# Who keeps native mammals?



## gregcranston (Mar 12, 2014)

Just curious after a few additions in Victoria to which native mammals you can keep on an advanced license, first in 2009 with animals such as Potoroos, Southern Brown Bandicoots and Feathertail gliders, and then again in 2013 with Eastern Quolls, Spotted-tailed Quolls amongst others, I was wondering if these species have become more commonly kept by people in Victoria?


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## Snowman (Mar 12, 2014)

Yeah got a one year old boy. 
Though technically it's a hybrid of mixed origin and only 200 odd years of native linage.

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Can't keep native mammals in WA. As it's the currency of criminals.


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## zulu (Mar 12, 2014)

Western australians should move to NSW where the license you pay for if your silly enough allows you to keep plains rats and hopping mice.
So basically native mammals are kept off license along with the corns and boas.
NPWS would rather people keep cats .


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## Snowman (Mar 12, 2014)

zulu said:


> Western australians should move to NSW where the license you pay for if your silly enough allows you to keep plains rats and hopping mice.
> So basically native mammals are kept off license along with the corns and boas.
> NPWS would rather people keep cats .



Yeah the best way to control native wildlife as pets is to make it legal for people to actually keep them. The south western carpet pythons were the most commonly seized illegal reptiles in WA before keeping them was legalised. Now no one would bother taking a wild specimen due to their availability in the pet trade.
Often it's not that people want to do the wrong thing, but their is no alternative when there is no keeping system in place...


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## critterguy (Mar 12, 2014)

Would love to keep some but not allowed to in QLD unless you are a wildlife carer, demonstrater/educator or sanctuary/zoo.
So it's just 2 indoor cats and have kept rats and mice numerous times, about to keep mice again soon to breed for a pair of stimpsons before I get some.

Wish I could keep some spinifex hopping mice as they seem pretty interesting and apparently don't stink like the european mice.


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## gregcranston (Mar 12, 2014)

Any Victorians, or even South Australians?


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## critterguy (Mar 12, 2014)

Sorry, I know you were after Victorians but other people replied that were from other states and you didn't mind, so thought I could reply too.


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## thesilverbeast (Mar 12, 2014)

I used to keep a pademelon. She didn't survive the stress of recent victorian fires though. The house survived but the stress got to her unfortunately. She was amazing too. She would follow me around anywhere and even jump up onto the couch to sit on your lap. 









I'm about to move houses so when I'm settled in to the new place I may look into getting another as its out of the fire danger area. I don't think anything could beat that special little girl though.


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## Umbral (Mar 12, 2014)

Nawww I want one lol, so cute. Stupid interstate regulations.


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## shell477 (Mar 12, 2014)

I have Leeroy (Wallaby) but I am a wildlife carer so he will go off one day soon and break my heart.....


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## imported_Varanus (Mar 12, 2014)

shell477 said:


> I have Leeroy (Wallaby) but I am a wildlife carer so he will go off one day soon and break my heart.....
> View attachment 307210



On a side topic, does anyone have any idea how effective soft then hard release is? And what are the outcomes for individual animals involved?? I suspect many just end up somewhere in the food chain, or dependent on humans, but I'd like to be proved wrong. In SA, if you look after something orphaned/ injured, it is never released and stays with you for it's natural. At least then, you know the outcome for the animal with some certainty.

Various "fluffys" I've managed. All released (NSW), but to what fate??


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## shell477 (Mar 12, 2014)

Where I am we only do soft releases - I imagine hard releases fail more often than not

I hard released a possum that grew up from a tiny bub with me and I regret it all the time


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## Raymonde (Mar 12, 2014)

I haven't read heaps on soft and hard releases in the literature, but from what i have read (studies i have read have been on recolonisation of rare and endangered animals), hard releases tend not to be very effective, soft releases more so. However it really depends on the type of animal and how they were raised/cared for, whether they are territorial and heaps of other factors. Mostly the problem is to do with predators or competition or lack of space for territories. I think for wallabies would probably have a fairly good success rate. Not so sure about reptiles.


