Once rather commonly seen in the pet trade, this is no longer the case with the The Rio Bamba marsupial frog, Gastrotheca riobambae.
Wayyyyyy back, from the 1950s to about 2000, importing herps for the hobby occurred at an almost unbelievable volume. Herps came to the USA from southern and eastern Africa, from many South and Central American countries, from Southeast Asia, and even from the various European countries. Within the USA itself, interstate trade in both native and imported herps was rampant and largely unregulated. When compared to today herps were abundant, species available were far more varied, and the asking prices of herps were then very cheap. For example, the 3 species of anurans pictured were once commonly seen in the American pet trade. Think back now—when was the last time you saw any of these offered? Here yesterday, gone or almost gone today. And today will soon be the yesterday when we find in future years that many of the herp taxa that we now take for granted are no longer available.