Do the regs need to be changed?

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I couldn't agree more.
The system doesn't make any sense.
I love my monitors and there's so many id like to own but can't because vic wont bring them on license. The fact that i can keep taipans/ browns and salt water crocs but can't keep certain monitors is frustrating. We need a national licensing system.

Agree 100%. I find myself in the exact same position, my dream monitor I'm not allowed but as you say I can keep a salty.......how crazy is that.
 
Agree 100%. I find myself in the exact same position, my dream monitor I'm not allowed but as you say I can keep a salty.......how crazy is that.
I believe we still have a few years to go before they revise the species list again.
So i will just continue to bitch and moan for a little longer and get nowhere:)

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
I grew up in an era a long time ago when there was no regulation, if you wanted a snake you went bush and caught one, (most people killed snakes on sight) I had a collection of elapids while I was still in primary school. The point is I was a dedicated reptile nut, read every book available 6 times, talked to other reptile nuts and was very careful and never bitten. This was before antivenin, the recommended treatment for snake bite was to attack the site with a razor blade and suck the venom out, no one had ever survived a taipan bite and survivors of others generally had permanent health problems.
Nowdays you have macho types wanting to show off "mine is more dangerous than yours" and you must have some control, but that said there are bikies out there with rattlesnakes and cobras.
If you don't mind me asking Yellowtail, what decade are we talking about here. As early as 1955 there was Taipan antivenene available and saving lives.
 
I grew up in an era a long time ago when there was no regulation, if you wanted a snake you went bush and caught one, (most people killed snakes on sight) I had a collection of elapids while I was still in primary school. The point is I was a dedicated reptile nut, read every book available 6 times, talked to other reptile nuts and was very careful and never bitten. This was before antivenin, the recommended treatment for snake bite was to attack the site with a razor blade and suck the venom out, no one had ever survived a taipan bite and survivors of others generally had permanent health problems.
Nowdays you have macho types wanting to show off "mine is more dangerous than yours" and you must have some control, but that said there are bikies out there with rattlesnakes and cobras.

That's pretty much my history too Yellowtail. As a kid in WA I had Dugites and Tiger Snakes in tanks in my bedroom, along with a heap of other things. My father wasn't too happy about it, but with the lack of a sense of my own mortality (common in the young) I basically did whatever I liked. I was never bitten by a dangerously venomous snake, and have only ever been bitten once each by a Bardick and a Crowned Snake - the Bardick is still one of my favourite species, and Crowned Snakes are also very beautiful. Neither bite did more than local discomfort for a couple of hours, but I believe that the Bardick is regarded as potentially dangerous these days.

Jamie
 
That's pretty much my history too Yellowtail. As a kid in WA I had Dugites and Tiger Snakes in tanks in my bedroom, along with a heap of other things. My father wasn't too happy about it, but with the lack of a sense of my own mortality (common in the young) I basically did whatever I liked. I was never bitten by a dangerously venomous snake, and have only ever been bitten once each by a Bardick and a Crowned Snake - the Bardick is still one of my favourite species, and Crowned Snakes are also very beautiful. Neither bite did more than local discomfort for a couple of hours, but I believe that the Bardick is regarded as potentially dangerous these days.

Jamie
I lived in Inglewood when it was an outer suburb, my parents had a nursery in the bush at Morley Park as it was then, most of the local snakes were Dugites and I used to ride my bike to places to get Tigers, even get the ferry to Garden island and Rotnest and come back with bags of reptiles. Talked my parents into caravan holidays to places like Mt Magnet and Carnarvon so I could hunt reptiles, I also had a Bardick, great snake, you don't hear much about them now, even had Pebble Dragons. I had a wild life show at the school fete and borrowed some animals from Harry Butler including an albino Dugite, he tried to convince my parents I was not mad. Our back yard was made reptile proof and crawling with Bob Tails and Blueys and I had pit like outdoor enclosures for some of my snakes, used to climb in and walk around amongst them, others in tanks heated by light globes. Never had hooks, just free handled everything, worked on the philosophy that if the animal did not feel threatened it would not be aggressive but some Dugites were just vicious and dangerous to handle.

If you don't mind me asking Yellowtail, what decade are we talking about here. As early as 1955 there was Taipan antivenene available and saving lives.

