Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi
I am lucky enough to be travelling to Australia next week for
around a month.
I was just wondering if anyone has any 'must see' tips for me.
I will be in Cairns and surrounding areas for 10 days, then move on to Sydney for 12 days, hopefully with visits to Kangaroo valley/Blue mountains etc.
Any tipps would be appreciated.
Are any of the Croc farms / reptile exhibits worth a look?
Thanks

When in carins, go to Wild world and the opal shop next door. Make friends with some of the fellas there and maybe they will show you around.

Hopefully DK. will give tips on the Sydney area, as he comes here and lives there.

Now for the best tip. do not under any circumstance, put anything in your pocket, hahahahahahahahahaha. F

Thanks for the tip on Wild world! i will check it out.
One of the places i am staying at, a rainforest lodge in the middle of nowhere, actually mentions lacies in its
brochure, they hang out in the grounds, so i should at least see one of Aus's finest goannas.
And with a little luck many more.

Hi hogboy,

You'll have no problems seeing lacies at all, either up there or here in Sydney. I've just sent you an email, so if you don't see any up north or just want to compare the North Queensland ones with the local Sydney area ones, contact me. We also have Varanus rosenbergi in this area.

use the email address I sent you. The email address that my nickname is registered with for this forum is no longer in use.

i wouldn't be able to have this girl if it weren't for that pocket tip and some serioius guts on someone back in the day, what a messed up tip! hahahaha, j/k

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Varanus Creations

When you go to Oz, Please explain that to the judge, I think they would find that something to consider, when sentencing you. F

i was being a smart arse, but it is the reason we have the animals we enjoy. like your ackies, perenti, lacies, gilleni, kingorum, glaeurti, the list goes on. see my point? nor would we have the beatiful jcp's a guy you know brought in. nor rare skinks, really the list goes on and on. i personally don't have the balls, i am just thankful for those that did.

andrew
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Varanus Creations

... that the only issue you have with smuggling is the risk of prosecution? In other words, if you did 'have the balls', you'd happily smuggle?

no comment, hahaha.

no, in all reality i think that it is a fact of life, and to be honest all of us in the USA have benefitted of it whether we admit it or not.

for instance if you were living here and not in oz you wouldn't be able to have those lacies, but since some people brought them in we have them.

andrew
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Varanus Creations

Im not clear on the specifics, and truely hope someone can answer a few q's. ...Starting simple. Werent most of our current breeding stock imported back then? Is there a need to smuggle anymore in? Arent those laws in action for good reason? Do they warrant being broken?

We all are familure with the term genetic drift, am I right? Although we began with miniscule breeding lines, over time those have become quite varied, even within our limited man made environments. This is easily seen in a large mammal such as Tule Elk of CA. It was reported the in the late 1800s that they were nearly inhilated, and only a few remained. After subsequent breeding, relocating, and reintroducing in a strtegic manner, the gene pool has once agin been allowed to become variable, and allow for new emurging/ transitioning bloodlines. The Tule Elk have made a comeback.

Now, as we discuss the need to smuggeling, I wonder. Is it a neccesary evil? Are the current laws too strict that the should be "bent"?

Any opinions??

no, most of our stock was not imported then, it has been smuggled in recently.

really though, i am breaking all the rules because i am talking about this out loud. there are people listening, so lets whisper...shhhh

just feel free to email me on this, i can probably wrangle up some info on when it was all enacted.

andrew
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Varanus Creations

oh sorry, i meant "ours" as in the herp community. i believe it was like 1969 or something btw.

sometimes also a territory in oz will say its ok, they have in the past and then once it hits the usa, they are stopped because of an overriding Australian government law that vetoes the shipment from coming in. so they sit somewhere and most die and some are allowed to stay, but they certainly don't end up in your hands.

andrew
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Varanus Creations

ah.. but here's the thing.

I haven't always lived here. I used to live in Canada and, although I liked lacies back then, I kept other reptiles that were available and didn't worry about the fact that I couldn't get lacies. There were plenty of reptile species to keep me busy enough. For the first 18 years I lived in Australia it would have been illegal for me to keep lacies, and I didn't keep any. Now that it is legal for me to keep lacies I do, but there are other exotic species of reptile that I am not allowed to keep. Would I smuggle them in? No. There are plenty of native reptile species to keep me busy enough. I've never understood the obsession people have with animals they can't get when there are so many species available legally.

Okay, the smuggling has been done and you've benefitted by being able to keep many Aussie monitors (in fact, you keep a species that is unavailable to us as a captive: V glauerti). Does that make the smuggling good? No. There are reasons for those laws. You may not like them, but that doesn't make them any less valid.

Wildlife trafficking is instigated by people who want what others would consider rare or unavailable, usually just because it is rare or unavailable.