15 October 2005

Lies, Damn Lies, and Internet Reptile Ads

For our maiden voyage in the Sea of Negativity, I'd like to visit a land that has given me much  irritation and hours of dark amusement: internet reptile ads. The internet has made it easier for hobbyists to deal directly with many breeders to the benefit of both. Breeders can take credit for the animals they produce while getting a better price than they would from wholesalers. Hobbyists also get a better price and they get to ask questions of the person with experience with that animal.  Unfortunately, the internet has also allowed many ne'er-do-wells to attempt to make an easy buck. Often to the detriment of the animals, the hobbyists,  and the hobby's reputation.

The intent of this article is to cut through the little lies, the misrepresentations and the willful ignorance.  I will start by defining some commonly used abbreviations and terms and give my observations on how accurately they are used, before moving on to my pet peeves with ads. This article is likely to be rewritten as future ads remind of things I have forgotten to include.

WC - Wild Caught - Pretty much self explanatory. The abbreviation WC is fitting. For those of you below a certain age, WC was once used by polite society to refer to the Water Closet, or, heaven forfend, the toilet. Use of the word crapper plainly would bring about the end of civilization. But crapper pretty much sums up the situation these animals are in, between their removal from the  wild and arriving at your home.

What does this have to do with ads? Well, no one is likely to falsely claim that their animals are WC. However, you are likely to see ads that exaggerate the health of animals for sale. Pictures help, if you are actually seeing the animal listed, but don't allow for a full diagnosis. Recently it came to my attention that a dealer was using one of my Ocadia sinensis pictures in their ad for Ocadia. It took two emails and around ten days to get the picture pulled from the ad. The dealer claimed they didn't know the picture was my property. My question is "Why the hell were you using my picture to sell your animals when you have a digital camera and animals that you list as outstanding?". Hmmm, that's a real poser. Could be their animals weren't that outstanding. Maybe they meant out standing...in the rain. Of course, nothing is better than  the morons that list animals as "great", or something similar, and post a picture of an obviously thin turtle with shell rot.

Every turtle coming out of the wild needs to be quarantined (I advise at least 3 months, a year is even better) and receive some veterinary attention, even if only a fecal screening. Many need much more than that. Imported WC may spend days to weeks between collection and arriving at an export facility. No food, no water, crowded conditions and being jostled in a box or bag. The situation may not improve at the export facility or even at the import facility. Animals WC in the US, may not have been treated any better before arriving at your home.

Stress can lower the immune system of turtles and health conditions they might have lived with can become conditions that kill them. Add to that unnatural densities and exposure to bacteria and viruses they wouldn't encounter in the wild and you're looking at a recipe for trouble. Common problems are; malnutrition, dehydration (possibly kidney failure), bacterial infection, viral infection, parasitic infection, fungal infection, shell necrosis caused by trauma to the shell, ingestion of the fish hook used to catch the turtle, injuries caused by another turtle due to cramped quarters, and sand/gravel impaction. The last one is found occasionally in turtles coming out of food markets. Gravel is force fed, or they are injected with water, to get the turtle's weight up. This is because they are sold by the  pound/kilogram. 

CB - Captive Bred - CB used to imply the animal was the result of captive breeding, but people began using the abbreviation to mean Captive Born, which allowed them to hide the fact that their animals were actually CH.

CH - Captive Hatched AKA Captive Born - These are offspring that came from either a gravid WC animal, or from eggs dug up in the wild and hatched. The latter was done in Florida for many years on a scale that would surprise most. Once, I have a few more documents I will include that information  in the "Hurry Up and Rape Eden Before They Pave it Over" article.

As a breeder, that has bought WC animals to establish groups, I have had animals come in gravid. Often the eggs have been retained too long and are not viable. Sometimes the female dies from dystocia. Other times I get hatchlings. I keep any hatchlings as the male that fathered them is unlikely to be in the same lot as the female. I don't have a problem with people selling CH offspring. If you are in business and an animal comes in gravid, bonus, just be up front about what the offspring are.

CBB - Captive Bred & Born - Some breeders have taken to using this to distance themselves from those that are selling CH as CB. CH animals should be healthier than a WC animal and might not be much different from a true CB baby, but there is a world of difference in the commitment it takes to produce them. Pride in stabilizing a group of WC turtles and producing quality hatchlings from them is one reason I moved to direct selling of my excess offspring.

