Lasco is Ty Park. He has a facility in SW Florida, an hour or two north of Reptile Industries / Repti Mart. When he first decided to add corns to his business years ago, he and his staff consulted me quite a few times on the best ways to set them up and care for large numbers. Sandfire Dragons is in southern California. I know all of those people and have been to the Florida facilities many times (just once to Sandfire). The owners are all very knowledgable and have been into herps for a long time. Both of the SW Florida businesses have been very generous to our local herp society (Calusa Herp Society) over the years. Their places are very nice, and well maintained, considering how many animals they deal with. I am especially amazed by Reptiles Industries - state of the art main building, with lots of smaller buildings and outdoor pens on 20 acres. Ty also has acreage - I think maybe 12 or so. Sandfire also had some acreage, but a little less as I remember. Maybe 10? It has been lots of years since I was there.
They all take as good of care as possible of the animals. BUT - when you are dealing with 10s of thousands of inexpensive animals, there is no way you can devote the same amount of time and space to each one as somebody who has a few clutches each year. I have asked them (and also Bill Brant from Gourmet Rodent, who also supplies some of the big chains) why they can't educate the shops, many of which still feed crickets to corns and keep them piled many to a cage, so they would get better care in the stores? They have all told me that they have tried, but it depends SO MUCH on the individual managers of each store. They said that some managers care about the herps and try to learn, others won't bother, or won't listen. I do wish those stores would just avoid selling herps.
I believe the main problems with herps in shops lie more with individual stores rather than the supplier. BUT - I also believe that part of the problem is because the herps are too cheap, and by the time expenses are factored in, the volume is just too big for the profit to allow the same kind of care that hobbyists would give. Even though those suppliers are friends of mine, I would rather see individual stores acquire their herps from local breeders, face to face, or at local shows. And I would rather shops not carry herps at all if they don't have the passion and knowledge to do it properly. Unfortunately, that is wishful thinking, not reality.
