Wild caught and captive bred exotic pets - have your say!

You've just bought a new Exotic Pet, but now your wondering, was it captive bred or wild caught. We always state this with all livestock, unlike most Pet Shops within the UK.

Each Exotic Pet that we sell states where they are from; by this we mean has it been Captive Bred or Wild Caught. Listed and explained are the meanings below.

Captive Bred
An Exotic Pet that comes from a breeder rather than the wild. (CB’05 means Captive Bred in 2005)

Captive Born
An Exotic Pet born in captivity from wild caught parents. (cb’05 means Captive Born in 2005)

Captive Hatched
An Exotic pet Hatched in captivity from wild caught parents. (CH’05 means Captive Hatched in 2005)

Captive Farmed
Exotic Pets raised in captivity in their country of origin. (CF’05 means Captive Farmed in 2005)

Wild Caught
An Exotic Pet taken from the wild. (WC means Wild Caught)

Long Term Captive
An Exotic Pet that has been in captivity for three month or more that has been taken from the wild. (LTC means Long Term Captivity)

Sexed Animals
Exotic Pets that have been accurately sexed. (1.3.2 means 1 Male, 3 Females, 2 Unsexed)

Most of our suppliers provide many of the UK Pet Shops with their Exotic Pets, but unfortunately, many do not state if they are wild caught. We feel it is very important for our customers to know what they are buying.

We are currently looking into breeding many species of reptiles, amphibians and inverts with chelonian at a later stage. We would like to try and provide not only the typical captive bred stock like leopard geckos and corn snakes, but also some of the other species that you rarely see available as captive bred. This, as you may be aware, takes time to breed and money to house and feed the stock. This unfortunately increases the cost of the captive bred stock when available.

Many species are now bred in large numbers, but wild caught stock is sometimes required for new blood lines within breeding groups. Some people may say this is wrong, but if you do not catch the species from the wild first, how do you buy captive bred stock?

We would like to know your views on this subject, please post below.