chopper

Nah I don't work for maf. I did study into the early acclimatisation societies at uni and their distribution of foreign organisms, so have general interest in this stuff.

After reading the alpine newts thread I was wondering how many other little colonies of critters that have been smuggled in exist either in captivity or in the wild?There were those two fella's who were busted with scorpions in Queenstown recently. And there was also a thriving little colony of European gudgeon found a few yrs back up in northland. I wonder what else there is out there, ( i mean that has been illegally smuggled in not just released or escaped from captivity and not lone individuals, like the carpet python found a few yrs back). Has anyone else heard of smuggled populations existing of reptiles, amphibians ,invertebrates or even fish found?

New someone who caught a blue tongue after it came out from under their house during winter( I guess it was brumating and wanted a drink). Whether or not it was let go or escaped I guess no one will know. But I'm sure they could create a breeding pop as found in cooler climes in Australia. This pop could be wiped out if caught quick as they are such slugs DOC could just run them over!

Yeah ya can keep em in a tank that size. But, as Alanmin4304 said you will need to do more water changes. In smaller tanks they are also less active than in larger tanks. In a tank of the size you mentioned it would be best that you only keep one adult or two smaller individuals. Axolotls are filthy fiends so need good filtration or frequent water changes.They can cope without supplementary aeration.Labs often keep specimens in smaller tanks. I keep several smaller grow outs in the tank size you mention until I up grade them to the increasingly larger tanks. All this said its really best to keep them in a larger tank for their well being and for your viewing pleasure. If you can't afford a larger tank just go to Payless plastics or mitre 10 and buy a fish bin or large plastic tub and keep em in that. You can keep 2 in the bigger bins and at a push 3 with a good filter , surface area is more important than depth, but greater volume will stay cleaner longer( but no excuse for lack of cleaning).My smaller individuals are kept in fish bins until separation into the glass tanks. Sometimes if you have bare glass bottomed tank you will find axolotls toes wear down ( especially with new tanks which have very smooth glass bottoms) to stop this put thin sprinkling of sand on bottom this solves the problem. Using large river stones can be good but debris can lodge between stones so can be a pain. I find it best to put sprinkling of sand on bottom of tanks. Hope this helps.

Maf got back onto me. There is nothing to stop nz inverts from being sent overseas legally. Only those classed as protected are illegal to export and there are a few other exceptions. They gave me several examples of stopping people at the border leaving with sometimes hundreds of live specimens but had no power to seize them or hold the person in question. Also found numerous bugs in post but had to let them through. So long as they are caught by permission on private land there is nothing stopping them. I guess some may be caught in national parks which is illegal but its hard to prove they were caught there.

Check out this web page, they are selling nz peripitus, wetas, tunnel webs and nz mantis ( mantis on another page on same website) http://www.exotic-pets.co.uk/other-inve ... -sale.html Are these being smuggled out or were these exported many years ago so there are now breeding populations overseas available for sale? I am unsure ? I was also digging around on overseas reptile and invert forums and one member claimed he was able to obtain more nz peripitus. Not sure if that meant he was breeding them or smuggling them. Other websites have had hem for sale to. I emailed maf and doc but waiting for reply

Keep DVD player and spend money which was to be used on blue ray on fish stuff!

Curious to know the worst animal bite, sting etc fnzas members have received! This has to be by a member only not a friend or relative other wise someone is bound to have known Steve Irwin or know Ruud Kleinpaste. Bite, sting can be from anything from budgie to camel spider and anything in between, so long as it hurt or there were repurcusions( it may not have hurt but may have got infected). Also interested to find out the oddest animal members were bitten by? This could be a mauling from a marmoset or a licken from a chicken, and doesn't have to have hurt or can be a combo of both( hurt and odd). I will start us off( mine I guess won't have been bad compared to others but thought it would start off discussion). Worst: 1)getting nipped on thumb by a huge cancer crab. It didn't let go and felt like getting hit by a hammer. 2) bitten on nose by my son when he was 2. This really hurt my nose got infected and i had to go to doctor. It swelled up for 2 weeks like a beetroot with teeth marks. Oddest: 1) penguin, this hurt a bit because it had a hooked beak and twisted about. 2) giant weta, didn't really hurt but chewed into vein so I bled a bit. 3) Changeable lizard ( calotes versicolor) not common down here so put it down. Gave me a good chomp as I wanted to show my mate ( we had tried to catch it for ages) so had to hold it for a while till i found him whilst it continued to bite me for about 10 mins

I have only just found this thread. Most hated fish is trout. Any kind in nz. Protected despite the damage they do to nz native animals, and DOC help with administration and promotion of the Tongariro National Trout Centre the hypocrites!. Only good one is a dead one and one that has preferably been speared!

I got offered a shingle back back in the 90's for $3000 or was it $5000, long time ago but was heaps! Thought it was a rip off couldn't afford it then and definitely not now. Used to catch em as a kid in Australia where they also sold em for $20 in pet store and you didn't need a permit back then. They were very similar in behaviour to the blue tongues I also kept.

Cheers for that livingart.I guessed they must have been around for a while due to import restrictions tightening up stopping exotics being brought in.But I can't recall them being common until the late 90's in the south island anyway, and he found them in ashburton.

Was wondering how long fire bellied newts have been in nz? The reason I ask is because I remember a fella I new back in the early 1990's claiming that he found some living in a pond at a house he once moved into! So if his claim was authentic it could date back to the 80's.I suppose he could have been pulling my leg but thought I would ask the question anyway.

Awesome cheers for posting the photo sanitychelle, I still can't seem to upload the other one but this pic gives the same idea. If they are dye injected its quite disturbing ( they could be dipped also but I doubt it as this would result in almost certain death for an amphibian as it strips slime coat then replaces it with dye). I don't like these fake fish let alone axolotls. They have however genetically modified axolotls using a fluorescent protein originally found in jellyfish. These glow green under UV light and you can buy them for your aquarium but not in nz. Here are some on YouTube ► 2:54► 2:54

Here is link. Scroll right down to see photo of the axolotls http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1-general ... awful.html There is a far better picture I saved to my desk top from another forum ( not caudata.org)im a member off . I will attempt to post on tomorrow as its getting late.