Do wild caught shinglebacks make good pets?

[shingleman]

Hello,

I'm just getting into reptiles and was hoping to get some advice. I was hoping to get some shinlgebacks and particularly like the 'goldfields' type. I've noticed they seem to be hard to come by and many are wild caught animals. I've spoken to a few people that I consider knowledgeable in keeping reptiles, and they say that the wild caught animals often do not breed in captivity and have a few problems with settling in. Whilst I am not sure about breeding currently, if I spend that much I want it to be on a healthy breedable shingle.

Has anyone else experienced similar things to this in regard to wild caught shinglebacks? Are there any other issues that I should be aware of?

Many thanks.

 

[MontyTheBredl]

I will start off by saying ITS ILLIGAL. I will finish off by saying ITS ILLIGAL.

 

[stimigex]

We have a few WC Goldfield stumpies and have bred them in the past, The thing with all WC reptiles is to understand their needs and requirements and provide a stress free (as much as possible) environment for them to inhabit.

I will start off by saying ITS ILLIGAL. I will finish off by saying ITS ILLIGAL.

Those that dont know what they are aspousing should not comment!
It is legal to have WC reptiles!
Western australia has licenced collectors that we can purchase from!

 

[IgotFrogs]

It depends on what state you live in as to if its Illegal ....

 

[Sinners121]

it is legal and many of the reptiles in W.A are wild caught

 

[Nezikah]

Who would you buy a wild caught shingle back from? Or who breeds shingles?

 

[MathewB]

Pilbara Pythons sell W.C. animals. Not sure if they sell shingles but.......

 

[Sinners121]

westaussiereptiles sells shingles cant got wrong with gary

 

[junglepython2]

I will start off by saying ITS ILLIGAL. I will finish off by saying ITS ILLIGAL.

I'll start off by saying most goldfield shingles are legally wild caught on permit. I will finish off by saying it's spelt ILLEGAL.

 

[Venomous1111]

[ NO LINKS THANKS ]

I'm not sure if that's what your looking for^^
If not try contacting them and see what they can do for you.

 

[Nezikah]

Why are we not allowed links?

Thanks guys going to look up West aussie reptiles now

 

[Venomous1111]

Why are we not allowed links?

Thanks guys going to look up West aussie reptiles now

I'll pm you the link.

 

[Sinners121]

Why are we not allowed links?

Thanks guys going to look up West aussie reptiles now

i pm'd u a while ago

 

[browny]

don't need the links...with google chrome atleast, highlight what you want right click and simply choose 'search google for'

 

[K3nny]

don't need the links...with google chrome atleast, highlight what you want right click and simply choose 'search google for'

all hail google chrome!
while we're on the topic are there any noticable differences between first generation bubs from WC reptiles vs several generations down?

 

[varanophile]

Hi shingleman.

I keep a fairly large group of both captive bred and wild caught. Like any reptile captive bred animals are more ideal, and there are a couple of issues to keep in mind with wild caught.

A few keepers including myself have noticed that a fair few of the wild caught animals appear to be on the older side, maybe because these ones are more often seen in the wild. About 20-30% of the females for what ever reason do not seem to breed in captivity and the ones that do have a lower fertility than captive bred animals at any age. Some (mostly males) can be quite aggressive and don't do well in groups. They also don't seem to be as hardy - I had an outbreak of bobtail flu this year that barely bothered the captive bred animals. In the wild caught it knocked them all quite hard with a couple of loses. I know other keepers have had similar experiences.

If you are planning on keeping in a humid environment once again the wild caught can be tricky to adjust/less hardy.

In saying that most wild caught do adjust well and do make good captives. Whilst I would encourage you to go captive bred I know there are only a hand full of us breeding goldfields, and usually in low numbers. Even wild caught can be hard to find, so my advice is that if you find some, have a good look at them and how settled they are in captivity.

Just because they are wild caught I wouldn't avoid buying them, but as I said above like any wild caught animal there can be a few usually minor issues that you should keep in mind.

Hope this helps!

 

[Wrightpython]

wild caught make great pets and are as easy if not easier to keep. Because they have been in the real world not pampered they usually respond better to feeding etc. Before all the goody tooshoes got involved all reptiles that i had contact with which was a lot due to working at featherdale and being member of Hawkesbury Herp were close generation link to wild caught or wild caught themselves. It is still being done today even in NSW its just the people doing it know ways around certain legalities. Go out and get yourself one of these wild caught shinglebacks and you will see they are a pleasure to own without all the problems associated with all the line bred captive specimens.

 

[shingleman]

Wow, sorry guys I think this headed a bit off track. I am talking about either buying a legally caught wild specimen form a licensed collector, or buying a captive bred animal. I should have maybe been more clear with the title and my initial thread, but I have no desire to break the law To get it back on track, no more advice on the legality of wild caught please, I really just want to know what the legally collected ones are like.

Thanks varanophile, that’s basically what I had heard. Is there any way to reliably quantify how well any one will adapt or breed in captivity? I understand what you mean about them being hard to come by, but would I be better off waiting for a captive bred? I don't want to spend $800 on each one if there is a high risk of it being one of the ones that doesn't do well or breed. Are there any other shingle breeders, in particular those who have keep goldfields or who have wild caught who can share their experience?

Wrightpython thanks for your advice, although I don't think I'll be going out to catch my own I have to say that I'm surprised to hear you say that wild caught are better, as it seems to go against what has been written about keeping every other species of reptile when comparing wild caught to captive bred. I just haven’t been able to find anything about shingles, but had read several people's experiences and difficulties with wild caught blue tongues. I have never heard of issues relating to line breeding in shingles. Are they common, and what type of problems are they?

Once again, thanks for all the replies.

 

[varanophile]

Sorry shingleman, but if you did find a simple way to determine how an animal will respond to captivity, or more importantly the environment you provide it would make all our lives much easier. In short it is impossible to be 100% with any species. There are obviously things you can do to improve your odds such as buying captive bred, young, and healthy animals. If you can see them before buying that would be ideal. Ideally you would chose ones that are calm, docile and feeding well. Even if you get everything right there is no gaurantee.*

That's why when I decided to get into breeding them I bought *a large group with multiple males and females. I accepted that I was likely paying for a couple of non breeders, with the pay off of having a very good chance of having a few that *would breed. I could only find a couple of captive bred, with * the rest being wild caught. If there were more captive bred available I would have paid more to have them instead of buying wild caught. Of the 2 captives both have bred and produced more young than the wild caught. Of the 10 wild caught 2 females ended up being too old to breed and one male was too aggressive.*

I'm sorry I can't give you the golden answer, but I hope this makes it a little more clear (maybe?). In the end buying wild caught when they come up, or possibly having to wait longer for captives will have to be your decision.

Wrightpython everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and maybe I'm biased as someone who sells captive bred, but I have to disagree with your advice. Whilst I do agree wild caught can make good pets, I would always go with captives given the choice. I can't help but feel it's a little irresponsible to suggest otherwise, and esp to encourage someone to do so illegally. As far as I am aware there have been no issues related to captive or line bred shingles. I have a feeling this was just a throw away comment but if I am wrong on this I would be very interested to hear about it.

 

[elapid@]

how would you like to be taken away from your home and sent to another..............leave em alone