The effects of a global economic slowdown are finally trickling down to all of us lowly snake hunters. The prices paid for commodities are in steep decline, and this includes all metals, including the scrap tin loved so much by reptile collectors. I have been getting anecdotal reports about local metal scrappers being offered less than the cost of a tank of gas for entire truckloads of metals that weigh several tons.

Sadly, much of the damage has already been done as tens of thousands of metal pieces have already been stolen and scrapped. This snake hunter is taking great joy in hearing about how upset these metal thieves become when they find out they are not getting paid enough money after spending an entire day destroying prime snake collecting habitat and stealing from people like myself. Perhaps we will all have a chance to rebuild our old sites and it is my hope that the market in base metals does not recover for decades to come! If things go our way we will be finding downed barns with metal to lay out for years to come!