Thorny devils

[Joker]

Just wondering if anybody keeps these, what sort of setup & temps do they need & how active are they, they look like a very cool lizard

 

[Jen]

I asked this ages ago, not many people keep them cause all they eat are tiny black ants and they are too hard to collect. there is some info in previous threads tho that is worth looking at. I thought they were cool too (still do)

 

[method]

There was a thread a bout this not long ago, i think the general say was if you cant provide a billion ants for it a day you cant keep the lil suckers

 

[Southside Morelia]

Do a search, there have been a few posts that I know of, that will answer your questions...
In short, no one sells them as they are a specialist feeder that only eats ants (and plenty of them) of a specific species, too hard to keep!
Cheers....
PS. There is probaly someone out there besides zoo's that keep them, but I know of none...

 

[Southside Morelia]

OMG, you gotta be quick, I thought I was the only one replying here...LMAO :lol:

 

[Armand]

when we went to Uluru (ayers rock) we went on a repile course thing (just our family lucky enough) and they said that they are the one of the most hard-to-keep reptiles in the world.. less than 100 people (estimated) keep them worldwide.. as we heard from the guid. not the best reptile to keep even though they are so beautiful..

 

[waruikazi]

Are they even legal to keep? I mean are there any on permit atm or not?

 

[Armand]

haha i dont even think they are legal in QL lol

 

[Southside Morelia]

Are they even legal to keep? I mean are there any on permit atm or not?

I don't think so...

 

[Jen]

Do they have another name? I can't find them on the parks list

 

[Shano92]

a while ago at a pet expo i saw that they had one, dont now how they suply hundreds of ants for them a day.

 

[Joker]

Thanks guys & gals for the replys, spewin i'll have to put this one in the to hard basket & the to dear basket.

 

[Jonno from ERD]

There are actually several people who keep them from all over Australia, both within their natural territory and out of it. They need a consistent supply of thousands of ants regularly, but other than that their husbandry is apparently fairly straight forward. There have been a few captive breedings and there was a whisper that some may be offered for sale this year.

 

[Hickson]

In one of the other discussions it was reported that they sold for about $5000 a pair (I think). Most zoos outside their range won't even bother trying to keep them.



Hix

 

[addy]

You know, Ant farms are not hard to look after. Ants can live off a simple diet of a wet cloth, the jelly found in dog food and aeroplane jelly. Having an ant farm big enough to produce that kind of volume per day! i estimate you'd need the queen ant (some ant farms operate without the queen) and a 6ft tank. And you'd need to constantly be taking the ants from the farm to the thorny devils enclosure. Or just put the thorny devil in the ant farm.

Thats alot of effort for a lizard that might have cost you 5k to begin with. There has to be some kind of supliment for thorny devils, or someone is selling ants by the thousand. Maybe you should ask the zoo.

 

[scorps]

they have had babies eating crix and mealies but they all endd up dying

 

[addy]

Oh. thats sad...you know there are warnings about feeding meal worms to baby dragon lizards. That might be a similar case to thorny devils. I hope they didn't cost you an arm and a leg

That is sad. When my fist baby blue tounge died i cried for like 10 minutes. i was only 10 years old though.

 

[jonesc1]

Perhaps if you had a pit style enclosure, half a rainwater tank for instance, with a deep sand substrate, establish a colony of ants in the enclosure first, then when the colony is large enough introduce the molochs. You would have to make sure that the ant colony was sustainable considering a large number would be eaten per day. I doubt it would be impossible to keep them outside of their natural range no matter how difficult it may be. I just think their biology/captive requirements havent fully been investigated yet.

 

[brigo]

I was purchasing a few reps a few years back with my mum, and the guy i was purchasing off had a few thorny devils there..

He said they were $350 each and were all males.

Back then i thought maybe he kept them or sold them on a special permit or something ? Anyways, they were so beautiful although i wouldnt of bought one even if it was legal, since he told me i have to supply it with so many ants, and its their primary food, it not the only food that they eat.

Does anybody actually know what permit people keep them on? Id be interested to know how they feed them!

 

[Moreliaman]

I did hear about 1 person trying to develop a formic acid substitute in a spray, so you just sprayed any small crickets & feed, no idea if anything came of it