Your exotic experience

[champagne]

One of the largest smuggled collections of Australian of morph is in Victoria owned by a convicted reptile smuggler...

and can tell you for a fact that a pair of $60,000 high yellow canary GTPs came from Victoria but of course they weren't smuggled recently.

 

[beastcreature]

I've never been offered an exotic with the accompaniment of breeder information but I haven't been offered a native either - each time I've acquired a new snake I've actively sought one out.

Given that these animals are illegal & likely to be reported if advertised publicly, a lack of advertisements doesn't disprove that they're here in large numbers, nor does second hand information prove that they are. You know what they say about assuming.

 

[Native_EWD]

I come across a dead yellow bellied slider in Parramatta river few years back, wedged between a rock and a tyre it had drowned.

Who knows what else is lurking in that river!

 

[Chris1]

My first exposure to exotics was the day i picked up my very first beardies from a a guys house, (not the person who had bred the beardies, just the transaction happened at his place) he had a few cornsnakes, boas, a bucket load of natives, but most memorable of all was that he let me feed his chameolean,...that was unbelieveably cool!! a few years later he offered me the chameolean, but by that time i knew it was illegal and if i got busted id lose my beloved natives so i said no.

Second experience was after i 'won' an auction on ebay for a 4 foot mesh lid that was the perfect size for a fish tank i had,...i turned up to the guys house, he invited me in, first thing i saw was a massive enclosure with a boa and 3 leopard geckos (in a different enclosure ofcourse),...i mentioned that it was kinda crazy inviting people in with illegal reptiles in the house, but i wouldnt tell anyone if he let me hold a leopard gecko. He said most people dont know they're illegal and went on to tell me he worked in a petshop and could get me any exotics i could possibly want. (and ofcourse i got to hold a leopard gecko)

Then a girl i knew bought some red eared sliders for $200 each from a pet shop on the central coast,...

4th experience was a guy offering me a really nice enclosure for $200,...but i could only have it if i took the red tailed boa that was living in it,....

and 5th was another leopard gecko i was offered not so long ago.

Thats in about 11 years of reptile keeping. I dont know if thats alot of exotics encounters or not, but theyre definately out there.

 

[Channaz]

Victoria is famous for the VENOMOUS exotic reptile bust of the 7th of March 2001. This seizure of snakes prompted Peter Mirtschin of Venom Supplies to host a conference to discuss the matter in October of 2001. The list of confiscated exotic vens was impressive.

Can you give any more details, Rory? Did anything specifically prompt the crackdown? What came out of the conference?

 

[Jacknife]

Victoria is famous for the VENOMOUS exotic reptile bust of the 7th of March 2001. This seizure of snakes prompted Peter Mirtschin of Venom Supplies to host a conference to discuss the matter in October of 2001. The list of confiscated exotic vens was impressive.

Yeah I remember that being all over the place when I first started out.
Vic has had some big moments with exotics no dount, but my statement was merely that they seem to be less prevalent here than in the northern states...

 

[RoryBreaker]

Can you give any more details, Rory? Did anything specifically prompt the crackdown? What came out of the conference?

I'll let you google the specifics, its old news and not my story to tell and I only mentioned it to make my point.

It wasn't a crackdown but the animals were discovered while police were investigating a different matter.

What came out of the conference you ask?
Umm... we were told at the conference's conclusion that a media statement was to be released. I never saw it. Professor Mark Hutchinson's talk at the conference I remember best. It was titled, "Tea leaves and tumbling dice." Referring to what actual numbers are required to start and sustain a wild population of exotic reptiles and the rare probability of something of that nature actually occurring.

Subsequent conferences have been held over the years but all of them have not been open for the general public, but for only government authorities, academics in relevant fields etc...
The late Tim Nias formerly of Venom Supplies used to keep me up to date.

Cheers

 

[-Peter]

I miss Tim

I'll let you google the specifics, its old news and not my story to tell and I only mentioned it to make my point.

It wasn't a crackdown but the animals were discovered while police were investigating a different matter.

What came out of the conference you ask?
Umm... we were told at the conference's conclusion that a media statement was to be released. I never saw it. Professor Mark Hutchinson's talk at the conference I remember best. It was titled, "Tea leaves and tumbling dice." Referring to what actual numbers are required to start and sustain a wild population of exotic reptiles and the rare probability of something of that nature actually occurring.