1950's, I'm 74 now, all the books I read then were pre Taipan antivenene and it wasn't readily available till after 1955. Perth did not have tv then and any information I had re Queensland came from an uncle in Brisbane.
 
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Seems how it was back in the day Yellowtail and Jamie. Only difference was that I grew up in Sydney.

Pic of the first lizard pit that I built with a mate in Belmore around the late 60's

PICT0203.JPG

This was a trip to north west NSW, central and south east Qld in early 1970's (72 I think) with Steve Wilson (standing) and another mate Keith Martin (Above pit was built at his place). Steve caught his first carpet on this trip (and that was a story in itself...lol)

PICT0268(1).JPG
Pretty sure this pic was taken at Lightning Ridge.
 
I couldn't agree more.
The system doesn't make any sense.
I love my monitors and there's so many id like to own but can't because vic wont bring them on license. The fact that i can keep taipans/ browns and salt water crocs but can't keep certain monitors is frustrating. We need a national licensing system.

Agree 100%. I find myself in the exact same position, my dream monitor I'm not allowed but as you say I can keep a salty.......how crazy is that.

Coming from WA it's incredibly frustrating that we can only keep a small fraction of our native reptiles. Particularly when species that are endemic only to Western Australia are being kept and bred by the hundreds in the Eastern states, heck, even overseas!

I remember rescuing a baby Dugite from the cat once. Picked it up by its tail and placed it in a glass tank. Unfortunately my parents wouldn't let me keep it. Didn't try catching one again as it was always a firm "no". They tolerated my keeping Bobtails, Blue-tongues, geckos, frogs, and other skinks however. Generally kept the larger species in a water trough outside. Although whenever I caught a large goanna that wasn't allowed to be kept either. Probably for the best, I suppose. There wasn't a water trough large enough for one anyway. If it was a juvenile, it may have been different. But never once saw a juvenile, besides one that we accidentally chopped up when chainsawing wood. Poor thing.
 
I lived in Inglewood when it was an outer suburb, my parents had a nursery in the bush at Morley Park as it was then, most of the local snakes were Dugites and I used to ride my bike to places to get Tigers, even get the ferry to Garden island and Rotnest and come back with bags of reptiles. Talked my parents into caravan holidays to places like Mt Magnet and Carnarvon so I could hunt reptiles, I also had a Bardick, great snake, you don't hear much about them now, even had Pebble Dragons. I had a wild life show at the school fete and borrowed some animals from Harry Butler including an albino Dugite, he tried to convince my parents I was not mad. Our back yard was made reptile proof and crawling with Bob Tails and Blueys and I had pit like outdoor enclosures for some of my snakes, used to climb in and walk around amongst them, others in tanks heated by light globes. Never had hooks, just free handled everything, worked on the philosophy that if the animal did not feel threatened it would not be aggressive but some Dugites were just vicious and dangerous to handle.



1950's, I'm 74 now, all the books I read then were pre Taipan antivenene and it wasn't readily available till after 1955. Perth did not have tv then and any information I had re Queensland came from an uncle in Brisbane.

Geezus Yellowtail, that's a great (if somewhat dangerous) childhood you had, I'm impressed!
 
Ah those were the days! I'm 69 and remember doing the island things too, collecting Tigers for blood samples on Carnac Island and releasing them a week later, and when just north of Perth, Morley & beyond, was market gardens and bush, long before you got to Wanneroo, lots of Dugites and Tigers. My best mate and I used to go out every weekend on our bikes to look for heaps of corrugated iron and other stuff we could turn over. Flew into Perth a couple of times this year, most recently about 4 weeks ago, and most of the coastal bushland has gone, from Mandurah, up to and beyond Wanneroo and Joondalup - bulldozed for awful housing developments on pure sand. Incredible destruction for increased population when Perth doesn't have the water to sustain its population. And they fine people for keeping Blueys and Bobtails without a licence, but if you go in with a bulldozer and not only kill EVERYTHING, but destroy the habitat as well, there are no penalties and you get rich...

