Thorny Devils

[Jeannine]

on all the sites i visit i have never seen a post about them or any for sale?

are they just not popular? endangered? or what?

i think they are gorgeous little reptiles

thanks

 

[da_donkey]

they only eat ants ( only a couple of different types of ants) and lots of them every day, wich makes keeping them very hard.

donks

 

[thals]

Yep, they love their ants, thousands of them a day too. I only know of a couple of people to keep them in captivity, but there's truly nothing better than admiring them in their natural setting out in the Alice, they are remarkable creatures and always a fave

 

[lloydy]

I wish i had one..
Would fix my ant problem at home nice and quick!

 

[captive_fairy]

I've always wanted one...would probably be my favourite reptile.

 

[herptrader]

Melbourne Museum had a couple for a while. I don't know if they still have them. They had them as part of display that included a large ant colony which was actually the major part of the exhibit.

Sydney Wildlife world has some but they did not keep them alive for overly long.

They are very difficult to keep even if keeping one is your full time occupation.

 

[jordo]

Melbourne Museum had a couple for a while. I don't know if they still have them. They had them as part of display that included a large ant colony which was actually the major part of the exhibit.

Sydney Wildlife world has some but they did not keep them alive for overly long.

They are very difficult to keep even if keeping one is your full time occupation.

The museum still has 1, it's put on display in the ant enclosure for about an hour each day to feed, and going very well. The one animal is support by 2 ant colonies, which once established don't take much work at all to maintain.

 

[noah07]

what sorta ants do they eat can the eat any sort?? i want one they r awesome!!...can u keep them on a class 1 licence??

 

[jordo]

They eat a few species of the small black ants Iridomyrmex sp. if I'm not mistaken. Last time I saw molochs for sale they weren't cheap so start saving your pennies.
In my opinion, apart from being a bit different in their eating and drinking habits, they're actually not very interesting captives.

 

[Jeannine]

mm double reason to have one then

have way to many ants using my yard as a highway from the laneway out the back to the front footpath, a TD would have plenty to et here

 

[GeckoJosh]

The ones at the Homebush expo looked nice, Id love to get some but Id hate for them to die as a result of my inadequate husbandry.

Geckoman

 

[GeckoJosh]

mm double reason to have one then

have way to many ants using my yard as a highway from the laneway out the back to the front footpath, a TD would have plenty to et here

Im pretty sure they only eat certain species of ant

 

[snakeg56]

Alice Springs Reptile park had a couple on display years ago , when Greg had the park near the old camel ride facility, from what i remember one was on display whilst the other was place in a small enclosure on an ant trail.as they will only eat ants this way, when I lived in Port Augusta South Australia, I had them living in my yard as we lived on acreage, it was amazing to see the hatchlings , talk about cute. They are great reptiles but alas really to hard for the average keeper, I know of a fella in Whyalla that was doing reseach on their diet but I hadnt heard any more about that.

 

[Nash1990]

I dont know about other states but they arn't on the NSW species list

 

[Jeannine]

thanks everyone

guess it wouldnt be fair to have them until they can be safely cared for and a suitable diet found for them

would love to have some, gorgeous lizards

 

[lizardjasper]

that's why I need to move to outback Northern Territory, and have ant nests in my backyard.

 

[Jeannine]

:lol: oh me too

 

[Sel]

Yep, they love their ants, thousands of them a day too. I only know of a couple of people to keep them in captivity, but there's truly nothing better than admiring them in their natural setting out in the Alice, they are remarkable creatures and always a fave

Would definately make my day to see one in the wild!

 

[Jeannine]

mine too sel

have only seen them on doco's on the tv and i would happily lay on the ground if i could see one though getting down and back up might be a bit of a problem lol

 

[BARRAMUNDI]

There is actually a really easy way to supply food for them and this is the method Desert park and some other Zoos have successfully kept them.

First of all is to locate suitable Ant colonies within your local area.

Second is to install a log or Termite mound in the enclosure and using a hole saw cut a hole in the back of the log/mound.

Third, supply appropriate heat and UV

Fourth, leave tins of cat and dog food (with traces of food still left in tin) around appropriate ant colonies and collect tins with ants in them, place a lid on them and return them to enclosure and place in hole on back of log/mound. Or make a line in substrate and sprinkle ants along the line. (rotate which colonies you use every couple of days)

Pretty simple once you have found 3 or 4 colonies of the right ants.