Info Taron Langhover @ Reptiles Etcetera

[uther886]

I am interested in getting some Oophaga pumilo 'Black Jeans' and I saw that they were available from Taron after he posted an ad for them on DendroBoard. After doing a bit more searching on DB it became apparent that these frogs are being sold in conjunction with some other incredibly rare and not usually imported frogs (Oophaga granuliferus and Oophaga sylvatica). I'm worried that these frogs may not be CB European imports like Taron claims and may instead be smuggled WCs. I'd like to make sure that I am not going to be buying something illegal and potentially loaded with parasites. Does anyone have any information about these frogs? (originally posted on the Misc BOI because I can't read)

 

[JimO]

I have heard that Taron acquired these European imports from Josh Lucas, who imported the frogs from the EU. Given that they have been offered as sexable adults (the Sylvatica were sold as sexed individuals), and that the Sylvatica were male heavy (which would be somewhat odd in CB frogs), I find it difficult to believe that they were CB. Someone would have to have extraordinary skill to breed Sylvatica in those numbers, and they'd have to have a specific reason, other than price, to spend the time and take the risk to raise them all to sexable age before selling them. Sylvatica froglets and unsexed subadults are highly marketable and command a price close to that at which Taron offered the sexed adults. There would be no economic motivation to hold CB Sylvatica until they were adults before selling them. This is in stark contrast to the Paru being imported legally from Ecuador by Understory Enterprises, where most of the specimens are not full grown by the time they reach the customer.

Everyone knows that Costa Rica is not allowing exports of dart frogs. It is also no easy task to breed any of these species/morphs, so I find it hard to believe, in this case as well, that these are CB frogs for the same reasons stated above.

Let's assume for the moment that the importer was told that they were all captive bred and that they were brought into the U.S. under a legitimate CITES permit. Let's also assume, for the sake of argument, that these were smuggled into Europe from Costa Rica. We can rationalize all we want about the legality of having the frogs in the U.S., but if they were smuggled, then someone had to commit fraud somewhere along the line in order to export the frogs from Europe. Permits obtained through fraud are not valid permits. In the U.S. regulatory agencies at the State and Federal levels are clear that the responsibility of providing accurate and truthful information in permit applications of any kind and that the agency issuing the permit has no liability if the application contains fraudulent information. In other words, even if an agency issues a permit and is unaware that the application is fraudulent, then the permit is invalid even if the issuing agency is not aware of it.

 

[Amelanistic Orca]

When you scroll to the bottom of this page and see the red and yellow... I hit the back button and I'm outta here.. Your question; asked and answered.. Lol..