Cricketman

It is an opinion, one that has been concreted by re-occuring evidence, not only from my own experience but that of others. I can only speak of the Tauranga Animates as that is the only one that I have visited. (the same one that had a pacu in with the turtles, then claimed it had never been in store when the SPCA arrived.) Factually dis-prove my points... then I may change them.

There are plenty of shops around that do a great job of teaching staff how to treat, look after, and teach customers how to look after their animals. Animates is not one of them in my book. I had the same experience as Paul_r. The likes of Kiwipets, Animal Antics, Wonderworld, Carine, are all local places where I would rather shop knowing A) I will speak to someone who knows what they are talking about. B) I am supporting a local business, rather than a chain store. C) They specialise in my hobby, and take time and effort to pay their fish people more than minimum wage and invest in them to keep them for more than a few months at a time. If you had a bad experience at ANY other type of shop on more than one occasion, (think 4 or 5) would you return there and spend your hard earned money knowing that it is going to a chain store that does little for local market, and is not really interested enough in your hobby to employ/ train their staff in more than how to catch the fish, and how to meet a quota. If 4 out of 5 can get it right and one is seriously lacking, does that not send up a red flag? does that not show that something is wrong? And when this one store is a main advertiser, and a point of call that 90% of joe public can identify with, does that not make them ethically and morally bound to provide a better service? Especially in a sector where people do little research, and their primary source of information is that kid showing off her g-string and telling customers that they can take the tank and a whole plethora of fish home on the same day and "cycling" to them means tour de france! I think it is downright shameful.

TM $16 for 2Gb ...

Had malaria 3 times (18months, 5, 12) Run over by a moving truck when I was 3 (soft sand underneath the wheels meant I rolled with the tire and got spat out, went over my arse and lower back) Ran through a glass door@school that was installed in the holidays (no safety glass, just normal pane glass) de-gloving my right forearm (2mm away from brachial artery), major stab-wound just below my ribs (any higher and it would have been lung) all up 500+ stitches and 120 staples (many stitches were internal micro-souchers joining my tendons back together) I was 14 at the time. Held up at gunpoint for my bike and my shirt @ 15, Shot in the leg with a Koi-San bow and arrow.http://www.theartofafrica.co.za/serv/hunting2.jsp Been shot at chasing after burglars, been shot in the leg walking home from school with a 9mm (more of a grazing, made a nice hole in my pants though...) Been trapped on the bottom on a dive in some discarded fishing line that wrapped around my leg and held my knife in its holder. Bloody scary since you can hardly see the stuff in the water.... Been charged by a Bull elephant in "must" yup... shouldn't really be here.... lol

Gymnocoronis spilanthoides Unwanted organism.. EDIT: I Should say that this is my guess, and others may well prove me wrong.

Europe and the states are already over-run with invasive species, point being that in NZ we havea number of fragile species that have evolved in a predator-less and pristine island environment. We have a ranging climate and vast animal resources that should a un-wanted species enter, could run-amok. Also being a small island nation, most of our goods are shipped here. Ships have to be one of the worst for hide-holes, and being that they are unable to be thoroughly searched (as would a truck for instance?) and without the same amount of vigorous scanning and checking such as air-ports, you don't know you have an invasive species here until the containers are off the ship, and even then not every crate can be checked effectively within the time constraints to keep the ports operating smoothly. AND THEN! even if they DO find something, it is already in New Zealand, sitting on the dock already, and containment of a invasive species is incredibly hard... That is just Auckland... Add Tauranga & Wellington, (the next 2 largest ports) and then think of all the smaller ports where people arrive individually on private pleasure craft... Now imagine your job is to try and avoid anything in any ONE of those containers from entering NZ.... Then there is the management and awareness campaigns to try and avoid spread of the species that are already present in the country. Show us a more "likely" way that a mite that is hosted on bees, since survivability of the Varroa mite on: clothing= 21h (+/- 1.3H) metal = 20h (+/- 1.1h) and pollen = 18h (+/- 1.3h) (Lilia I. De Guzman et al. " Survival of Varroa jacobsoni Oud. (Acari: Varroidae) away from its living host Apis mellifera L.") Main infestations coming from Europe or USA, where travel time alone (from source, to New Zealand, and then to a working hive) is practically beyond this time limit. This lends itself to live host transmission {(71 +/- 1.1h) for dead worker bees @ 26°C} possums, my dear lad, are an exotic invasive species.... :roll: Hamsters are a rodent. a cute and furry rat. only these rats are developed to survive below-freezing temperatures (Russian hamster). Also since there is a lack of predators in enough numbers to control a wild population, I think that it makes sense that they are banned. With a fecundity of 8-10 average, but up to 20 pups per litter, becoming oestrus every 4 days, and the shortest gestation period of any placental mammal at 16 days, and the ability to become pregnant whilst having a litter, they breed MORE than rabbits. With a compulsion to store food, a small colony could destroy a granary. (Wikipedia) uncited reports of a single hamster having 25KG of grains in its burrow have been circulating. I think BNZ have made the right decision, and do a fan-freaking-tastic job...