Jamie
 
Ah those were the days! I'm 69 and remember doing the island things too, collecting Tigers for blood samples on Carnac Island and releasing them a week later, and when just north of Perth, Morley & beyond, was market gardens and bush, long before you got to Wanneroo, lots of Dugites and Tigers. My best mate and I used to go out every weekend on our bikes to look for heaps of corrugated iron and other stuff we could turn over. Flew into Perth a couple of times this year, most recently about 4 weeks ago, and most of the coastal bushland has gone, from Mandurah, up to and beyond Wanneroo and Joondalup - bulldozed for awful housing developments on pure sand. Incredible destruction for increased population when Perth doesn't have the water to sustain its population. And they fine people for keeping Blueys and Bobtails without a licence, but if you go in with a bulldozer and not only kill EVERYTHING, but destroy the habitat as well, there are no penalties and you get rich...

Jamie
Couldn't have said it better Jamie, all the bureaucracy and gestapo tactics to prevent a kid keeping an unlicensed lizard.
You could walk down the end of our street and within an hour see a smorgasbord of reptiles and the area beyond Morley where our nursery was (my parents felt guilty bulldozing 4 acres out of their 8 acre block) and Mt Yokine was virgin bush except for a reservoir. I haven't been back there recently but you only have to look on google, the entire coastal plain has been bulldozed and no provision made for wildlife refuges or corridors and they need the desal plant for water. I used to be able to dig down about 5 ft in our backyard to ground water, I wonder what it's like now. The bush at the end of 6th avenue and the golf course used to back onto a big rubbish tip and a pine forest, in those days everything was dumped and just bulldozed to the fringe of the bush and all the sheets of iron etc were prime territory for finding reptiles.
 
Ah those were the days! I'm 69 and remember doing the island things too, collecting Tigers for blood samples on Carnac Island and releasing them a week later, and when just north of Perth, Morley & beyond, was market gardens and bush, long before you got to Wanneroo, lots of Dugites and Tigers. My best mate and I used to go out every weekend on our bikes to look for heaps of corrugated iron and other stuff we could turn over. Flew into Perth a couple of times this year, most recently about 4 weeks ago, and most of the coastal bushland has gone, from Mandurah, up to and beyond Wanneroo and Joondalup - bulldozed for awful housing developments on pure sand. Incredible destruction for increased population when Perth doesn't have the water to sustain its population. And they fine people for keeping Blueys and Bobtails without a licence, but if you go in with a bulldozer and not only kill EVERYTHING, but destroy the habitat as well, there are no penalties and you get rich...

Jamie

I Just got back from Perth late yesterday evening having spent a week there with my wife and teenage son who is a mad keen surfer. So the obligatory trip to Margaret River and pretty much as many spots in between as time would allow. It's been 15 years since I was down at Margaret River and for that matter any where south of pretty much the CBD. During the surfing odyssey I managed to sneak one day for myself so I took a drive up to Cervantes to have a look at the Pinnacles desert. It was one of those places that I have always wanted to visit having seen it on a late 60's TV show called Nature Walkabout that was hosted by a guy by the name of Serventy, (I think his first name was Vince or Vic), who I believe was a Western Australian naturalist. This guy was way before the Leyland brothers and pretty much doing the same stuff except his focus was on wildlife and reptiles very heavily. Anyway as you say Jamie, the changes to the landscapes both North and south of Perth was for me quite breath taking. For a city of less than 1.5 million people it has an incredible urban sprawl, I was quite surprised at how much it had changed. The other thing I couldn't help but notice picking up on your comment regarding the Blueys and Bobtails was the amount of reptile roadkill that I saw when you get off the main highways particularly going south. The road kill of reptiles on the Indian Ocean road south of Lancelin and all the way up to Cervantes was obvious as well, but when you took a side road like the road to the Pinnacles desert the amount of dead Bobtails was amazing. I did manage to see several that were alive as well, as they are so slow moving crossing the road. I think the thing for me that is disappointing is that they are very obvious when crossing a road and yet the number of them that were killed on quiet side roads particularly down around Margaret River and pretty much all the way up that section of coast, (Gracetown, Yallingup etc) lead me to conclude that people were deliberately targeting them when they saw them on the road, (as I say quiet residential streets in among the sand dunes around Prevelly, Main Beach Surfers Point, and other equally quiet locations), rather then just slowing or even stopping as I did several times and letting them cross the road in peace. The really staggering thing about all of this is the Wildlife authorities ridiculous attitude when it comes to people wanting to keep and even collect these animals. I have no doubt that the Bobtails at least would be substantially better off if people actually picked them up and took them home as pets rather then deliberately squash them on the road and yet if someone does that they face fines and all sorts of horrendous treatment from the regulatory authorities, meanwhile the carnage on the roads goes on unabated and nobody (read regulatory authorities) seems to care.

