Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,

If I find a Lacertid I really like and want to breed, and is not available in the US, but is kept and bred in Germany or the other states of Europe, is it possible, if the owner is willing, to have some shipped to CA?

Roger

yes it is possible. but you want to check around and get everyting set up in advance and make sure it goes smooth

Yes I'd probably want to intercept the guys at the airport. I was wondering about whether it's legal to ship lizards, but it must be, because the wholesalers do it all the time. Now with the picture gallery that tgreb posted for me, I can contact the German breeders. There is one Lacertid that I'm extremely interested in, but I'll have to wade through all the pics in order, one by one, to find it.

First you will need an import license. This cost about 150 per year. Then there are only like 5 points of entry, LA Atlanta, Chicago, NY to name a couple. You will have to get ahold of a broker at the port of entry you choose. You have to pay him by the hour. Then he has to arrange an inspection with USFWS. They also charge by the hour. And if it not between the hours of 7 am and 3 pm you get charged overtime. Also if the animals are cites listed you have to apply for cites paperwork/clearance-another expense. If is appendix 1 forget the whole deal! 2 and 3 not that much of a problem. I just imported 4 Ctenosaura oedirhina from Germany. The lizards cost 720.00 total then the additional cost to get them to me was 1300.00. So as you can see very expensive and time consuming. Tom Greb

Because the seller had no export experience he hired a pet transfer company which at least doubled the tranportation cost. If he would have shipped direct I might have saved 400.00 bucks off the 1300.00.

Hmmm....I'm not that surprised. But it might be worth it to establish a new species to the US, if I can get a male and two females of different bloodlines.

Were your lizards very stressed when you finally got them? Do you plan to breed? With that expense, it would seem breeding is part of the purpose. But mostly I'm interested about how stressed your lizards were when you finally got them?

Roger

Well it depends if it is worth it to you. Only tou can answer that. I find the more animals you get at one time the better. I think it is worht 1300.oo for 20 animals but maybe not for 4 unless in my case I really wanted them so it was worth it to me.
Yes the animals were stressed and I did it in Dec and they almost froze to death, literally. I was heart broken. I thought they were dead when I got them from ther airport. They did not move for over an hour with extreme heat applied. It was very stressful for me and the animals! LOL. Tom

Yes we have to treat lizards that look dead, as though they are in some kind of stupor, and try to pull them out of it. I had a thermostat fail last year, and the lizard went into heat convulsions. I found him all twisted and dead, but I had to try to revive him. It was a grievous time.

It's only Spyder Robotics from now on. To Hell with ZooMed's or any other mechanical thermostat.

Roger

I would pay $1300 for 1,2 of the right animals, the pick of the litter you might say. I get an idea and slowly cook it for even years before I move ahead. See, I'm back here talking about it again. But for those Lacertids that caught my eye, I'm sure that many collectors would be blessed to have access to them USA CB. I'm not thinking money, rather, heroic establishment of a new accessible species in the US.

It's very strongly appealing to me, and I know for a fact that German breeders are producing those particular Lacertids. IMO the fall season would be the ideal time to ship that year's juvvies. They would be stronger than if they were shipped in the Spring too soon out of the egg, and with luck the weather would be mild. I'd have to conspire a year in advance with the breeder for a clutch that hasen't even been conceived yet, but it would be worth it. How exciting!

Thank you for the information, Tom G.

Roger