Raising mice/rats for snakes and pets

[punk-a-doodle]

Oh gosh, I had no idea they were still wild caught for things like mollies! I remember how shocking it was to find out the aviary I worked at ordered wild caught birds (in varieties that are available as captive bred).

 

[Gatorpit]

nono, sorry, lol...molies, platies, swordtails, guppies and goldfish are all commonly captive bred. Anything that comes in color or fin shape varieties is captive bred. So...oscars are generally captive bred for example. tiger barbs for example...the albino and green versions are captive bred, where as it's more likely the regular "normal" barbs are wild caught. But most of the little tropical community fish (tetras, most danios, etc, etc) are usually wild caught. Pretty much everything that doesn't come in unnatural color varieties is wild caught. Take the discus for example. It has been bred in captivity because folks can selectively breed it to produce all kinds of different colors and patterns (same for oscars and anglefish) that don't exist naturally in the wild as those colors would make the fish stand out, and drastically lower the odds of survival.

And yeah...wildcaught is cheaper than captive bred. It's one of the reasons more people don't do it. Anyone who does captive breeding is generally a small time hobbyist doing it for the love and not a profit. Which is a good thing because those who breed for a profit cut corners and produce genetic messes (Marshall ferrets for example). The downside is that without mass breeding by profiteering companies, the demand is met through wild caught animals.

Best thing you can do for any pet you are interested in is...research. Bound to be somone out their that is breeding it for the love of it....but you can expect to pay more for a species that is not frequently captive bred. You will not (almost ever) find any kind of quality animal in a pet store...especially the big chain stores. For example...tokay geckos. Generally cost $10-15 from a petstore. ALWAYS wild caught. Almost NEVER live longer than a year because of the stress of capture and such. People are breeding them now, but you can expect to pay around $60 for a captive bred tokay. It will be MUCH healthier, and MUCH more likely to live a full life, and you take the pressure offf of wild populations. But you will not find these in pet stores...except possibly specialty shops run by knowledgeable people.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

My mistake, I totally misread that. XD