By the way whilst we are all coming clean about our ages I am a whipper snipper, I'll be 60 next month and like you guys used to keep tigers, whip snakes, red belly's and other nasty little critters that 10 year olds should not and usually are not allowed to keep. I didn't get bitten either not for want of trying though by most of my captives. I guess though I minimised my chances of becoming a snakebite statistic by restricting my keeping to dragon lizards 30 odd years ago. About the worst that can happy with these things is a bit of blood if a frilly or a water dragon latches on to you.

Mark Hawker
 
Flew into Perth a couple of times this year, most recently about 4 weeks ago, and most of the coastal bushland has gone, from Mandurah, up to and beyond Wanneroo and Joondalup - bulldozed for awful housing developments on pure sand. Incredible destruction for increased population when Perth doesn't have the water to sustain its population. And they fine people for keeping Blueys and Bobtails without a licence, but if you go in with a bulldozer and not only kill EVERYTHING, but destroy the habitat as well, there are no penalties and you get rich...

You could walk down the end of our street and within an hour see a smorgasbord of reptiles and the area beyond Morley where our nursery was (my parents felt guilty bulldozing 4 acres out of their 8 acre block) and Mt Yokine was virgin bush except for a reservoir. I haven't been back there recently but you only have to look on google, the entire coastal plain has been bulldozed and no provision made for wildlife refuges or corridors and they need the desal plant for water. I used to be able to dig down about 5 ft in our backyard to ground water, I wonder what it's like now. The bush at the end of 6th avenue and the golf course used to back onto a big rubbish tip and a pine forest, in those days everything was dumped and just bulldozed to the fringe of the bush and all the sheets of iron etc were prime territory for finding reptiles.

The really staggering thing about all of this is the Wildlife authorities ridiculous attitude when it comes to people wanting to keep and even collect these animals. I have no doubt that the Bobtails at least would be substantially better off if people actually picked them up and took them home as pets rather then deliberately squash them on the road and yet if someone does that they face fines and all sorts of horrendous treatment from the regulatory authorities, meanwhile the carnage on the roads goes on unabated and nobody (read regulatory authorities) seems to care.

Couldn't agree more. As a keen enthusiast of native plants I've come to appreciate the fragility of the different plant communities. Once any type of habitat has been bulldozed to oblivion it would be near impossible to regenerate it to it's former glory. They take hundreds of years to shape and form. Some species take many years to mature, others need to grow and die, fall to the ground and rot, be consumed by termites to create hollows, decay, form a layer of leaf litter, keep salinity at bay, catch fire, bloom, become a host, fend off soil erosion etc. All of which takes time. Re-vegetation would require many, many years, assuming one's even able to successfully imitate the placement and diversity of the species lost. New species and varieties are still being discovered every year. Not only that, once cleared, invasive weeds and other exotic plants quickly take hold, choking out any natives that had begun to regrow, if they ever did. I've sometimes seen the department attempting to re-vegetate cleared road verges. Sometimes they don't even use species that are endemic to that area, which I find baffling. They could never recreate the diversity. Sometimes it appears as if they don't even try. I hate seeing reserves becoming a little smaller each year because the government feels as though it's needed for whatever reason, when it's most likely not. Why not leave the bush be, so you don't need to make a half-hearted attempt at re-vegetating it?

The departments prosecute the odd person taking a wild lizard or snake to keep as a pet. But what do they do to the many that actively and purposely kill reptiles with a shovel or car to bloat their already inflated egos? Nothing. I thought our reptiles are supposed to be protected? How did this ridiculous system ever come to be?
 
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I was only thinking about this bloke this morning and haven't yet heard any updates on his progress so I went for a quick look and am glad to see he's recovered and is doing well.

For anyone else who was following Nathan's story.

