefer CB, but would consider WC" option

I have 2 WC corns. Both were found around 20 ft from my driveway as small ~1ft hatchlings. Maybe I'm just rationalizing, but with all the construction going on here, I don't think they had that great a chance of survival in the wild. Since I found the first guy, I've seen about 4 or 5 dead corns on about a 100 yard strech of road. In the past few years, there's been a shopping center, car dealership, library, new subdivision, and school within less than a mile of my subdivision...all constructed where there used to be decent habitat.

Here's the guy I found last year...
<img src="http://members.lycos.co.uk/pinatamonkey/norm/1-20-03%20012%20(Small).jpg">

This year...

 

[Darin Chappell]

Not trying to be argumentative here, but . . .

"I do believe though that an occasionaly WC is necessary to keep gene pools fresh, the corns available for market right now are so heavily inbred that they've lost alot of their 'strength' and 'vitality'."

I'm not sure what you meant by that (specifically the part about a loss of strength and vitality), 13mur 6. Could you maybe explain what you meant and cite some source of information? I have trouble seeing where this is the case with cb corns, but I admit I may well have overlooked something.

TYIA!!

 

[dartguy]

IF I MAY

I think he was supporting your view of adding fresh genetics to a heavily inbred line that may not be able to resist certian diseases or ailments that an animal with fresh less inbred lines may be a ble to resist.


Just a guess though, was I right 13?

 

[13mur 6]

Yep, dart was on the right track. I think comercial animals are more prone to having tumors and GI tract problems (impactions? from weak GI tracts that got too used to being fed clean undirtied food?). But resistance to disease is definately a major factor in keeping genes fresh.

Also, although some CB hatchlings do die, there are many that SHOULD have died in the wild, but did not die due to human intervention. A screwed up gene here and there. I think it's more of a problem for the suppliers of chain pet stores, I've seen corns with tumors, most of the time in the eyes.

Sorta like humans in a way. I think humans have more genetic problems than any other lifeform in existence. But I guess it's human mentality that pervents us from culling the weak. Hell sometimes I even curse my parents for giving me kidney stones (dad had em, and uncle on mom's side had em, boom, I start having kidney stones at the age of 18. A stubborn kidney stone is worse than childbirth). 100% healthy, no genetic problem, human beings are rare nowadays.

-13mur 6