The future of the hobby?

[scorpionmom]

Not to be annoyingly philosophical, but I wonder what the hobby will be like in a few, ten, or twenty years from now. Will the hobby still be alive? Will the U.S. finally have better import laws? Any comments or insights?

 

[Rob1985]

I think you'll see more captive bred. The T's that are more rare now will end up becoming more abundant as more have successful breeding, so on and so forth.

I remember back in 2005 when the P.metallica was the absolute best T you could get!

Natural progression...

 

[voldemort]

i just hope countries with great fauna (Australia,Brazil,etc) will have reasonable exportation law

more captive breeding, lesser price and wider choices for me, my future kids and grandkids

 

[jrzyspider]

All it takes is one politician that thinks he can get votes by pushing some ill-conceived law & there'll be problems.

 

[AzJohn]

The real problem is a lack of dedicated breeders/dealers. Not enough hobbiest in the US do both. Most of what is being sold in the US are wild caught. When we get new species to many people buy one or two them fail to breed them. Take the new Grophus that were brought into the US last year. Anyone saling any now? There should be some babies floating around.

 

[Nomadinexile]

John is correct. And that's going to be a huge problem for us in the future. Without an egyptian style revolt here, all I see is more and more regulation, to the point of strangulation. There will continue to be more invasive searches of property and mail, along with laws that will force hobbies like ours underground basically. At some point, only real rebels will have scorpions. That is unless we overthrow our corporate dictatorship. But I don't see that happening anytime soon, sadly. :wall:

edit/add

Just wanted to add this. The future restrictions I see don't just apply to imports, but to distribution (mailing), and domestic collection as well. I imagine our laws in the future will more resemble mexico's than anywhere else, where possession of wildlife is a crime, which means no collecting.

 

[scorpionmom]

@John--want to try to breed a lot when I get older, seriously too. Tityus spp. have this weird attraction thing with me...I really want them all! It is good you take the responsibility to get and breed them. You and other devoted keepers/"hobbyists" are one of the only reason the hobby is still alive. (I guess that might have been a little too extreme, sorry if it was).

@Nomad--Let's hope that our exportation laws don't get as bad as Mexico's.

Just wait until I become president...we'd have the best scorpions!!

Thanks everyone for the replies so far!

 

[Vixvy]

There are some animals that only mother nature can take care off let us just respect that. About the importation and stuff to be legal....it will happen but try to think if its for the good of the animals or not. There are animals that can be destructive to other animals. Let us be responsible and logical.

 

[reptileman140]

I started out in the reptile hobby and alot of the reptile hobby is gone. If you think about it it when you look for scorpions for sale you don't see many scorpions for sale online anymore. People don't want to breed cause it takes time but if someone were to take the time and effort needed to make it work they could make alot of profit especially if they bred some of the harder to get inverts. Same thing goes with mantid's fish and wildlife just set import laws on them.

 

[Jorpion]

The real problem is a lack of dedicated breeders/dealers. Not enough hobbiest in the US do both. Most of what is being sold in the US are wild caught. When we get new species to many people buy one or two them fail to breed them. Take the new Grophus that were brought into the US last year. Anyone saling any now? There should be some babies floating around.

Good point and I'm working... uh, I mean my scorpions are working on remedying the hobby of the continuing unavailability of African buthids. I've been [secretly] working on numerous breeding projects over the past two years and have what I believe to be a nice assortment of scorpions to be. Be on the lookout for my for sale ads soon enough. Here's a list of pending births:

A. amoreuxi
A. australis lybicus morph - 2 females
A. australis tunisia - 2 females
A. bicolor - 3 females
B. jacksoni - 6+ females (40+ 2i scorplings right now!!)
G. grandidieri - 2 females, due at any moment
H. hottentotta
H. judaicus - due at any moment
L. quinquestriatus
P. imperator - 1 eggplant-sized female that gave birth to approx 40 grape-sized scorplings on 4/2!
P. transvaalicus - 2 females, 1 due at any moment

Jeff

 

[Michiel]

You, eeeuhh, your scorpions have been busy Keep up the good work, Jeff!

 

[AzJohn]

Good point and I'm working... uh, I mean my scorpions are working on remedying the hobby of the continuing unavailability of African buthids. I've been [secretly] working on numerous breeding projects over the past two years and have what I believe to be a nice assortment of scorpions to be. Be on the lookout for my for sale ads soon enough. Here's a list of pending births:

A. amoreuxi
A. australis lybicus morph - 2 females
A. australis tunisia - 2 females
A. bicolor - 3 females
B. jacksoni - 6+ females (40+ 2i scorplings right now!!)
G. grandidieri - 2 females, due at any moment
H. hottentotta
H. judaicus - due at any moment
L. quinquestriatus
P. imperator - 1 eggplant-sized female that gave birth to approx 40 grape-sized scorplings on 4/2!
P. transvaalicus - 2 females, 1 due at any moment

Jeff

Awesome list. Did you get the H. judaicus from me? Pretty cool to see another hobbiest breeding them in the US. I also have grandidieri babies that just went 2i last night. I've stayed away from andros so far. I like more communal species. So far the only andros I've got are 4i mauretanicus. I'll be looking to expand more into the genus as I find more room.

