I was fascinated to read in the latest Australian reptile magazine the comments made by Simon Stone ( Doc Rock ) about wild caught snakes from W.A. He claims and I quote,
Snakes with sort of back ground, or that are only first generation captive bred animals can be much more touchy and difficult to care for and breed than multigenerational captive bred animals. It worth bearing in mind that the shorter the captive history of a breeding line typically the more difficult it is to breed and the more sensitive to human intervention.
The puzzling part about this statement is how he arrives at these conclusions without having bred or kept many ( or perhaps any?) first generation or multigenerational wild derived W.A woma’s,
Black headed Pythons, South Western carpets, or Stimsons in the first place to gain accurate data to draw some of these ridicules conclusions.
In regards to one particular species e.g. wild caught W.A womas, my experience has shown me the complete opposite. Without trying to blow my own trumpet too much here, I have no doubt that we here at Pilbara Pythons have caught, housed and handled more wild caught W.A Pilbara womas than any white man on this planet. Furthermore my breeding partner Rob McCloud in QLD has in a Twelve month period produced large numbers of clutches from wild caught females that we deemed were of appropriate condition and age with absolute ease. In fact only two females failed to produce in their first year of captivity. To claim that first generation captive bred have a less desirable temperament that multi generation off spring is in my view (and of many other experienced breeders) is wrong and unproven.
A snake has only basic instincts and mother snakes generally do not nurture their young or teach them in any way. How does a snake know the difference itself between whether it was captive bred or wild bred?
A primary survival instinct in any animal is to reproduce, snakes don’t get heightened senses of this because they are captive bred, it is primal.
It therefore raises the question of motivation of publishing such unsubstantiated conclusions. Could the motivation be in the fact that so many beautiful good temperament wild caught
woma specimens are now established in captivity which directly threatens potential sales of ones own breeding pool programs of the same species?
Where there is no argument from me however ( and I actually agree ), is that generally speaking wild caught can be more difficult to breed straight from the wild than captive raised. This is more evident with a few species but definitely not for all.
My self and many others across this great country have shown that all wild caught species of pythons can indeed be bred successfully in captivity if maintained correctly and specimens have appropriately adapted to their captive environment. That in its self can be for the very inexperienced perhaps harder to achieve.
The following is a very quick summary of how I view the debate. Please feel free to ad to the lists. Now you may ask your self the same question? What is my motivation for this response? Simply put, an article like that directly affects all W.A reptile dealers financially who deal in wild caught fauna.
Wild Caught Collected Pythons
Many people believe that wild caught snakes are harder to breed than captive born.
While this can be true with individual specimens my experience has shown me that all wild caught species of pythons can indeed be bred successfully in captivity if maintained correctly and specimens have appropriately adapted to their captive environment.
What are the negatives?
(1) Possibly ending up with a specimen of unknown age
(2) Having a specimen not used to captivity
(3)Ending up with a reptiles that does not do well in captivity
Why do some people prefer captive bred specimens?
(1) Often a chance to see both parent reptiles
(2) Starting fresh with a disease free specimen
(3) Having a good chance of eventually breeding from specimen
(4) Because of personal morals against the collecting of wild reptiles
for potential commercial gain or otherwise.
How can I increase my chances of breeding a wild caught python?
(1) Try to get younger specimen to gain the maximum breeding time
(2) Try to only buy from of a reputable dealer
(3) Make sure that the reptile your purchase has had some captive history
and this information its history is supplied from the supplier
(4) Only purchase reptiles that have been treated for internal parasites
(5) Only purchase reptiles that are guaranteed feeding well.
What are some of the positives?
(1) Knowing you have a locale specific specimen and where it came from
(2) Having the mystery of not knowing for sure what genes its may carry e.g.
exciting traits you may end up with.
(3) Knowing that you have a pure species and not tainted by unscrupulous breeders.
(4) A chance to get un related blood lines in to captive breeding programs.
Cheers
Dave Mackintosh
