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I don't even understand where you're coming from.. :/
To save you trying to find the post I wrote two comments below the one you quoted. I'll paste it here.
"Come to think of it, I cannot think of anything that has been introduced that hasn't destroyed some part of the eco system. Even when dingos were introduced they killed off all the tasmanian tigers."
*A few comments below*
"Well almost did anyway, then the white man came along and did the rest."
No need to get so defensive about a topic when you didn't read the whole conversation.

And.. there are no dingos in Tasmania. Hence why the tasmanian tiger survived there for a longer period of time before european settlement came along and completely killed them off.
 
So since it was the fault of the Dingoes that we have no Tasmanian Tigers left did the Dingoes swim to Tassie or did we ship them to the mainland and since they were extinct before European settlement how come they were listed as protected in 1936 ????????
Oh and where did all the pics of them come from

It is well known that Tasmanian Tigers inhabited both the mainland of Australia & Tasmania many yrs before Aboriginal & European settlement. Aboriginals brought Dingoes to mainland Australia which competed with Tassie Tigers, this is what wiped them out from MAINLAND Australia, Tassie Devils as well. When European settlers arrived both the Tigers & Devils were only found in Tassie where we successfully hunted the Tigers into extinction.

If you go back & read Rhomany's post she is 100% correct.
 
Back to exotics though..
..the cool ones would probablly be difficult to look after.
Alligator on the east coast of Australia sounds like a bit of a handful.
 
Rhomany we are waiting on Alligators at work at the moment, just got the container delivered that will be converted for some youngsters, might be an interesting one to try and keep in your backyard though :lol:
 
Rhomany we are waiting on Alligators at work at the moment, just got the container delivered that will be converted for some youngsters, might be an interesting one to try and keep in your backyard though :lol:
OMGGGGGG I'M SOO SOOO JEALOUS! Lucky you! :D
I definately have to get a job at a museum or a zoo someday so I can spend time with some!
 
I'll post on here when they arrive, then you can come for a drive down south and drool over them :D
 
I thought I would give my .02cents. First of all, for the people talking about the U.S. please know what you are talking about before you type a sentence. Yes, the Everglades has Burmese pythons and African Rock Pythons but it isn't the numbers that the media is spreading around. The media says that there is 100,000's of thousands of Burmese Pythons every where but yet it takes hours and hours for anyone to find one. Besides, every winter when Florida gets in the low 40's or even in the 30's, guess what, non native snakes will die. A snake from South Asia can't survive in 40 degree temperatures and remain healthy.

Scientist now say that Florida is the number one spot in the world for non native species. Do you know why?? It is simple. It all has to do with Climate. For most of the year, Florida has a very semi tropical climate where numerous reptile species flourish with no problem until winter...then anything not native to Florida will die from the cold.

Also, to all those people that want a Ball python or a Corn snake, trust me.. both snakes are a joke. Ball Pythons are small, they have no personality, they can be very picky eaters and they are pretty shy most of the time. A carpet python is 200% way better then a Ball python could ever be. But for those of you that want exotics, be sure that you
are ready for the habitat destruction that will come with evasive species. If a Ball python escapes and finds a carpet python or a woma, they will mate. They do it over here in the U.S. All over the U.S. we have exotics destroying everything. We have Snake head fish destroying lakes and ponds. We have the Burmese pythons eating Alligators and other native animals. We have Carp destroying lakes and ponds. We have Cuban Tree Frogs eating smaller native frogs. We have all kind of B.S. destroying everything.... protect what you have while you have it.
 
I watched a doco on snake head fish. Scared me heaps.
 
The only exotic im thinking that i like is the zebra jungle i love my jungles, but thanks morelia4life for that info i would never push for exotics myself ever, but if it was already here.... we definitly are lucky to be australia with what we have already and im more than happy as we have the best and pure which you can't beat IMO. :D
 
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In the interests of having a cool calm and collected adult conversation about this, and if they were legalised, I don't see myself running out and getting any in the near future.

I just wanted to add the opinion that maybe if exotics are legalised and then regulated as our current system is, i.e. licensing and reporting each year, wouldn't it stop the black market animals or at least minimise them. This would take the whole point out of people smuggling them into Australia. We all know that there are already wild populations of exotics in Australia, so maybe instead of fighting it, lets let them in legally and regulate and license them, mandatory reporting like we do already with the licensing system etc. This is just my opinion and I am not after a fight, just a question/suggestion that I thought would be worth putting to everybody and seeing what people think!! :)

It's a good idea in theory, but there's one fatal flaw. Everyone would have to keep to the licensing and regulation system. Look at how many of our own reptiles are bred and sold under the table without the knowledge of each state's respective licensing system; once population of exotics reaches a certain number there would be no real way of regulating the majority being bought, bred, sold, traded, lost etc. The more you legitimise something, the more loopholes there are for dodgy people to exploit.
It *may* take the point out of smuggling into the country, but since when have most criminals needed to have a point other than "I can make a few extra bucks here..." All it will really mean to people like that is that they'll have less of a chance of being reported on sight unless the snake is actually on their person while they're heading through customs.
It would be a good idea if everyone was honest enough to fill out the paperwork though.
 
