Indian Palm Squirrel

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l3atman

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hey everyone,
i was recently at the local pet store in NSW and saw a small squirrel for sale, this is the first time i have ever seen something like this... and i have to admit it was absolutely adorable...
im just wondering if anybody has any decent information about them...
like price? and how to get your hands on one? or if there are any reasons why they arent good to keep?
i have been trying to do some research over the internet but there seems to be no solid source of information...
I did manage to search there price and it was something like $1250 per squirrel... this must be some kind of joke, because the Indian Palm Squirrel is and introduced pest and no one in there right mind would go out and pay that much money for a non exotic, small mammal that only lives for 2 years. Especially when you could just go an grab one from the wild...
anyway...
any information would be great
thanks
 
I didnt realise there was a gold plated palm squirrel on the market lol

the same store was charging $500 last year :O
 
better have some amazing rims and a chrome interior aswell lol
...
yeah... i just saw that... they said it was something like $500 for a wild one and $1000 for a hand raised one...
...
even though i do like them... they really are just a glorified rat... so how can they possibly cost this much?
i would still love to hear any other information, if anybody knows anything?
thanks
 
They are cute, but personally not worth that kind of money at all, especially considering they are indeed a pest! Gimme iddy biddy sugar gliders any day of the week :p
 
They are not necessarily hard to breed or exotic or anything, it's just that there is only one guy in NSW who has a license to breed them so they are at about $1200 for their scarcity. He's only just given over rights to sell them in pet shops, though he's still the only one who can legally breed them. They are extremely flighty and only have a five-six year life span which is pretty lame for your money (bit like a hyperactive rat.) on the other hand, they are gorgeous if you can hold onto them long enough to get a good look at them ;)
 
they are also extremely hard to tame so a hand raised one doubles in price - and even a hand raised one is hard to keep a hold of. Most people just have them as avery pets, coosing not to handle them at all.
 
There's a bird farm i go to that sells them for about 1200, and you can only get males to prevent others trying to breed them.
 
they really are just a glorified rat... so how can they possibly cost this much?

haha :D must be a special glorified rat mate.. I've never kept them at all but many years ago had a mate who had a few of them.. there were three types (at the time) from memory including a red colour. he kept his in aviarys and they did well and bred but are so damn fast moving they were always difficult to see as they sped around the aviary and then hid in the nesting boxes. pretty easy to breed too I think. dont really have any info on them but am sure theres care sheets on the net.
 
Yeah I saw these when they were being put into the aviary for the first time. They didn't want to come out of their travelling cages. My missus wants one, but I couldn't justify spending $1250 for one.
 
They are cute, but personally not worth that kind of money at all, especially considering they are indeed a pest! Gimme iddy biddy sugar gliders any day of the week :p

I bet squirrels don't piss all in their bag, and make extremely annoying noises in the night when one is still in the bag and the other was let out and it jumping on the one in the bag :lol:
 
when i went to perth zoo a few weeks back they had quite a few of these running around everywhere.
 
iv also seen chipmunks at a birdfarm once, i cant remember whether they were for sale or not but really cool, random question but can you keep red squirrels and any types of monkey? i swear iv seen some capuchins for sale once on petlink or something???
 
Palm Squirrels

Hi I have researched this and it turns out that you can only purchase these once they have been desexed and tattooed or microchiped. They are the only introduced species that may legally be purchased in Australia. As for monkeys. Apparently there are a very few people who are licenced to keep them. However they may not be bought and sold here and there apparently will not be any new licences issued. So it appears that monkeys are out and so is every other animal of all species other than the Indian Palm Squirrel (introduced species that is) Personally id happily pay the $1250 per Squirrel if i could buy a pair and breed them. But thats not the case. You are only allowed to own them if they are desexed. As far as im concerned this is not worth the trouble. There goes my plan for an aviary full of Squirrels. I guess Ill have to stick to spotted snow leopards...:rolleyes:
 
Haha hey! I've seen the squirrel there too! Lives just up the road. First time I went in there there was a massive crowd around the cage. I cam back on another day and laughed at the poor lil thing, moves like a bullet.

Don't know about laws and licencing, but I gotta aagree with thals, some cute lil sugar gliders would be much nicer.
 
The bloke at the store said that you just need to let the council know that you've got them like a owning a dog.
 
Very interesting... They are pretty cute, but if you can't breed them... I guess they would still be cool pets. Who's the guy licenced to breed them?
 
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