CBR - Captive Born and Raised - Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. It is amazing to me that right after I see some fresh WC on a wholesaler's new pricelist that the same species suddenly begin showing up online as captive born and raised in ads by resellers. It is especially interesting when it is a species that you hardly ever see for sale and then a shipment comes in and (BAM!), suddenly everyone has these CBR animals for  sale at the same time. Isn't the world full of coincidences?

Farmed or Ranched - There are places that produce turtles and tortoises that can be classified as ranched or farmed. A number of farms in the US produce the common Sliders, Cooters, Maps, Snappers, and Softshells. There are also a few places in Asia that produce turtles and tortoises and a couple in  South America that  produce Cherryhead Redfoots, and Venezuelan Redfoots.

However, I have seen plenty of imports come in as "farmed" and "ranched" from other sources that can be nothing other than WC. Farmed implies CBR, which, if true, would imply better conditioned animals and less strain on the wild populations. Some of these "farmed" animals are cherry with perfect natural growth, but most are riddled with parasites and many bear the scars of living in the wild. At most these animals may have spent time on a farm before being exported.

Cherry picked - This is when someone goes to a dealer and picks through fresh WC to get the healthiest and/or best looking animals for resale. Not a bad thing, unless they cherry pick and turn around and misrepresent the animals as CBR.

LTC - Long Term Captive - Unless you know the specifics, this is useless information. Some dealers are so amazed that anything continues to live under their care for a few months that suddenly it is a LTC. Even if it is a truly "long term captive" of a few years, it might not mean much. Is it an old breeder past its prime, or has it been in the long term care of someone that doesn't know what they are doing? What's Long Term? Let the buyer decide and list the actual amount of time (as close as you know) that the animal has been in captivity.

Bona fide Scientific Facility - Bona fide shit is more like it. I saved my harshest language for the most deserving bullshitters. I have seen a couple dealers trying to make this claim. It is obvious from reading between the lines in their ads that this is nothing more than an attempt to get around the 4" rule (topic of "I've got your 4" Law Right Here"). Well, that, and to give customers the impression that the "facility" is clean and working towards some higher purpose. The only science applied is economics. Specifically, how to spend as little as possible on housing and care while making as much as possible. And, by the way to the morons using this tactic, the bona fide scientific exemption in the 4" law applies to the purpose of the sale, not the scientific quality of the seller.

Proven - This is often used in "proven pair", or "proven breeder". These should mean that it is a pair, or single animal that has produced viable offspring in the past. Instead it often is used in a manner that should translate as "Duh, I am able to sex these", or "It came in gravid and eggs fell out of it". The word proven has proven to be a misused term; just as many dealers have proven they can't tell  their arses from a hole in the ground.

Gravid - This means containing eggs. I have seen animals listed for sale where the seller claims "is gravid now", or "probably gravid". Pardon my ignorance Slappy, but why are you selling it? Wouldn't it be better for you and the animal to wait? Since you are in business, I would think you would want to hatch and sell her offspring. Or, if you gave a damn about the animal you wouldn't ship it gravid where it might either void and destroy its eggs in transit, or end up retaining them, due to the stresses of travel and of a new environment, and die from dystocia. More often than not, I am sure the dealer has made no effort to ascertain if the turtle is truly gravid. This is nothing more than wishful thinking and an attempt to make buyers believe they will get more than they'll pay for.

Adoption - I am not talking about the organizations that take in abandoned, neglected, or confiscated animals and find homes for them. Some of them charge a fee to cover their costs and that is justified. I am talking about the people adopting out hatchlings and charging a fee suspiciously similar to normal market price for said hatchling. This is nothing more than another attempt at circumventing the 4" law and unlikely to fool the FDA. What these "adoption" businesses are doing is putting more hatchlings, of species already overrepresented in captivity, into the market. Hatchlings of species which are likely to end up at a real adoption facility down the road.

