Moosenoose,
Reptile keepers today have the luxery of being able to buy captive bred stock(which is far superior then wild caught) but they forget that it was once all wild caught stock availabe.
Going back just 20 years ago, there was only about 10 or so keepers in Australia who pioneered captive breeding in this country.
Wether the stock was kept before licencing, legally collected, illegally collected and laundered onto the books, or declared on amnesties, it all came from the wild.
Wild stocked was stressed in captivity, keeping methods were crude compared to present times and food for particular animals was near impossible to find. Needless to say the wild stock would constantly die and trips were continually made to replace the dead stock.
Luckerly, it was found that Captive breed animals were far hardier, stress free and would breed readily in captivity if offered the right conditions. One by one, we slowly learned how to breed most species. And ever so slowly we refined our keeping techniques to what you now have today.
Reptile keepers of today do not know how lucky they are. Most animals sought can now be legally purchased, keeping techniques are far superior, businesses are even set up to supply food, and advise on most questions are readily available. In the old days one would ask, how on earth did you breed it, but today with the knowledge readily available to anyone, the question is why have you not bred it.
I have even heard some idiots today saying we should never have taken from the wild in the old days . But honestly, where do you think it all started from.