Its not so much eco system destruction (that's what humans do) its more of a restructuring and its fairly normal in nature, just takes a lot longer. A new predator moves into town and starts eating everything and then in some little hole somewhere a little animal has an 'f' this sh' moment and learns to deal with the poison or evolves a way to eat the new predator or escape it. Eco systems are constantly fluctuating. Something as simple as weather pattern changes in an area can change up everything. Or a flood moves a fish to a new area.
 
The last graph on global bio-diversity i recall seeing showed Australia possessing the highest diversity of reptile species in the world... and only a fraction of these are represented in private collections.... and you people want bloody ball pythons and corn snakes :rolleyes:

Worse still .. stunning (subjective;)) species like Pilbara rock monitor which are virtually unheard of in private collections in Australia are readily available overseas.

Canadian Coldblood - Varanus pilbarensis

You want whats available overseas? sure, so do i, namely our own endemic species :lol:
 
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The last graph on global bio-diversity i recall seeing showed Australia possessing the highest diversity of reptile species in the world... and only a fraction of these are represented in private collections.... and you people want bloody ball pythons and corn snakes :rolleyes:

Worse still .. stunning (subjective;)) species like Pilbara rock monitor which are virtually unheard of in private collections in Australia are readily available overseas.

Canadian Coldblood - Varanus pilbarensis

You want whats available overseas? sure, so do i, namely our own endemic species :lol:
Oh my god...
Canadian Coldblood has:
V. caudolineatus
V. glauerti
V. kingorum
V. pilbarensis
 
The reason exotics won't be licensed under any system, even a sunset clause where you can't breed and can only keep the animal till it dies, is that ANYONE with an exotic species (except those very few remaining from the amnesty in the 1990s) will be breaking the law. It is easy to police that way. If there were exotics in private hands under any licensing system, the picture is far more muddy, and successful prosecutions more difficult and complex. A blanket ban makes it easy.

You might still say "well they're here now so why not legalise them..." but the truth is that the ban does limit the trade to a large extent, so it serves its purpose.

Jamie
 
No need for exotics in Australia.
We are envied by other countries for our amazing reptiles!! Lets keep it this way!
Also our eco system is a fragile one so the possibility that exotics will get released or escape into the wild is a very bad thing.
 
i could be tempted by chameleons and iguanas, but we already have the best snakes!! :p

not gonna happen anyway, so i'll just keep enjoying what i have. :)
 
I think we first need to get tasmania rights to keep species from the main land and us main landers species from tas :)
Then get our native species that aren't in captivity here and get them into captivity here.
Then get our native species from overseas like zebra jungles, albino BHP, albino levis, and any other morphs that are found in our native animals and bring them over here (no cross breeds though!!!),
and then maybe look at some non harmful species of exotics like chameleons, I can not see a chameleon cross breeding with any of our native wildlife and since they only eat insects they will not be much of a threat unless they happen to eat an endangered insect and evan then it would be like a once in a life time incident,

This is what I think Australia's plan of action should be, :)

like this if you agree :)
 
I typed out a long post last night but somehow it seems to have disappeared, so I'll do a condensed version here.

Hybridising with natives has never been the concern with introducing exotics. Disease, predation and competition are. As far as deeming something 'harmless', I'm pretty sure cane toads were considered harmless when they were first introduced into Australia, too. There are always hidden surprises when you tamper with nature, so it's best not to.

I grew up overseas, with access to all of the exotics that many of the people in this thread lust after. What I find funniest about these discussions is that the most sought after exotics here are the very species considered 'bog ordinary' overseas. It all comes down to people wanting what they can't have because it seems 'rare'. If many of you moved overseas and were able to keep all of the ball pythons and corn snakes you wanted, in a few years you'd be dreaming of Australian reptiles that you can't get your hands on and would probably move back.

Australia has more species of reptile than any other country on Earth. There are enough species here to keep any one of us interested in the hobby for several lifetimes, but yet people still want something from somewhere else. My guess is that those people would never be satisfied, even if they could get ball pythons and corn snakes, because before long they'd be considered 'boring', too, and they'd want the next new thing from somewhere else.
 
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