[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Illegal releases... The laws are likewise in California! Anytime I take the risk of harboring a W/C, I have to face the possibility that it won't eat. I will admit that on a couple occasions I have released W/C's that were no more than a week in captivity. These were all in quarantine and never had contact with one another or any of my C/B's. Personally, I believe such limits could be stretched up to a month, snakes' stress determining. I don't like to volunteer that info, but being a wildlife major with years of herp experience, there are times were you have to take certain chances in order to study certain species (especially behaviorally). Unfortunately, many amateur herpers will take such risks without any forethought as to the animal's specific needs (habitat, diet, etc). Live observation (of course "in the wild" behavior is always the best!) is the method least harmful to the snake if you want to learn behaviors and morphology. You must consider the fact that most of the upper division studies done on snake morphologies usually require the specimen to be dead. For instance, one doctorate paper I read which was done on the Pacific Gopher Snake and its subspecies required hundreds of W/C specimens to be destroyed. Of course this led to a very complete realization as to what all was eaten on a regular basis by one or more populations of this species.

Any time man interferes with nature (this includes captive and/or domesticated pets), the results could be seen as detrimental and often are.... This is often a case of picking the lesser of 2 evils; the multiple deaths of one studied species may yield knowledge (that could not have otherwise been learned) that can help preserve this animal's future. Many successful conservation efforts are a direct result of such studies. Sad, but true.

I currently have 11 native species (all within legal bag limits). I am happy to say they are all feeding. This perhaps puts a chip on my shoulder (LOL!), especially since a few of them rank among the "small, fussy, and difficult to keep".

I believe some of the states with the stricter laws to be in order; the critters need all the protection they can get. I t is too bad that some states policies however incite hypocracy. No take (ZERO!) policies on all herps in certain states often overlook the animals that are constantly being wiped out by development. For every snake that has fallen victim to a bulldozer (happens all the time!), that animal technically could have become someone's pet, or for that matter, become part of a conservation breeding plan...

The controversies never end... Maybe when humans are gone...

Steven