Trout were here ages ago. Agree they make money out of it, but that the way of the world, it not just gubbermint... BNZ do a fantastic job, people don't realise just how huge a job it is, really...

to argue the" here yet" they probably are, since a Import health standard for lab hamsters exists

Biosecurity New Zealand is a sub-species of MAF. (MAFBNZ - Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Biosecurity New Zealand) "MAF Biosecurity New Zealand is the division of MAF charged with leadership of the New Zealand biosecurity system. It encompasses facilitating international trade, protecting the health of New Zealanders and ensuring the welfare of our environment, flora and fauna, marine life and Maori resources." (From: http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz) Any link or proof of this statement please? I can find import health standards for hamsters used for laboratory testing, but I cannot find a Cricetinae under any other database. any of the classification from Myomorpha, Muroidea, Cricetidae, Cricetinae... In fact the only 4 mammalia that are listed on the MAFBNZ are rabbits, stoats, possum, and ferrets. DOC and ERMA interlink with them and can ban organisms or list organisms through MAF, but there is no shared database which really puts the stink up my nose, especially since I'm meant to be studying it... Joy... EDIT: Called MAFBNZ, Hamsters are a banned Species, but they cannot give me further information on why... secret Squirell or something.... or should that be secret hamster? :lol:

I've been using Le Paz vanilla panetella cigar, just crushed up the internal (machine made) and then cut the outer leaves into flakes. Does very well, and easy on the wallet at $3.50 for panatella... compared to $50+ for a bag of pipe tobacco. Tried a Tatiana cherry that didn't even taste or smell the slightest like cherry... :roll: Quite enjoying discovering new brands and types of tobacco, the Dutch tobaccos are completely different to the cuban or havana, and the English pipe tobaccos are incredibly hard to smoke unless your used to it...

Tried kanuka, it not as red as manuka, but my peice was a bit too wet to start with too. Thanks for the heads up on totara.

Well, I went with manuka and leather, and I'm glad that I did! Nice wood to work with, and easy to get hold of, nice colours in there too! Handmade leather pouch to keep everything I need together the one main imperfection, but it is just visual, smokes fine, had it running quite hot yesterday and it was still okay. Overall, I'm happy as a pig in mud with it, smaller bowl than traditional pipes (usually ~18mm-20, where as mines maybe ~10) means alot easier to have a small amount of baccy at a time, which is good, since the bigger pipes can be smoked for hours at a time off one bowl, and I really don't want that much at a time. Learnt a lot making it, was really good fun. Might start making them to sell at market days... My next pipe I'm thinking Totara...

Mine changes almost weekly... before this it was sea shepherd...

i used mine to prop up a little so i could make my sand bed seem deeper than it actually is. they work alright in a small tank, but in bigger tanks the area of sand vs amount of water becomes too great for them to be really effective. one of those six to half a dozen type things, if it works for you, great, if not, then don't worry, would I personally spend money and go out and buy one for my 200L... No... In a 60x30x30, why not, it isn't going to do any damage, put it that way...

bullet please, table 1! :lol:

good on ya for trying at least Deepsound... Bacon was what I was after... lol

What stinks when living and smells good when dead?

punk it up!!

stop complaining and eat your dinner? :lol:

so a small bomb? :lol: sounds like a good buy though... but I'll stick with ol' glassy for now, since I doubt I can afford anything that flash, or justify it to the missus... :lol:

I'm always weary of things like that, especially importing them, you have no idea of how effective they are or what "added bonus" chemicals you might be dealing with. Look at the lead-paint on childrens' toys debacle. I'll remain a skeptic until I can see the results myself, and even better if someone else tries it first! :lol: language barrier is also a pain when ordering from Asia... as a harsh and widespread stereotype...

but how much would a really decent digital like that cost to joe on the street?

glass with the suction cup. easy as, cheap as, no battery to worry about and all that jazz, and probably the most accurate.