ExoticReptilesNZ

I am happy to help if I can. When I was last in the States they could not BELIEVE how much we paid for leopard geckos...

I encountered only a handful of leopard geckos during my Salmonella survey and it is impossible to draw firm conclusions on the disease status of an entire species with such a small sample size (hence why I am trying to do some statistical prevalence estimates, mentioned in another thread). One thing we could do is a bioclimatic model, similar to the one just completed for red-eared sliders. For this I would just need location records (records of where these animals are found in the wild). As I don't have much data on this species, I was not going to investigate them in detail in my thesis, but if you are interested in persuing this, feel free to PM me location records (and the reference from where you got them from, like a field guide, etc...) and I'll try to put something together. Cheers, Heidy.

That's okay. Guys often imply that things are larger than they really are.

Hi everyone, I’ve just had a paper come out which uses climate-matching to investigate which areas of NZ may be suitable for red-eared slider establishment. It concludes that, while some sites may be climatically suitable, they are not great and are primarily concentrated in the upper North Island. The methodology is a pretty dry read, but there are some nice maps. If you’d like a copy, PM me your email and I’ll send it through. Cheers, Heidy.

Fingers crossed, Mark. Good to see you here. Heidy.

Ah, that makes more sense Cool stuff.

Could this also maybe be interpreted that if the babies were too big for the nest that they just buggered off and found their own food? Off the top of my head I can't think of a reptile that feeds its young, but some crocodilians are known for their maternal care in regards to protecting their babies from predators, etc. I learned that one fast while working with crocs in Botswana a few years back.

Thanks, I'm pretty surprised at the amazingly low numbers of red-eared sliders that came back positive!

Hi Everyone, just over 10% of my cloacal swabs came back positive for Salmonella, which is a heck of a lot lower than overseas estimates of up to 90% carriage rate. Any ideas on why this might be? Maybe smaller numbers of founding animals? Or are there dramatic differences in the way captive reptiles are kept in NZ compared to overseas? (i.e., lower density of animals, more hygienic conditions, etc?). Additionally, as previously mentioned, reptiles can be intermittent shedders of the bacteria, so not all positives may have been picked up. Pretty interesting results, nonetheless. When, I break it down by family groups, however, one group that had relatively high Salmonella rates were Agamids, with the majority of beardies testing positive. For groups which I had a very small sample size (like geckos), I am trying to do a "Freedom from Disease" statistical analysis, which estimates whether a particular group of animals is indeed free from Salmonella. In order to do this, I need to estimate the total number of animals in the population. I can easily plug my own numbers into the equation, but thought I would check if you guys had any suggestions, as it would make the results more meaningful for you. Total NZ population estimates I am after are for species such as: -Leopard geckos -Madagascar Day geckos -Chameleons -Box turtles I am in no way interested in who owns these animals, or where they are located, but just trying to get an estimate for the stats analysis. Also, aside from 2 unidentified strains, all of the strains of Salmonella I encountered have all been previously reported both in reptiles and humans in NZ. I hope this information is of interest to you. I'll have a bit more detail for you when I finish the statistical analysis, but if you have any questions/ comments in the meantime, let me know. Thanks again to everyone who participated! Heidy.

Happy Birthday! Looking forward to meeting up soon. Say hi to Malin

Sounds perfect

No problem, Alan. Additionally, everything is being prepared for publication (including the Salmonella swab summary report that many people on this forum participated in-thanks again). I'll be sure to let you guys know when they come out. Mystic, there were some positive responses to your last post regarding a reptile club. Maybe the easiest would be to just set a time and place to meet with other local forum members? It'd be nice to put faces with names and could take it from there perhaps?

Sounds awesome, Mark. I have to go up to Auckland briefly next month, so will try to detour through Tauranga on the way home. No worries, Mystic, we can always meet up another time. Any headway on that Welly reptile club idea?

Thanks, Milena. I was going to post this myself, but it looks like you beat me to it. I just want to reiterate that I am not affiliated with MAF. I was contacted by them and asked to give a talk. It'd be great to see some of you there; I think you'll be pleased with my findings so far. For those of you who are interested, but don't find the idea of hanging out with MAF folk that appealing, I'd be glad to meet up somewhere else over a beer sometime. Cheers, Heidy.

