> Even though they are not expensive at this time, that will change later on as the Import/Export Laws between the USA & Africa are changing = drive prices up and depand.



I don't think import/export laws will be changing any time soon between USA and Africa, particularly the regions where Plated Lizards occur. Also, Plateds of varying species are widely occuring over much of Sub-Saharan Africa. An example of another imported species would be the Ball Python. From 1989 to 1993 the number of BPs exported to the US alone increased every year, from over 4000 in '89 to over 25000 in '93 and even to today they are still imported in huge numbers even though every body and his brother are captive breeding them. So, in my opinion and based on the continued import of other species [which I'd add are at the very least CITES II, while Plateds are not even listed on CITES], of reptiles coming out of Africa, there will be no change in imports in the near future.



>They are beautiful lizards and are worth breeding, many individuals would gladly pruchase your offspring if advertised on Kingsnake (it is the best for marketability).



They certainly are interesting and I would recommend breeding them for one's own purposes. However, I do think the market would be very small and unless you are breeding and selling other species of lizards, the process involved in setting up shipping accounts with FedEx, UPS, etc. and then shipping those animals is hardly worth it to only sell a couple of lizards per year. Now, if you were really committed to breeding multiple pairs of G. major in order to have a larger scale breeding operation then you might be able to at least break even. I enjoy Plateds but frankly they're an obscure species that is usually purchased by a beginning herper because of the cheap price of the wild-caught adults. You can probably sell any offspring, but again, cost-wise it's just probably not worth it ultimately. The whole group of lizards needs far more publicity than they get before there will truly be a decent commercial following.



>You don't have to make big $$ to enjoy your animals, producing offspring would easily be demanded since Sudans' procude 1 to 6 offspring per year.



Again, you can certainly breed your animals for the enjoyment and the experience, however as I mentioned in my prior post I have attempted breeding of G. major three years in a row [working on year 4], and have yet to get viable hatches. These lizards will breed easily enough however properly incubating eggs is very difficult as they require high ambient humidity during the first two thirds of the incubation followed by a drying period near the end. If Ingo Kober would happen to read this post he might be able to shed some light on breeding/incubation as he's bred at least G. flavivulgaris and in communications I've had with him he's indicated that hatching out eggs can be done but is tough and takes some skill and attention. Also, there are plenty of zoos with more money, resources, and time than the average hobbyist who have bred various species of Gerrhosaurus and have had frequent difficulties in attaining successful hatches along with decent survivability of the offspring.



Anyway, not to sound like I'm ranting, but an individual should have more than a passing fancy before breeding any species and that being said, breeding Gerrhosaurus is by no means impossible but is instead moderately difficult. And finally, imports from poor African countries of these very common lizards are likely to continue unabated.
-----
Matt Campbell

Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House

Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois



Assistant Curator

Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm

Lake Forest, Illinois

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]