Locality - If you are going to pay more for something because it is from a specific locality, you should know what the characteristics of that locality are supposed to be. There are plenty of ads claiming an origin for animals that the dealer can not justify. I have seen ads for Western Hermann's and the tortoises in the picture bear none of the traits of Testudo h. hermanni. I was once offered a pair of Sicilian Worms, "they're from Sicily" I was told. In fact they were Caecilians and from South America. The seller must have bought them over the phone and heard the name, but didn't check it out and was content to pass it along as fact. Another recent example involves tortoise hatchlings advertised as coming from specific locale stock. It is obvious from reading their B.S. that they have zero way to substantiate this claim. To make the whole thing more ludicrous, only half the breeding group is from this supposed locale and the rest are from another country. So what are these offspring worth? Well according to the dealer over 2X as much as the normal price for that species.

Location - This is the location of dealer. Too many use this space to inform you that they ship within the US or a more limited area. This is a pet peeve of mine. There is enough space to list your location and your shipping range.

I understand not giving specific addresses. I only give a general location as I do not have a storefront and I don't want people visiting my collection when I am not around. It would be tragic if I found someone helping themselves to my turtles. Tragic, brief and a little messy. But at least people know my general area in case they want to arrange to meet somewhere to pick up animals.

Another downside of getting no location or one as general as USA (Why not put Earth? Morons!), is that you don't know if you are unknowingly breaking the law. Once, I was just about to paypal for some Wood Turtles I found online, when it came up in conversation with the seller that he lived  in a state the turtles are protected in. When I backed out of the sale, the seller tells me "I have had these since before they were protected". That probably covers him to be in possession of them, It doesn't cover him to sell them or me to buy them. It accidentally came up in conversation. I hadn't asked where he was located as I assumed only a moron would advertise something online they shouldn't. Experience since then has taught me that plenty of people are ignorant of their laws and others think the internet gives them anonymity and free reign to do what they want.

There are enough animals being laundered without directly contributing to illegal collecting. By laundered, I mean animals are collected in states where they are protected and moved to a state where they are not. Then they are listed and sold as CBR and LTC. Ever notice in the spring how many people suddenly have adult  Wood and Spotted Turtles for sale? Of course all of them are CBR or LTC. You would think all these "breeders" selling their collections would wait until they have their last clutch of eggs before selling off their stock.

Shipping - The USPS does not ship turtles! If you ship turtles through UPS without the specific account, you are breaking UPS' rules. If you ship though the Post Office, you are breaking a law. Bit of a difference there.

Investment Quality - This one I dislike on general principles. I don't think of my animals as an investment and those that do are usually talking about a hybrid or morph. Another of my not favorite things.

Hyperbole - Is it really necessary to have all the hype? Can't the facts speak for themselves? List the details and post a picture. Picture doesn't do it justice? Get a better camera or take a photography class.

"Unique colors, you've never seen anything like these". No, not since the last time I hatched a clutch of that species.

"WOW, Amazing, Super Rare, Incredible", used by one dealer in just two ads to describe animals you would find by going though the farmed sliders at a wholesaler's.

"You never see these". No, not as often as a Red-eared Slider, but I do see them for sale from time to time.

"CB Russian Tortoises. First time ever". You mean for you? Hey, you're the same assholes that were using my picture to sell your outstanding Ocadia.

"These wont last"...in your collection.

"End of season sale", my prices were too high and I need to sell these.

"You wont see these again", until we place another order.

You can throw into this category all of the made up color variety names that are used to describe the normal variation in color of a species.

Venomoid - This doesn't concern turtles, but I see venomoid snakes online and at shows. True Venomoid animals are the result of the removal of the venom glands by a veterinarian (FYI, students of Lamarck, venomoid do not breed true -its called genetics- look it up). Often what you find are actually defanged animals (FYI, fangs grow back), and too often ones that have been defanged with pliers.

Whether it is involves the removal of the venom glands or the fangs, by a veterinarian or not, I consider these animals mutilated. If you are afraid of handling venomous; get a corn snake, or stick to looking at pictures of venomous.

In summary, take everything you read with a grain of salt. Unless it is on this site, where everything is the gospel truth. Do some homework so that when you ask questions you have something to gauge answers by. Check online forums that discuss dealers. One is at http://turtleforum.com  "The Good Bad and the Ugly",  and another is http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/mainpage.php "The Board of Inquiry".  Whenever possible buy at a reptile show. You get to check the animal out and get a better feel of what the dealer is like. That way you are less likely to get burned if you buy from them online later .