What is the meaning and difference of the point of origin of the snakes listed for sale on MorphMarket ? I suppose “imported” means from another country? And are there any regulations
regarding the harvesting of snakes from the wild as opposed to captive breeding?
I have to my knowledge never purchased anything but captive bred but I am still curious.
Thank you!
Wild caught and field collected are the same thing. Farm raised would mean the mother was captured while gravid and either laid eggs or gave birth while in captivity. Importing requires a fair amount of steps, I’ve never been involved with importing but you can find quite a few videos of people who do. DM Exotics is a good one to learn some regarding that.
Imported = Imported
WC = Wild/Field Caught
Farm Raised / Farm Bred = Raised/Bred in very poor conditions (basically the same thing as wild caught)
CB = Captive Born/Hatched
CBB = Captive Born and Bred
CBB is obviously the best 
Thank you! @lumpy so I did not know there was a difference between CB @ CBB…… hmmmm. Yes most definitely CBB is the best. The Farm Raised/Farm Bred sounds like snake puppy mills……
I am glad I asked this question!
Thank you @erie-herps @ashleyraeanne @lumpy and @randall_turner_jr and @caryl!
I am glad I asked this question. This was so confusing to me so thank you for the explanations!
So am I. (I’d say “so are we,” but I don’t want to speak for others.) Brought some clarity to an important issue, and may result in an important signifier change. 
Yay! I am very glad I could bring up something that might be beneficial to others in the future! Thank you for the encouragement! 
I am super happy that she asked! It is awesome when others explain the lingo that is around the community. The one that helped me out the most was the 0.0.0 explanation.
There’s a lot to learn in any new hobby/passion. Hopefully you’ll find much more exciting and enjoyable than anything else.
Edit meant to say “Hopefully we’ll always find it much more exciting and enjoyable than anything else.” I certainly haven’t stopped learning. There are so many interesting creatures, so many interesting people who care for/ about them. And I still find it fascinating.
I think everyone asks that question when they first enter the hobby!
Well I have definitely been enlightened. It never occurred to me that imports could actually be captive bred in another country and then imported in. But it makes sense!
I really have to disagree on this 100%. There are quite a few facilities abroad that breed and produce animals considered “farm raised” that rival the best in the US.
Even in third world countries.
@ericivins … i was going to interjulect on this as well. I dont think we can consider Farm Raised as like a “puppy mill”. Farm Raised however does pose the question of quality. Some of the places that catch the females, collect their eggas and hatch babies do an excellent job making sure the hatchlings are healthy and feeding before they export babies in mass. These are some of the facilities that the US breeders work with and the big name breeders typically get calls from when a new morph pops up. However, there are facilities that ship hatchlings right after hatching with no regard to whether they are feeding or healthy. Thise were the ones we typically received from the wholesale facilities when i worked in pet stores and these were the ones we all typically hear the bad stories about.
Ok thank you so much for the clarification. That makes me feel better. I too worked in a big chain pet store for a few months and yes I know all about the animal wholesalers.
I suppose there are always a few bad apples in every barrel……
Thank you again! I see this subject in a whole new light!
Import should really have a sub-header. Like from where, who, etc. And if was imported as a farm bred, CBB but imported, or whatever else. Wish MM would estate something like that, cuz as it stands an animal labeled “Import” usually causes me to disregard it, at least for my own situation (I know many use WC or FB animals for genetic diversity, I’m just not there lol)
Yes. I agree on the issue of the word “import”. Without clarification on who what where and when, I would not consider buying an imported reptile of any kind as a pet. But I speak only for myself.
Two points of contention here
All things being equal, there is no real difference between a hatchling, first-shed ball python direct from the farm in Africa than a hatchling ball python from your incubator. They are clean of entero- and ecto-parasites and equally as ready to eat. So really, only people with zero experience dealing with hatchlings would potentially have issues. I will also note that having them come in this way may actually be preferable because the farms over in Africa are going to be using ASFs as feeders and so imprinting the babies on those could create more issues for a buyer
The majority of the balls and corns are supplied by facilities inside the US (some of whom use MM). The reason the animals in places like PetCo/Smart/Land/etc seem so crappy is because the vast majority of those stores employ individuals with zero practical knowledge of reptile keeping and, as such, they are kept in completely the wrong manner and so their health declines.
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Small changes here:
Imported = wild-caught animal imported from out of country. CBB animals are frequently imported/exported and are labeled “CBB” rather than “Import”. As an example, there are a huge number of carpet pythons here in the US that were imported from Paul Harris over in the UK. No one bought those as “Imports”
WC = Wild/Field-Caught, usually used on native species to differentiate from wild-caught imports, but not always
Farm-Raised/Farm-Bred = Captive-born or Captive-bred and born at a facility overseas. These can be extremely high-quality facilities (Dan from DM Exotics as a previous example noted) or they may be some bush hunter hanging on to a caught female until she drops and then hatching the eggs in a bucket in his closet and passing them off to an exporter
CB/CH = Captive-born/captive-hatched babies from females that were captured while gravid and dropped/laid in captivity
CBB = Animals that were produced from parents that have been kept in captivity. These parents could be from any of these listed categories
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From a personal standpoint, refusing to buy something just because it is labeled “Import” or “WC” or “Farmed” is a bit short-sighted. There are good and bad importers and there are good and bad farms and there are good and bad captive breeders. I have seen and received some absolute trash CBB animals in the decades I have been keeping. I have seen and received some absolutely beautiful Import/WC in that same time (a half dozen Calabar boas, a group of Candoia bibroni australis, a pair of Rhamphiophis, a half dozen Oligodon).
The important factor in all cases is about you as a buyer properly educating yourself about where you are buying from and what you will be receiving when it arrives. I will never judge anyone that steps away from buying an import because they know it is outside their personal ability to establish. But defaulting to the idea that everything CBB is a guaranteed success is a bit of a foolhardy mentality