Your thoughts on exotics not being allowed

[Hazordous-Herps]

Some people will always want what they can't have. Personally, when we have so many stunning reptiles here in Australia I don't understand why people can't be grateful for what they can have. We are the envy of most other countries, let's not stuff that up.

Because people want to show off, example of this are the celebrities who go out and try to outdo each other by buying unique animals. And Mike Tyson who use to own a Tiger.

 

[Sleazy.P.Martini]

Do you have any idea what the current micro chips look like under a reptiles skin? It's disgusting IMO it looks like they have a parasite under there skin I personally wouldn't want to do it to any reptile

I have one snake in my collection micro chipped, and honestly its hard to even tell its there without feeling around for it.

 

[Snotty]

Personally some of the arguments are a bit weak. In reality a Childrens in Sydney or Melbourne is "Exotic". On top of that all of the feral issues I know of are generally from Government programmes in various forms. And yes the Governments/CSIRO still play around with these ideas - look up what happened on Kangaroo Island a while back. With most things I would rather see control and management rather than underground activities. In the case of Australia diseases brought in with smuggled animals are a very real concern. I dread the thought of IBD getting into native python populations and really it is just a matter of time with the current system.

For that reason alone I would rather see proper quarantine facilities like they use for fish and birds etc. Fundamentally though the idea of Exotics in Australia is generally a bit silly, most people think because for example a plant is "native" that it is ok to put in the Garden without considering that native to Perth is very different to native to Sydney.

I am also familiar with some of the localised exotic issues in Australia, the Ross River in Townsville being a standout, still the impact is minimal. Places like Guam are quite a bit different as the BTS found an unoccupied niche, same it Florida with Burms. In short for any overseas animal brought into Aus there is already an awful lot of competition before it could even get a foothold. Of course that is speculative but in the entire worldwide trade in Reptiles I only know of the Florida and Guam issues. (Even the Florida case really was more to do with Hurricane Andrew from what I understand when some big breeders had hundreds of neonates scattered all over, rather than escapees and dumpings as such).

Fundamentally though I am generally for open regulation and management rather than the far worse underground markets - of which there are many many examples of just how well they work. Most of which can be seen on the news each night.

 

[thomasssss]

I have one snake in my collection micro chipped, and honestly its hard to even tell its there without feeling around for it.

Intresting , thanks , what type of micro chip is it and is there any chance of a pic so I can see just how inconspicuous they are

I seen them on gtps and they where bulging out of the skin so a) it looked gross like one of those parasites they get from eating frogs and such , and b) it would have been very easy for someone to remove if it was ever stolen which was the reason for micro chipping the animal

 

[apprenticegnome]

i still dont see how a leopard gecko or Chameleon's could hurt our eco system, for one they wouldn't even last our winter and even by some magical chance they managed to to find a mate in one of the biggest country's in the world i doubt they would be able to start self contained colony for more than a year and even if they did what would the damage be to our wildlife ?

Simple, its another species competing for habitat and food and changing Australias unique variety of animals.