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About captive bred exotic pets

Captive Bred or CB - an animal bred in captivity, possibly from wild caught parents, but generally in the country of final purchase.

There is however some trade in CB animals between other countries e.g. animals bred in Europe or the USA are often sold to UK customers and vice versa

Arguments for the purchase of Captive Bred animals

Health - Captive bred animals are generally healthy and parasite free. They will generally be animals that much is known about and so a reasonable exotic animal specialist vet will be able to identify and treat common illness if anything does go wrong.

Well acclimatised - Animals bred in captivity are well acclimatised to their captive life and therefore make better 'pets'.

Before purchase - The buyer may be able to see how the animal has been raised, where a buyer purchasing captive farmed and wild caught animals cannot.

Feeding - CB animals will generally readily feed on easily obtainable food (frozen thawed rodents in the case of snakes).

Knowledge of an animal's history from the breeder who will hopefully be on hand to answer questions. Also there is likely to be much publicity on the internet and in books on their care and wellbeing in captivity.

Ensuring survival of a species that would otherwise go extinct in the wild.

Ethics - If we must keep animals in captivity, surely a captive bred animal that has known nothing other than its current life will not suffer from a restriction of 'freedom' assuming all its requirements are met.

Arguments against the purchase of Captive Bred animals

Inbreeding depression - Breeding siblings or back breeding to parents narrows the genetic diversity and can amplify genetic mutations reducing the quality of individual offspring and sometimes causing serious defects.

Initial expense - Read Wild Caught and Captive Farmed for the overall life expense if a WC or CF animal is chosen.

© Chris Turner 2008