# Indian Palm Squirrel



## l3atman (May 10, 2010)

hey everyone,
i was recently at the local pet store in NSW and saw a small squirrel for sale, this is the first time i have ever seen something like this... and i have to admit it was absolutely adorable... 
im just wondering if anybody has any decent information about them...
like price? and how to get your hands on one? or if there are any reasons why they arent good to keep?
i have been trying to do some research over the internet but there seems to be no solid source of information... 
I did manage to search there price and it was something like $1250 per squirrel... this must be some kind of joke, because the Indian Palm Squirrel is and introduced pest and no one in there right mind would go out and pay that much money for a non exotic, small mammal that only lives for 2 years. Especially when you could just go an grab one from the wild... 
anyway... 
any information would be great
thanks


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## CodeRed (May 10, 2010)

I didnt realise there was a gold plated palm squirrel on the market lol

the same store was charging $500 last year :O


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## l3atman (May 10, 2010)

better have some amazing rims and a chrome interior aswell lol
...
yeah... i just saw that... they said it was something like $500 for a wild one and $1000 for a hand raised one...
...
even though i do like them... they really are just a glorified rat... so how can they possibly cost this much?
i would still love to hear any other information, if anybody knows anything?
thanks


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## thals (May 10, 2010)

They are cute, but personally not worth that kind of money at all, especially considering they are indeed a pest! Gimme iddy biddy sugar gliders any day of the week


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## bobby2 (May 10, 2010)

They are not necessarily hard to breed or exotic or anything, it's just that there is only one guy in NSW who has a license to breed them so they are at about $1200 for their scarcity. He's only just given over rights to sell them in pet shops, though he's still the only one who can legally breed them. They are extremely flighty and only have a five-six year life span which is pretty lame for your money (bit like a hyperactive rat.) on the other hand, they are gorgeous if you can hold onto them long enough to get a good look at them


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## bobby2 (May 10, 2010)

they are also extremely hard to tame so a hand raised one doubles in price - and even a hand raised one is hard to keep a hold of. Most people just have them as avery pets, coosing not to handle them at all.


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## captive_fairy (May 10, 2010)

There's a bird farm i go to that sells them for about 1200, and you can only get males to prevent others trying to breed them.


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## Colin (May 10, 2010)

Ty-Breaker said:


> they really are just a glorified rat... so how can they possibly cost this much?



haha  must be a special glorified rat mate.. I've never kept them at all but many years ago had a mate who had a few of them.. there were three types (at the time) from memory including a red colour. he kept his in aviarys and they did well and bred but are so damn fast moving they were always difficult to see as they sped around the aviary and then hid in the nesting boxes. pretty easy to breed too I think. dont really have any info on them but am sure theres care sheets on the net.


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## Sutto82 (May 10, 2010)

Yeah I saw these when they were being put into the aviary for the first time. They didn't want to come out of their travelling cages. My missus wants one, but I couldn't justify spending $1250 for one.


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## Mrs I (May 10, 2010)

Get her a sugar glider instead... i love mine !!


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## kupper (May 10, 2010)

What the hell? learn something new everyday


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## H.bitorquatus (May 10, 2010)

thals said:


> They are cute, but personally not worth that kind of money at all, especially considering they are indeed a pest! Gimme iddy biddy sugar gliders any day of the week


 
I bet squirrels don't piss all in their bag, and make extremely annoying noises in the night when one is still in the bag and the other was let out and it jumping on the one in the bag :lol:


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## giglamesh (May 10, 2010)

when i went to perth zoo a few weeks back they had quite a few of these running around everywhere.


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## dadaman (May 10, 2010)

I know the pet shop that you are talking about. I was in there today. They didn't like me asking "Where would you pick up one of those in Australia? I thought you only find them OS".


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## callumsikone (May 10, 2010)

iv also seen chipmunks at a birdfarm once, i cant remember whether they were for sale or not but really cool, random question but can you keep red squirrels and any types of monkey? i swear iv seen some capuchins for sale once on petlink or something???


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## movie_models (May 11, 2010)

*Palm Squirrels*

Hi I have researched this and it turns out that you can only purchase these once they have been desexed and tattooed or microchiped. They are the only introduced species that may legally be purchased in Australia. As for monkeys. Apparently there are a very few people who are licenced to keep them. However they may not be bought and sold here and there apparently will not be any new licences issued. So it appears that monkeys are out and so is every other animal of all species other than the Indian Palm Squirrel (introduced species that is) Personally id happily pay the $1250 per Squirrel if i could buy a pair and breed them. But thats not the case. You are only allowed to own them if they are desexed. As far as im concerned this is not worth the trouble. There goes my plan for an aviary full of Squirrels. I guess Ill have to stick to spotted snow leopards...


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## dottyback (May 11, 2010)

kupper said:


> What the hell? learn something new everyday




same here!

Someone please clarify, they can be kept legally? and if so legally in Victoria?


