Commercial Reptile and Amphibian Collecting

Harvesting, Processing, and Selling

Many Louisiana reptiles and amphibians have commercial value, even those in your backyard. Frogs and turtles are a culinary tradition in Louisiana. When the Louisiana Department of Conservation began reporting landings data in 1932, the annual value of frogs and turtles was nearly $330,000. Today, licensed reptile and amphibian collectors occasionally sell snakes for meat, but the species consumed are otherwise limited to bull and pig frogs and several turtle species. Current landings values for these species fluctuate below $50,000 per year, as many of the animals used for frog legs and turtle soup are now imported.

Of the 140 species of reptiles and amphibians native to Louisiana, a couple of dozen, including green treefrogs, the green red-eared sliders, green anoles, and green snakes, are also valued as pets. Licensed reptile and amphibian collectors turned this green into gold—in peak harvest years in the 1990s, annual earnings were near $5 million. A couple of decades later, income from collecting these species for pets has declined by 90 percent, due to the closure of foreign markets, an increase in the number of protected species, the popularity of captive-breeding, and a decreasing interest among young people in acquiring pet snakes and lizards. Reptile and amphibian collectors are now limited to selling their catch to a half-dozen licensed wholesale/retail dealers.