How aromatic Yup, we are all aware that there are many exotic species of reptiles in NZ that wouldn’t stand a chance of survival in the local environment, but MAF is going to want more than just the opinions of reptile enthusiasts… A technique that has gained a lot of credibility lately is bioclimatic modelling; essentially comparing a species' climate parameters that they encounter in their native range to an area of interest (in our case, NZ). Obviously it takes more than just a climate match to say that a species can establish somewhere, but climate is going to be a big factor, more so for reptiles than other types of animals. I have recently completed a bioclimatic model for red-eared sliders in NZ which is due out for publication soon. It shows most of NZ being climatically unsuitable for slider establishment, with a few marginally suitable areas in the Far North. It would be easy enough to run this type of predictive model with any other species that we want. If anyone is keen for more info, feel free to contact me. Also, for you Wellingtonians, you can see a blurb about my turtle stuff in today’s Dominion Post. Cheers, Heidy.

Thanks again to everyone who responded to the participation request for my Salmonella prevalence study. To date, I’ve swabbed over 500 reptile bums. I’m in the process of analysing the data and hope to have a summarised report of the results in a couple of months, so stay tuned. I really enjoyed meeting all of you, and thanks again for your help. Let me know if any of you are ever down this way; it’d be nice to catch up Sincerely, Heidy Kikillus ------------------------------- PhD Candidate, Ecology and Biodiversity Victoria University of Wellington School of Biological Sciences P.O. Box 600 Wellington 6140 New Zealand [email protected] Phone: +64 4 463 5233 x8011 Mobile: +64 0210 236 1197 Fax: +64 4 463 5331

Hiya, as far as I know this is only in the Auckland region. Check out the ARC website's Regional Pest Management Strategy http://www.arc.govt.nz/environment/plan ... s_home.cfm and click on "RPMS Part II Animal Pest Management..." section. Reptiles are on page 119. Some other reptiles seem to be considered pests "only when not held in secure containment", but they claim there is "sufficient evidence to place restrictions on sale and breeding" of blue tongues in Auckland. I have been in touch with ARC to try to figure out what this "sufficient evidence" is. This apparently does not affect the "the keeping of existing blue-tongue skinks as pets for the term of their natural life". If anyone has any other info, please let us know.

Ha ha, thanks Mark. That made my day

Sex: Female Name: Heidy Age: 32 Status: Single...and this seems like a much safer venue than NZDating, ha ha.

Hi, in regards to your second point...I was involved in a project on an offshore island where we used moist cat food to bait pitfall traps for Whitaker's and Robust skinks, and often found tuatara raiding the traps! As to whether it should consitute part of a staple diet for captive beardies, there are many more reptile keepers more experienced than myself who could probably give you some advice.

Thanks, it was great to meet all of you. Speedy too... I'll be in Palmerston North next week and Hawkes Bay briefly in the near future (exact date to be determined), in the event anyone else in those areas are keen to participate. Thanks again everyone for your help

Thanks, Mark. It was lovely to meet you I'll be in Christchurch this Thursday and Friday. If there are any additional exotic reptile owners interested in participating, just let me know... Cheers, Heidy.

Hello, the person in question here. Thanks for the interesting discussion points and insights. I would like to confirm that my priority is to obtain my uni degree, not confiscate anyone's collection; nor am I a MAF mole. As the Salmonella swabs have a short shelf life, I try to collect a lot of them at a time and quickly send them to the lab, as this is more cost-effective. Therefore it is highly probable that I am the "same chick" that repto is referring to. If you have previously agreed to participate, and I have not contacted you, that means I was probably unable to fit you in on my last big sample collection trip (March/April 2008) and/or did not want to waste your time by taking samples that I could not guarantee would be processed in time. If you are still keen, let me know. If not, no worries. A scientific study providing a baseline of what pathogens are present within the exotic reptile population in NZ may help to prevent something like the "iguana fiasco" from happening again. For those of you that are uncomfortable with this study, simply disregard the participation invite. For those of you who have been in touch, I look forward to meeting you and providing you with some health information regarding your exotic reptiles free of charge. Sincerely, Heidy Kikillus ------------------------------- PhD Candidate, Ecology and Biodiversity Victoria University of Wellington School of Biological Sciences P.O. Box 600 Wellington 6140 New Zealand [email protected] Phone: +64 4 463 5233 x8011 Mobile: +64 0210 236 1197 Fax: +64 4 463 5331