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## spud_meister (Mar 12, 2014)

thesilverbeast said:


> I used to keep a pademelon. She didn't survive the stress of recent victorian fires though. The house survived but the stress got to her unfortunately. She was amazing too. She would follow me around anywhere and even jump up onto the couch to sit on your lap.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Cute little critter. Where do you get pademelons from?


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## critterguy (Mar 12, 2014)

I've seen them online often, saw someone in VIC on gumtree today that had their extra males for $30 and females for $90, thought they'd cost alot more than that, they certainly would if they were legal to keep up here, be more like the sort of prices most pythons used to be.

Have seen the spinifex hopping mice and plains rats for only $30 as well.

You'd think a native mammals or marsupials would be high prices to keep bogans/kids from getting them and keeping them the same way as a poorly kept cat or dog.


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## gregcranston (Mar 13, 2014)

Does anyone have Quolls, Potoroos, Bettongs, Bandicoots, Feathertail Gliders or any of the less common Wallaby species?


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## butters (Mar 13, 2014)

A friend has all except the feather tails and wallabies.

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He also has a fair few other native mammals.


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## cement (Mar 14, 2014)

Soft release works great for grey roos and swamp wallabys raised as orphans. What we need to realise is that when they are released they are prone to all the normal pressures of being wild, and human raised or not sometimes s hit happens. Release for reptiles brought back from injury works great as well.
Release/escape of non endemic pythons doesn't seem to do them any harm as we pick up quite a few that are doing all right, they adapt to being out of a cage very easily, I would say that being raised in a cage doesn't affect them at all (if kept properly), they still retain the predatory and killing skills they need in the wild and they are very good at finding suitable temps.


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## imported_Varanus (Mar 14, 2014)

cement said:


> Soft release works great for grey roos and swamp wallabys raised as orphans. What we need to realise is that when they are released they are prone to all the normal pressures of being wild, and human raised or not sometimes s hit happens. Release for reptiles brought back from injury works great as well.
> Release/escape of non endemic pythons doesn't seem to do them any harm as we pick up quite a few that are doing all right, they adapt to being out of a cage very easily, I would say that being raised in a cage doesn't affect them at all (if kept properly), they still retain the predatory and killing skills they need in the wild and they are very good at finding suitable temps.



Good point re non endemics. Perhaps some species are just like weeds (eg; Burmese Pythons in Florida, BTS on Guam). Is there any definitive evidence though that native mammals cope well after being raised from a young age (like trans studies for example). Some studies on translocated elapids (even thoughs moved the specified distances as required by law) don't seem to paint a rosy picture for the relocated.


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## Wildcall (Mar 14, 2014)

Hey we have bettongs, bandicoots, ring tail possums, squirrel gliders and bats here in Brissy


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## cement (Mar 14, 2014)

imported_Varanus said:


> Good point re non endemics. Perhaps some species are just like weeds (eg; Burmese Pythons in Florida, BTS on Guam). Is there any definitive evidence though that native mammals cope well after being raised from a young age (like trans studies for example). Some studies on translocated elapids (even thoughs moved the specified distances as required by law) don't seem to paint a rosy picture for the relocated.



I don't know. The people i know that do the work with raising and releasing the macropods on the central coast have really good places for release, where they can monitor the acceptance of the individuals into the local groups and have good results with it. The raised ones come back from time to time because they aren't afraid and they can associate the release site with a free feed, but the females come back with joeys and say hello and are more then happy to go back out into the bush and be with the mob.
It's really the acceptance into a local mob that probably determines if it will work or not, and thats just for macro's, not possum's or other smaller types. But I don't know if there has been a scientific study done on it, I only have info word of mouth from the people that do it.


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## gregcranston (Mar 27, 2014)

Bump!


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## Rlpreston (Mar 27, 2014)

Not any of the specific species mentioned but I do have this new little buddy:







Billy the sugar glider


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