Green tree python b********

[insectovor]

I was just on a website (kingsnake choose australian herp and then australian smuggling and wildlife crime site) and the way officials behave to people who keep GTP is unreal. What is it with NPWS officials who do not want these snakes bred in captivity? Hve a read for yourself and it will blow you away. I know of a place in queensland where they kept 12 seized GTP for 5 years. At the orriginal seizing they had a gravid female, as soon as she had laid the eggs the eggs were given to steve irwin. These eggs all hatched. The leftover pythons were kept at this NPWS facility for 5 years and the owner could not get them back even though he appealed many times in court. The result, Steve Irwin got those as well.
In SA I've heard that seized reptiles get auctioned off each month or so, which sound good to me. Isn't it true that the more captive bred material there is the less illegal trade happens. Anyway the whole thing got me quite angry on a saturday morning.

[Fuscus]

There was an auction of seized wildlife in SA a few months ago. From what I remember the only herps were a couple of knob-tailed geckos and a Murray-Darling. I've got no idea about the prices though.

[Parko]

People who have a breeding pair of Gtp's must make a mint from them, why dont more people breed them? Is it hard to find buyers? If so you could sell them a grand or 2 cheaper and be sure of a quick sale and still make your money back on the parents in a few years couldn't you? If more were being sold the price would drop which would be great, why isn't this happening? I must be overlooking something I'm sure. Are they particularly hard to breed?

[Morelia_man]

if people can get $5000 for them why not? personally i would love to see the price of these animals come down, but i wouldn't like to see them for anything less then $2500

[westhamsc]

i would love one but there just to pricey

[Parko]

Why wouldn't you like to see them as affordable as other pythons if they were to become as common? (captive bred only ofcourse) Seems to me that making something expensive and keeping it hard to get encourages undesirable's to take them from the wild.(if they can find em!)

[Morelia_man]

if they become as cheap as your normal python, inexperianced people will be buying them, and most probebly not look after them properly and they will die. these snakes arn't easy to look after (what ive heard).

[Morelia_man]

this is a snake that keepers should strive for... i know my goal is to oneday keep a pair of scrubbies and possibly breed, but i know this aint gonna happen for a few/many years to come.

[Parko]

They'd still be class 2(or was it 3?) which usually(not always I guess) means you have some experience.I totally agree that hard to keep species shouldn,t be easy to acquire if you aren't capable of looking after the species ofcourse.But if you have the knowledge and required setup why must we pay a fortune? Just makes it a ''wealthy man only'' hobby if you ask me(which nobody did I realise :wink: ) anyway thanx for your thoughts MM.

[marc]

I think its redicul**** to see prices Of $2500-$5000 for a single snake, beautiful or not.

[Parko]

What problems are associated with caring for Gtp's(I've heard they're harder than most pythons to care for but aren't sure why)

[marc]

I looked after a pair that was being held at the Qld Museum they got really stressed very easily, not feeding etc.

[pythonss]

lol this thread is a riot..
the heading got my curiosity and the posts are even more entertaining.

parko /marc. you seem to beleive that the prices are a little high and your not the lone rangers either. But i will put this challenge to you both.

Buy a pair, keep them alive long enough to breed from, sucsesfully breed and hatch the babies .then sell them for what you think they are worth. be a leader in bringing the price down.

failing that. do some reserch and find out how many are in captive collections in australia. ask around about the sucsess rates of the keepers of these animals to date or actually see what it take to do any of the above.

the good info on this species is only just becomming avalible openly now. and if people that have a pair are making so much money from them. where the hell are all the babies that are being sold?

Everyones has the right to an opinion. but an informed one is always the best one.

cheers paul.

[marc]

the states breed thousands of them and so do the germans which is where the two at the Qld museum were smuggled in from, those people that breed them in australia do it quite successfully, its called controlling the market, you see it happening to BHP, womas and most varanids, there not a hard species just need specific requirements

[pythonss]

have you talked to any of the people in australia that breeds them in the last few years.?

how many will be avalible for purchase this year?

do the breeders consider themselves to be sucsess full with this species in australia yet?

U.S and europe got the captive population by the taking of wild animals from indo, new guinea and associated islands ! is that happening here in australia on a legal basis ?

these are all very important facts as to the price determination. to control a market you have to stop animals from being avalible. so if you breed them you must only let limited numbers go to market. The most sucsessfull breeder in the last few years with this species has kept very few for his own collection as replacment stock and has infact sold the majority of the offspring. this is far from market control. to make a statment like (they are not hard species) would sugest you have a deal of practical experiance with all aspects or care and husbandry of gtp in captivity. by almeans share the experiances with us..

cheers paul.