Subsequent conferences have been held over the years but all of them have not been open for the general public, but for only government authorities, academics in relevant fields etc...
The late Tim Nias formerly of Venom Supplies used to keep me up to date.

Cheers

 

[Channaz]

Thanks, Rory.

Sounds like it was an interesting time for herp keepers back then... although aren't all times like that? lol

I did try some google searches but couldn't find any more detail.

 

[champagne]

Yeah I remember that being all over the place when I first started out.
Vic has had some big moments with exotics no dount, but my statement was merely that they seem to be less prevalent here than in the northern states...

Just because you personally don't know about them doesn't mean they're not kept and bred in Victoria.

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

Corns snakes were around Melbourne in private collections in the 70s.

I was called out to one in Pakenham recently

 

[Jacknife]

Yeah I remember that being all over the place when I first started out.
Vic has had some big moments with exotics no dount, but my statement was merely that they seem to be less prevalent here than in the northern states...

Just because you personally don't know about them doesn't mean they're not kept and bred in Victoria.

Please read posts before replying to them.

 

[zulu]

One of the largest smuggled collections of Australian of morph is in Victoria owned by a convicted reptile smuggler...

and can tell you for a fact that a pair of $60,000 high yellow canary GTPs came from Victoria but of course they weren't smuggled recently.

Some of australias best smugglers are from victoria ,without there efforts many of the reptiles we take for granted now would be just a picture on the internet.

 

[champagne]

Please read posts before replying to them.

Like I said just because you personally have not experienced exotic trade and therefor clearly have no idea on what you are talking about (as usual) doesn't mean they aren't Victoria in the same numbers...

 

[ozziepythons]

Its nice to work with exotics legit at a zoo, not having to worry about getting busted or ever losing them.... but especially if anything health wise goes wrong you can have a vet treat it without fear of persecution or ignorance on how to treat them if that were the case. What do these keepers do if they have a sick chameleon or injured their leopard tortoise, or have a ball python with RI? Must be a lot of neglected exotics out there in Australia, wouldn't the government rather regulate those already here and have some sort of control rather than the current situation?

 

[Radar]

I've been offered white lipped vipers, eyelash vipers, multiple different boa's and ball pythons from both interstate and locally, and about 3 years ago had a bloke living in a housing commission unit I was working outside offer to show me his boa constrictor. When I didn't believe him he brought his adult red tail boa outside and held it out over his balcony for me and all the traffic on the main road to see....

 

[Rlpreston]

I really thought there was a logical conclusion that could be reached unanimously. Should we really open the floodgates because there's already a trickle? Just because other exotic species might not be AS bad as, for example, cane toads should we really just turn a blind eye to those ones? Just because another problem is worse doesn't make this any less of a problem.

Heart disease kills more people than cancer, we still treat both though.

ETA - Back on the original question, apart from the odd Facebook fool who flaunts their choice to break the law (I can't for the life of me understand that!) I never see any exotic around. I don't doubt they're here in Vic, but maybe Victorians in general are clever enough to keep the crime quiet.

 

[champagne]

Its nice to work with exotics legit at a zoo, not having to worry about getting busted or ever losing them.... but especially if anything health wise goes wrong you can have a vet treat it without fear of persecution or ignorance on how to treat them if that were the case. What do these keepers do if they have a sick chameleon or injured their leopard tortoise, or have a ball python with RI? Must be a lot of neglected exotics out there in Australia, wouldn't the government rather regulate those already here and have some sort of control rather than the current situation?

Vets don't care about the illegality and licensing for an animal, for example vets in queensland treat rabbits and ferrets which are illegal in queensland. As for treatments most vets have no idea when it comes to native reptiles anyway and just give a text book treatment so I'm sure you would get the same results if you took an exotic or a native but If you take a corn snake into the vet how would they know if it's on license or not? When you take your dog or cat do they ask to see your council registration?

 

[Norm]

About 4 years ago we were house hunting and went to an open house one day, walked in and right there in the lounge room was a fish tank with a corn snake. I`m not one to dob so I pointed it out to my wife and continued to look at the house as if I`d never seen it. We didn't buy the house.

 

[champagne]

About 4 years ago we were house hunting and went to an open house one day, walked in and right there in the lounge room was a fish tank with a corn snake. I`m not one to dob so I pointed it out to my wife and continued to look at the house as if I`d never seen it. We didn't buy the house.

Norm how could you?! You do know that corn snake will either escape or be dump and then it will destroy the environment wiping out all native animals in its path!!!