Varanophile

Not a virus- it is a bacteria. Every animal has bacteria present, so it is irrelevant, their reasoning was that it was not already present in NZ- but it was. Dodgy all round really. Google search MAF, Iguana, New Zealand....interesting reading and good to see how our tax dollars are used, especially after MAF waited until people bought them to declare them illegal- no warnings or anything. If they made the call right away then no problem, but they waited, and waited, and waited. You pay peanuts.....

and.....8 of the 14 taken and killed were actually Chinese Water Dragons (Physignathus coccinus). Both are green though and have long tails......even the zoo thought they wre iguanas. Lol.....

illegal to sell, illegal to buy, illegal to keep. Even if you are a zoo and they are in a containment facility. Official reason is that they had a strain of salmonella- 'Mt Pleasant' - that was not previously in NZ. (it was though and is recorded as such). There are 100's of strain of salmonella and you are more likely to catch it from a terrapin (meat eating turtle) than a large herbiverous lizard with the interlect of a 3 year old child. They were destroyed as a deterent to smuggling, even though the seller was not prosecuted, kept the coin, and had no personal animals destroyed.

or you could buy from reputable sources...

feed a high protein cat biscuit and this helps to a degree- whiskas etc not enough protein.

keep mine at 30 C and they grow fast. Golden Bell (aurea) and Green (raniformis) are fine at high temps. Whistling (ewingii) are Tasmanian and have to be under 25 C- in my experience anyway.

If they are young, buy a fruitfly culture from biosuppliers in akl and get it shipped. The mix they feed on is 4 boiled potatoes mashed, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/4 teaspoon yeast. Fruit fly cultures...the gift that keeps on giving and giving...cheap too You could catch larger fruit flies and start your own culture too...

crickets eat other bugs...however I have bred them together accidentally. main issue would be crickets eating locust eggs.

maf will not allow it, too much work...maybe in 100 years we will have a unique nz morph? maybe we should aim for a pure black 'katipo' strain?? LOL

spot on....

been there, but the general humidity of the air- today is a good example- is too much of a worry in terms of respiratory disease. best to keep outdoors then bring in and brumate inside. Cost of power is still nil, as they are not heated whilst brumating.

as i read in Reptile World Australia, "Western Australia is known as being behind the other Australian States in terms of its Herpetological Laws, and does rate as perhaps the worst place in the world in terms of the hobby- with the exception of the draconian policies of New Zealand " LOL....

Pogona barbata, on the other hand.......

summer yes, winter no. cold is number one reason, wet is number two.

absolutely amazing , they are awesome. must be hard to leave them. had any experience with the african fat tailed geckoes??

Hi Perpin, You can not bring them in unfortunately, Check your PM's.

That looks Mint Bulldogod. Maybe a Jade plant? Make sure he can't dig under those rocks.

borrowed the male. Until I have a male of my own none for sale. For some reason difficult to breed males, even when incubated at correct temp range. Possibly genetic issues. Can sex at 6 months, so fingers crossed. Hope that explains it...

1 male in the country officially dude....

lol. give it 12 months, still do not know if I have cracked it.

Not me sorry.

put some branches in so that they can moult without other ones snacking on the wings. you need to ensure there is always fresh grass in there too.

I looked after a tank that was part of the bar table at FINZ restaurant and oyster bar in auckland- viaduct in 2002. Thay had 12 undersize snapper, 6 mao mao and undersize cray from Hawkes Bay Aquaculture. Thay had no permit and they never got in trouble. They died eventually as no chiller on the tank. The snapper grew very fast.

need to be in cold well filtered water, most fish medications will kill them fast. love to eat earthworms..

if he's picky go for a culture of waxmoth.