Fulica - Wild caught versus Captive bred

[jaynealison]

We all know that the majority of fulica (and their colour varieties) are hugely over bred and in many cases not very healthy. They are so easily bred that they have become their own worst enemy, practically everyone who keeps them, in whatever conditions, seems to get eggs. Then instead of crushing/freezing they are allowed to hatch, sold or given away in twos or threes which then breed and so the cycle continues.

I love fulica. They can be truly beautiful snails and I would love to try to get back to the position we were in about 15 years ago. Large, healthy snails with beautiful shells. But I know that in order to do so,I need at the very least to use f1 in my breeding project or preferably wild caught. There is my conundrum. Is it ethical to collect wild caught animals when there are so, so many unwanted fulica being bred indiscriminately every day? I know they are not endangered in the wild, but somehow it seems a bit selfish. Or am I, as usual, overthinking things!

[GrandTouringShell]

Selfish? Opposite of that! More people should be using wild snails, instead of carelessly letting snails constantly mate with their siblings to produce generations of weak, problematic runts. If you're considering a breeding project and want the best genes possible, feel free to use wild snails as long as they're not diseased or sick otherwise. 

[jaynealison]

Thank you GTS you have made me feel much better about my project.

[jaynealison]

I have decided to go for some F1 snails instead, that way I get the strong genes without the necessity of dealing with wild caught snails ie parasites etc. The ones I am getting are from parents who are strong, healthy and have been in captivity for a while but came from the wild originally.