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## gpoleweski (May 11, 2010)

Haha hey! I've seen the squirrel there too! Lives just up the road. First time I went in there there was a massive crowd around the cage. I cam back on another day and laughed at the poor lil thing, moves like a bullet.

Don't know about laws and licencing, but I gotta aagree with thals, some cute lil sugar gliders would be much nicer.


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## Sutto82 (May 12, 2010)

The bloke at the store said that you just need to let the council know that you've got them like a owning a dog.


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## potato matter (May 12, 2010)

Very interesting... They are pretty cute, but if you can't breed them... I guess they would still be cool pets. Who's the guy licenced to breed them?


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## thals (May 12, 2010)

H.bitorquatus said:


> I bet squirrels don't piss all in their bag, and make extremely annoying noises in the night when one is still in the bag and the other was let out and it jumping on the one in the bag :lol:


 
LMAO, they're still cuter, stop bein such a baby  hahaha


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## shane14 (May 12, 2010)

looks pretty cool


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## solar 17 (May 13, 2010)

Indian Palm Squirrel

An Indian Palm Squirrel photographed in Bangalore
*A pic for those that aren't sure, cut and pasted off Wikipedia...cheers solar 17 [Baden]*


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## mike72 (May 13, 2010)

> They are the only introduced species that may legally be purchased in Australia


 
There are plenty of introduced species that are allowed to be kept as pets; dogs, cats, rabbits and numerous birds and fish.


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## gregcranston (May 13, 2010)

It's very unfortunate that they are allowed to be sold at all. But thank goodness they must be desexed before being sold. Imagine what havoc they could cause to the Australian environment if they were allowed to breed freely. 
Australian native animals have been decimated more than enough by introduced species. Do Cats, Rabbits, and Cane Toads ring a bell to people, lol. Surely we couldn't be stupid enough to make those same mistakes again...


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## herptrader (May 13, 2010)

They probably make pretty good eating. Very lean and quite tasty.


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## Kristy_07 (May 13, 2010)

gregcranston said:


> It's very unfortunate that they are allowed to be sold at all. But thank goodness they must be desexed before being sold. Imagine what havoc they could cause to the Australian environment if they were allowed to breed freely.
> Australian native animals have been decimated more than enough by introduced species. Do Cats, Rabbits, and Cane Toads ring a bell to people, lol. Surely we couldn't be stupid enough to make those same mistakes again...


 
I'm with you!! How come there are numerous passionate threads about how awful it would be to bring in exotic reptiles into Australia, and yet the majority of responses in this thread seem to be supporting or at least indifferent to yet another hardy, competitive, urban-adaptive, exotic scavenger being allowed as pets? :shock:

Does no one else see this as having double standards?


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## glebeboi (Jul 25, 2010)

*re Indian Palm Squirrels*

*I must admit tho - they are really cute. *
*If they were like about $300-400 I would have possibly considered getting them - cos theyre different n quirky. Not everyones got one. *
*But at $1100 its quite steep considering at best they'll live about 5 yrs. *
*You cant show them like a dog or cat which you can buy for the same money and less.*
*BUT even more ridiculous is the price cos I found out from a friends vet that they can only be sold if they have been DESEXED! So you dont even get to breed them to recoup your expenses.*
*I'll definately be waiting for the price to drop before I'll be getting any.*


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## giglamesh (Jul 25, 2010)

gregcranston said:


> It's very unfortunate that they are allowed to be sold at all. But thank goodness they must be desexed before being sold. Imagine what havoc they could cause to the Australian environment if they were allowed to breed freely.
> Australian native animals have been decimated more than enough by introduced species. Do Cats, Rabbits, and Cane Toads ring a bell to people, lol. Surely we couldn't be stupid enough to make those same mistakes again...


 as i stated before there are alot of these running around Perth zoo so they obviously are breeding.


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## Fuscus (Jul 25, 2010)

At $1200 they better be delicious and high in protein


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## Chris1 (Aug 14, 2010)

theyre sooo cute!

i was just at the petshop in mount colah and he was FINALLY out and about, i must have looked in that cage 1000 times so far this year and never saw him, hes so quick and so cute!!

Im a little bit in lurve,..!!


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## dadaman (Aug 15, 2010)

movie_models said:


> I guess Ill have to stick to spotted snow leopards...


I'll take a male and a female please. lol


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## AnimalCollector6 (Aug 25, 2010)

Are we exterminating any of these wild ones? cuz we should, especially that place in perth!!!


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## dadaman (Aug 25, 2010)

Here are a few piccys of the ones at Ryde.


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## icedmice (Aug 26, 2010)

Biggest overpricing of a glorified excuse for a rat.

When I found out more about them I was shocked. Fair enough with desexing, microchipping etc... even so... that is still ridiculously overpriced.
You've got to be absolutely nuts to buy one! They only have about 5 year life span.

Still cute though. I can't deny the facts.

They featured in the daily telegraph about 3 weeks ago.


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## dadaman (Aug 26, 2010)

I agree. A little overpriced unless they really are full of that much protein.


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