Nathan Chetcuti, 20, was cleaning the enclosure of his venomous reptile when the snake bit him. He was rushed to the hospital where he spent some time in a coma due to the effects of the venom on his body. Chetcuti told Nine.com.au that he is responsible for getting bit. He was cleaning the enclosures of his reptiles and was also feeding some of them, a practice that he never does, when he got bit.

“He (Fang) could smell the rodents in the air and he just kind of went into his feeding frenzy,” Chetcuti said. “I readjusted my hand on the hook, and I wasn’t paying full attention to him and he spun around and got me. He wasn’t aggressive but he was just looking for his food really.”

He remained calm while being transported to the hospital and credits that demeanour for helping him to live.

“I managed to keep myself very calm in the situation and that probably gave me a lot more time to play with. But as for how close I was to not being here anymore it was very close,” Chetcuti said.

Chetcuti has been a reptile lover since he was five years old, when he acquired his first snake. His collection has since grown to more than 50 reptiles, including several venomous species.

After he fully recovers, Chetcuti said he wants to get back into the swing of things. “I’m more keen to get back into (snake handling) than I ever was, just to show that the passion is still there,” he told Nine.com.au. “Conservation is still the main thing on my mind and I want people to try and love and enjoy these animals as much as I do.”


http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Aussie-Reptile-Lover-Bitten-By-Inland-Taipan-Snake-Recovers/
 
I was only thinking about this bloke this morning and haven't yet heard any updates on his progress so I went for a quick look and am glad to see he's recovered and is doing well.

For anyone else who was following Nathan's story.

Nathan Chetcuti, 20, was cleaning the enclosure of his venomous reptile when the snake bit him. He was rushed to the hospital where he spent some time in a coma due to the effects of the venom on his body. Chetcuti told Nine.com.au that he is responsible for getting bit. He was cleaning the enclosures of his reptiles and was also feeding some of them, a practice that he never does, when he got bit.

“He (Fang) could smell the rodents in the air and he just kind of went into his feeding frenzy,” Chetcuti said. “I readjusted my hand on the hook, and I wasn’t paying full attention to him and he spun around and got me. He wasn’t aggressive but he was just looking for his food really.”

He remained calm while being transported to the hospital and credits that demeanour for helping him to live.

“I managed to keep myself very calm in the situation and that probably gave me a lot more time to play with. But as for how close I was to not being here anymore it was very close,” Chetcuti said.

Chetcuti has been a reptile lover since he was five years old, when he acquired his first snake. His collection has since grown to more than 50 reptiles, including several venomous species.

After he fully recovers, Chetcuti said he wants to get back into the swing of things. “I’m more keen to get back into (snake handling) than I ever was, just to show that the passion is still there,” he told Nine.com.au. “Conservation is still the main thing on my mind and I want people to try and love and enjoy these animals as much as I do.”


http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Aussie-Reptile-Lover-Bitten-By-Inland-Taipan-Snake-Recovers/

He has a YouTube channel



It appears he’s deleted all his old stuff and only has a new recent vid
 
Simple rookie mistake, with an animal that lives in a world of smell.
If your keeping and dealing with these types of critters, it's a good thing to be able to pre-empt what may happen if you do something before you do it, as well as asking yourself or checking in with yourself as to how you are feeling at the time. By this , I mean, is it worth going in and cleaning a cage if your suffering a hangover, or your not quite firing on all cylinders, or can it wait till tomorrow or later in the day when you can fully focus. Or if my sunnies fall off the top of my head just as I'm moving in on a snake, could that cause a reaction I don't want?
It's great to see him recovered and back into his passion, shame he had to go through that, I'm sure he'll be a better you tube teacher for it though.
 
It was actually a snake in an enclosure next to (above I believe) the one he had open that struck at the glass and caused a momentary distraction which allowed him to be bitten. It is just lucky his friend was there which made it possible for him to remain calmer than if he was by himself.
 
It was actually a snake in an enclosure next to (above I believe) the one he had open that struck at the glass and caused a momentary distraction which allowed him to be bitten. It is just lucky his friend was there which made it possible for him to remain calmer than if he was by himself.
I don’t know where u got any of that info, but he said on one of his deleted vids he was putting it back in his enclosure clean and it struck his arm.

It was also his dad watching him, as he runs a 2 person practice when he works his venomous snakes
 
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