Commercial collectors have taken their toll of specimens to satisfy a pet market that demands tens of thousands of native and foreign amphibians and reptiles each year. Many of these are purchased as novelty items and die within a few weeks. Or they are "liberated" into an alien habitat where few survive. Some survive only at the expense of another form. In southern Florida, for example, many exotic species have become established and in some areas have replaced their native competitor.
If you decide to release a specimen after you have collected it, return it as close as possible to the original capture site. If it is not native to your area, do not release it, but find someone to adopt it or donate it to a wild-life center or zoological park.
Be kind to the habitat you visit. Do not leave a trail of split-open logs or ravaged den sites. A good conservationist leaves an animal's habitat the way he or she found it
ReptiCare Services DOES NOT recommend or endorse the taking of reptiles, amphibians or their eggs from the wild for the purposes of commercial collection or short term study in the home or classroom. If an animal must be removed from the wild it should only be for proper veterinary treatment of illness or injury and ReptiCare Services does recommend following the guidelines listed above in those cases.
