Releasing Captive Bred...

[Durban Keeper]

I've been wondering about breeding my albino house snakes. Now I know this is being a bit over eager, considering they're still hatchings, but here goes my question...

As a lad I used to breed and release BHS in and around Durban. I was wondering however, should I breed my house snakes in the future, I would only be interested in holding back & selling all Albino offspring. Would it be okay to release substantial numbers of the 'normal' (what I presume will be het for albino) offspring back in to the wild if they are carrying this gene? If it is a naturally occurring morph (Amel/Albino), I certainly have never seen one in the wild.

Any views on this?
Dean

[arcadies]

to put it bluntly, this would be a VERY #$%^ IDEA, there are more than a few reasons why, but genetic pollution and captive born diseases would be my first worry.

Please dont do this ;/

[Bushviper]

The wild population in the Durban area is not under threat because they do not know how to breed. They are under threat because of habitat destruction and other man made factors. Releasing captive bred babies is not doing the species or even other snakes in the area any favours. There are numerous reasons why releasing captive bred snakes is not a good idea unless it is undertaken as part of a study and no other snakes are held at the same facility and all parent stock has been collected and localities documented.

If you have too many then rather just feed them to other animals or else stop incubating the eggs if they are so prolific.

The export market is also something you could look into as there are many people overseas that do not have access to house snakes.

[spowy_77]

My friend and I caught three hatchling BHS about five months ago, one of them was a albino. We caught them in my backyard together in the same place and then we released them on the hill outside of town.

[Durban Keeper]

In the past & present day, snakes among other reptiles & mammals have been captive bred and released in an effort to conserve their numbers. Obviously, the first factor I considered was disturbing the genetic population.
To be honest, I've only thought about diseases when introducing an animal I presume might have been wild cough to my collection. Valid point none the less Arcadies...

[Durban Keeper]

There most certainly is still a local market for captive bred specimens. If I'm not doing the natural population any favors, then I have no reason to release them once the time has come. Thx Guys

[Bushviper]

Spowy why would you release an albino that you catch in your garden? It has virtually no chance of survival in any case and it serves no ecological or conservational purpose to release it in another area anyway.

Albinos house snakes have been captured in the Durban area, Pretoria and Nelspruit. This would have been rather unusual from Limpopo and commercially been worth quite a bit.

I assume you did not bother to photograph them either?

[slangman]

i visited all my old hunting grounds on the Bluff a couple of months ago and never found a single BHS . Most of the areas have been built on or have become squater settlements . The canal systems were so overgrown that they had come to a complete stop and the water smelt awful . Cant blame the snakes for not thriving in these area anymore and so would simply say that if there arent many about now days , releasing captive babies to these uninhabitable or unfavourable areas wouldnt be a great idea in my opinion .

[jka]

If you caught a male and female in the same area and release their young in that area that would be more acceptable.

But I wouldn't release any other captive bred babies into the wild after generations of being in captivity you never know what will pop up in the snake.

[Bushviper]

Jka that would be acceptable especially if they have not been in direct contact with any exotic snakes which could have diseases. Hatchlings from gravid wild caught females are routinely released by us just because the eggs stand a better chance to hatch in captivity and once the babies have shed and fed once then putting them back in the same general locality would do far more good than releasing a gravid female again especially if she was a rescue to start with.

[Durban Keeper]

I live on the Bluff Slangman & haven't seen a house snake or any snake in the wild in years. All the recent developments have done wonders to boost the overall look, convenience & value of property in the area, but what was once in my opinion a wildlife sanctuary, alas is no more:-(

[crimson king]

Is it legal?
:Mark

[Bushviper]

Crimson king in many parts of the country this would be legal because the authorities assumed that nobody would ever breed and release snakes. The moral and conservation minded people know this is a recipe for disaster however it is not policed rigorously either. The new biodiversity act makes this illegal but the "teeth" have not been implimented yet.

[crimson king]

I figured as much. Here in The States it's done with and without permits and it's the well meaning people that actually muck up the works many times. Possible introduction of pathogens is a possibility but I don't know of much proof it has happened. Genetic mixing/swamping is always a possibility as well. While trying to help, they may actually be responsible for the demise of the very ssp. or whatever they are trying to save..
Also any given spot where release takes place will only hold a certain number of those animals. Why are they not there to begin with?? Most likely there are a few reasons and just putting animals back does not guarantee thier survival or sustainability. Without protection of the environment, protection of the species is not much good, is it?
Also there could be adverse reactions, booms, or declines in other species directly related to the release of animals into the environment,right?
Captive releases just have not been studied enough. I'm not sure just how you could do much of a "control" project either.
Relocations are iffy too, at best, and often do no good either.
:Mark

[Durban Keeper]

Makes Sense, have to agree with you Crimson, although my intentions would have been of a good nature, I was being foolish to even consider such actions as releasing any captive bred indigenous snakes....