 

[deserthairy]

Just noticed your review link, AZJohn. Didn't know you bred/sold. Have be away for a few yrs. Sure you have something I need...lol (Doesn't look like I'll be moving to AZ anytime soon)

 

[Jorpion]

Awesome list. Did you get the H. judaicus from me?

I believe I did get her from you. You should see how fat she is right now! I can clearly make out individual embryos as well.

 

[AzJohn]

I believe I did get her from you. You should see how fat she is right now! I can clearly make out individual embryos as well.

They are kind of fat even when they aren't gravid. When they are gravid the get BIG

---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------

Just noticed your review link, AZJohn. Didn't know you bred/sold. Have be away for a few yrs. Sure you have something I need...lol (Doesn't look like I'll be moving to AZ anytime soon)

Mostly I deal with exotics. I do breed a few native species.

 

[deserthairy]

Thanks for replying, John. Afraid my "exotic money" vanished after the crash of '07. If you ever run across a few adult Hairys, let me know...lol. Regardless, hope to do business with you one day (checking out your classifieds now).

 

[Irene B. Smithi]

The real problem is a lack of dedicated breeders/dealers. Not enough hobbiest in the US do both. Most of what is being sold in the US are wild caught. When we get new species to many people buy one or two them fail to breed them. Take the new Grophus that were brought into the US last year. Anyone saling any now? There should be some babies floating around.

John is correct. And that's going to be a huge problem for us in the future. Without an egyptian style revolt here, all I see is more and more regulation, to the point of strangulation. There will continue to be more invasive searches of property and mail, along with laws that will force hobbies like ours underground basically. At some point, only real rebels will have scorpions. That is unless we overthrow our corporate dictatorship. But I don't see that happening anytime soon, sadly. :wall:

edit/add

Just wanted to add this. The future restrictions I see don't just apply to imports, but to distribution (mailing), and domestic collection as well. I imagine our laws in the future will more resemble mexico's than anywhere else, where possession of wildlife is a crime, which means no collecting.

eh.... I won't breed my bugs.... WITH the exception that I'm working on a C. Sculpt colony right now... other then that... most should not breed, there is such thing as too much of a good thing. And a lot of hots should not be breed by people with no experience in handling or packing... It's not all that fun to pack a bunch of angry scorpions non the less some T's that can climb anything.

I see us with a large variety of new species, and a few reliable breeders... maybe that'll cost more, but at least it won't be a bunch of unknowns aka hybrids that no one can inform you on their venom levels etc...

 

[Galapoheros]

My guess is that import laws will get more strict. Some of it depends on whether or not fanatic environmentalists get their grip in gov. Don't get me wrong, I'm for keeping the environment clean and all, it's just that there are fanatic groups in any group. There are people in the environmentalist group that don't believe in importing "anything", some don't believe in keeping animals, ...period, not a goldfish, no dogs, no cats, nothing. There are some control freaks that don't rep the majority in gov, it's slowly turning into a bigger and bigger problem. I think whether there are a few of us or a lot of people in the hobby, why not breed them to help each other out. To me it's the most interesting part of it anyway so it's all good to me.

 

[signinsimple]

Yeah, there does seem to be less and less scorps around lately. I've been trying to get a colony of Monster Sized Emps going for breeding purposes for ages now, but was only able to secure one 7.5 inch female. And she's not even gravid. No one even has large Emps for sale anymore. They're all mature 4 - 5 inchers. Given the species can get individuals 9 inches long, It's like we only have pygmy Emps available in the States. :wall:

Cool list Jorpion. How long is that eggplant Emp of yours? I might be reaching out for some eggplant babies to raise if I cant find some huge adults soon.

 

[Galapoheros]

7.5! that's huge! I think what you call "pygmy" is the average size though. I wish I had a monster male to send you. I have a female that is just over 6 and she looks huge to me, she had babies too, raising those to see how they turn out. She came in with several other monsters so, imo, I think she was from an area where they are bigger due to genetics. The higher O2 theory in rainforests causing them to be bigger is a theory I don't subscribe to. But them possibly having to take down bigger prey in some areas, maybe in rainforests, might attribute to bigger sizes evolving, who knows.

Hey can you post a pic of that thing next to a ruler, I need to see with my own eyes!!!