I agree with you to a certain degree however there is still a need for WC animals. At present there are so many LTC Tokay around there will be a lot of "new blood" availiable to incorporate into breeding projects for years to come. What happens years down the line though? Do Tokays end up with the same problems as leopard geckos due to mass inbreeding?
I do agree that at present there is no need for WC Tokays though. At least not normals. The only WC Tokay I would buy is a nice morph. Reason being is that most of the morphs come from food farms. I'd rather it be in an enclosure in England than on someone's plate in Indonesia. Also by starting captive breeding projects with these morphs and by making them availiable to people as more "desirable" Tokays (due to their rarity) we can cut the need for WC imports and concentrate on CB Tokays.
Yes, we believe CITI's regulations or flat out closure from Indonesia is coming for Tokay.
I'm not sure I agree with "At present there are so many LTC Tokay around." Compared to what? There are less than 5 breeders here in the US with any kind of genetic diversity and breeding success at all. I have observed that most of the LTC's in collections are male because the WC female that were originally purchased together with the male died from over production of eggs.
If you need more proof, just look around. How many Malaysian Tokay do you see in breeding programs today. I know of one breeder here in the US with Malaysian stock. This Tokay was imported by the thousands for years but never established in domestic breeding programs because there's no money in it when competing with a $5 import. Now they are gone.
I don't even see them in zoos!
I am working to acquire as many morph Tokay as I can from the food processing plant connection we have in Indonesia. Unfortunately the last group of better Tokay were 'hijacked' to China. It is cut throat.:fight:
Our goal is to put as many of these great animals in breeders hands as we can so they do not disappear. And there are Tokay coming in with each group that I've
never seen before.
CITI's will set limits on exports and cause the cost of these animals to go up. This will help end the 500 lot sacks of cheap pet shop Tokay. This increase in costs will eventually give would-be breeders a small margin of income that might make it worth it for them to commit. Tokay breeding is by no means for the money right now, HA!!!!:roll:
CITI's may postpone the complete closure of Indo to Tokay export. This will give us a bit more time to establish breeding colonies. Something that takes years of work, lots of money and a true love of the animal.
I can appreciate someone saying they would never buy a WC animal. And I'm assuming that would be for display or as a pet. But to place shame on those who dedicate their incredible amounts of time and money into establishing domestically bred animals from wild caught stock, so that you can by a CB pet seems a bit unwarranted.:-x
Michael's Tokay Hoard:
www.billewicz.com
