Thorny devils are go!

[snakeynewbie]

I had the most awesome conversation with my boss today. He's very keen to assist me to attempt to create a thorny devil enclosure. At this stage we plan to do it on my property( we both felt it would work better that way due to staffing inconsistencies, etc at the park as it would allow us to keep better track of the activities of the animals) and if we can get it running well then I'll create an exhibit for the wildlife park.

So if anyone has actually kept these animals and would be able to offer any constructive advice to a wildlife park keen to set something up can you please contact me. My boss will be travelling to Alice Springs in a few weeks and will be collecting some ant colonies for me so that will be the most difficult step in the process started, if anyone is able to offer any advice on correctly identifying the species needed and the easiest way to collect a queen please let me know. I'm off to start my extensive research now but I can't imagine there will be a whole lot of readily available information on captive husbandry.



Sorry I can't remember your user name but the person who worked at Melbourne Museum in my other thread I'd love to chat to you either here or via PM. My boss is pretty sure he knows who your contact is that you referred to so sourcing animals won;t be an issue but I'd love to get a hold of someone at the Museum next time I'm in Melbourne and see if I can organise to visit with them and see the set up there. Happy to organise it myself but would love to know who best to contact.

 

[reptilian1924]

Hi Mate, if you are so keen to learn as much as you can on how to create a artificial enclosure and find out what species of Ants to feed to Thorny Devil's.

lf l was you l would contact either the Alice Springs Reptile Centre or Desert Park, the keepers who look after the Reptiles at these 2 wildlife parks, should be able to offer as much advice on keeping-diet-husbandry-sexing-breeding-health issues that you will need to know on Thorny Devil's.

Cheers, Reptilian1924.

 

[snakeynewbie]

Thanks Reptilian, they have a major advantage over us though, they are within the thorny's natural range so they are able to keep their animals much more easily than us. The only people I know of currently keeping them successfully outside their natural range is Melbourne Museum.

I believe my boss knows them quite well up there so I'm sure we'll chat at some stage, especially about the ant species, etc but their general husbandry advice might not apply so well down here

 

[D.E.L.E.T.E]

very hard to keep, when i used to work at the aus reptile park they didnt have any success at all keeping them even with big name herpers who frequent this site looking after them. i have not looked into it but have any other zoos/parks kept them successfully. from my experiance and from what i have heard keeping devils is extremly hard and has almost a 100% mortality rate. i can only think that parks/zoos local to the devils may be able to keep them due to having the right species and number of ants to feed them but i wish you the best of luck, let us know how it goes

 

[reptilian1924]

Snakeynewbie, like you say its alot more easier to keep Thorny Devil's when you live in the same area they come from natually, than what it is if you plan on keeping them out of their natural range l agree with you 100%.

l myself do know of someone who keeps these awesome looking Dragon's successfully on a private Licence in S.A. but l cannot mention who they are or where they come, so the Melbourne Museum is not the only source keeping the Thorny Devil's outside of their natural range successfully.

lf you do one manage to get hold of some Thorny Devil's, may l wish you the best of luck in maintaining them in captivity, they sure do have a very high mortality rate and can be very hard to keep and breed in captivity, unless you live in the same region where they come from natually.

Do you know that here in Victoria you cannot keep the Thorny Devil's on a private licence.

 

[snakeynewbie]

Melbourne Museum keeps them 1st-Stoney, they are the only ones I know of keeping them outside their natural range. My boss is very experienced with reptiles so I feel confident that I have a good person to help me out locally, neither of us want to go ahead with it unless we feel that we are set up enough to have good prospects of success.

Good to hear reptilian, if this person is someone you know personally and they would be willing to talk to me privately I'd love to hear from them(I'm, happy to pass on my details and leave the ball in their court), I understand that being such unusual animals those who are keeping them would hold their cards very close to their chests.

 

[danieloflat]

At melbourne museum, are they available for public display?

 

[levis04]

I would suggest you establish the ant colonys first for some time before venturing down this track.

 

[snakeynewbie]

Ant colonies will need to look very well established and stable before there is any chance we'll add lizards to the equation.

 

[Adsell]

You do not need to collect ants from Alice. The species they eat are actually very widespread and are found just about everywhere including cold Melbourne. Reptilian 1924, the guy in SA is within the species natural range.
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google E.Pianka articles on Thorny Devils. He has studied quite extensively including tracking movements and diet. I know in one of his articles he lists ant species that they eat.
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[snakeynewbie]

That's good to hear Adsell, makes looking after the ants easier at least if I can keep them without lots of heating and just heat the area where the thorny will be foraging.

 

[IvanT]

Moloch

This is a link to an info page on thorny devils written by Eric Pianka. It pretty much covers all info. There's also an article I have, which is written by Pianka which gives most of this info aswell, it's called "Australia's Thorny Devil".
They feed on ants of the genus iridomyrmex, which as mentioned by Adsell has a number of species found Australia wide.
I've always wanted to keep thorny devils but don't have the time or resources, so I wish you the best of luck.

 

[snakeynewbie]

Thanks, so they are genus specific but not necessarily species specific feeders then. Iridomyrmex is a very widespread genus, it was one of the most common whenever we did surveys during uni so I shouldn't have any trouble finding some, just need to work out how to extra a queen without upsetting the applecart too much

 

[IvanT]

Ants Down Under

And here is a link to csiro's website regarding iridomyrmex ants, it may help you to identify iridomyrmex species in your area.

 

[gillsy]

What's your email snakenewbie, I know one of the carers at Melbourne Museum, and I've been behind the scenes there. I'll pass your details on if you like.

 

[geckodan]

They have also been maintained and bred to second generation here in QLD in an area well outside the species natural range. PM me and I can provide you the details on how it was done successfully in that case.

 

[Jimbobulan]

I think i read on here that new queens come out after rain to establish their own colonies. so apparently you find a nest and wait.