Frilled Lizards

[livingart]

thorny devils have never been for sale or on display publicly in nz

let alone in animates

i have posted this before

AMPHIBIANS

(these are the only exotic amphibians held legally in NZ, either publicly or privately. Other species are also held illegally, ones that have cropped up most recently being White's tree frog Litoria caerulea in 2009 and banjo frog Limnodynastes sp. in 1999)

*Golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) -- introduced Australian species found wild in the top half of the North Island.

*Southern bell frog (Litoria raniformis) -- introduced Australian species common all over New Zealand.

*Whistling frog (Litoria ewingii) -- introduced Australian species common in parts of New Zealand.

*African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) -- originally brought in by University labs, now seen in some zoos and aquariums as well. Not legal to keep privately.

*Cane toad (Bufo marinus) -- originally brought in by University labs, sometimes seen in some zoos and aquariums (I haven't actually seen any in a while so not sure if there's any in the country now). Not legal to keep privately.

*Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) -- common in the pet trade in various colour forms; sometimes seen in zoos and aquariums.

*Japanese fire-bellied newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster) -- the commonest of the two fire-bellied newt species in the pet trade here. The populations of both species in NZ descend from smuggled animals.

*Chinese fire-bellied newt (Cynops orientalis)

SNAKES

(no exotic snakes are allowed to be held in NZ, even for zoos. The larger zoos (i.e. Wellington and Auckland) have tried in the past to be permitted to hold male individuals of non-venomous species that wouldn't be able to survive in the NZ climate but have been rejected every time. The only "native" snakes in NZ, in the sense that the individuals make their own way to the country, are the sea snakes which occasionally wash up on our shores half-moribund with cold. These are usually yellow-bellied sea snakes Pelamis platurus although banded sea snakes Laticauda colubrina also occur from time to time. Sea snakes which are still alive are taken to Kelly Tarton's in Auckland for care, and they are sometimes displayed to the public until fit enough to be released in the tropical Pacific)

LIZARDS

(there are more species than listed here kept privately, mainly Australian species, but most of those are either outright illegal or are on shaky legal ground. As well as the following species, I also remember Auckland Zoo having an Asian bloodsucker Calotes versicolor and Fijian banded iguanas Brachylophus fasciatus in their collection in the 1990s, but their old reptile house/aquarium has been closed up for several years now and I don't know what's still there. Wellington Zoo and the National Aquarium (Napier) had green iguanas Iguana iguana in the mid-1980s to early 1990s that had been bred at Taronga Zoo; there are also green iguanas being kept illegally in NZ from smuggled animals)

*Scheltopusik (Ophisaurus (or Pseudopus) apodus) -- there was a pair of these at Auckland Zoo for decades but now only one is left. They make a good snake-substitute; you'd be surprised how many people think the zoo there keeps snakes!

*Jackson's chameleon (Chamaeleo jacksonii) -- originally at Auckland Zoo although I'm not sure when or from whence they came. Stock bred there later went to Ti Point (which was good, as Auckland Zoo managed to kill all the ones they had left!). Not legal to keep privately.

*Gould's monitor (Varanus gouldii) -- there was one at Ti Point in 2009 which now appears to be gone; I saw a small-ish one at Wellington Zoo in 2002 as well, which could have been the same individual. The Ti Point individual is/was the only monitor now in any NZ zoo although lace monitors Varanus varius used to be seen frequently. There appear to be a few individuals of smaller monitor species kept privately however.

*Eastern water dragon (Physignathus lesueurii) -- originally mainly seen in zoos (Auckland Zoo in particular was breeding them well), but now common in the private sector as well.

*Inland (central) bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) -- common in both zoos and the private sector. Fairly recently colour morphs (especially reds and yellows) have started appearing in the pet trade, despite these morphs not appearing overseas before legal imports to NZ were halted.

*Coastal (eastern) bearded dragon (Pogona barbata) -- appeared out of nowhere seemingly......

*Eastern blue-tongue skink (Tiliqua scincoides) -- very common in zoos and the private sector. (Apparently there are some other species held privately in NZ as well but who knows).

*Stump-tailed skink (Tiliqua (or Trachydosaurus) rugosus) -- not many left in NZ zoos any more. Still some in private hands as well.

*Cunningham's skink (Egernia cunninghami) -- not many in NZ zoos. Still in the private sector but I don't know how common/rare they are.

*Rainbow skink (Leiolopisma delicata) -- introduced Australian species common in the wild in the North Island.

*Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularus) -- originally a few individuals (four?) imported by Orana Park for their then-new reptile house, later passed on to Eric Fox of Otorohanga Kiwi House who bred them, and from there they entered the private sector. Recently colour morphs have started appearing on the market which is nothing if not suspicious.

*Madagascar day gecko (Phelsuma madagascariensis grandis) -- originally imported from Australia in about 2000 (presumably by Auckland Zoo, I'm not quite sure). There are still not a lot of them around. I know they are currently at Wellington Zoo, Hamilton Zoo, Ti Point, the Parrot Ranch, and the Dunedin Butterfly House. Not legal to keep privately, but apparently there are people with them.

*House gecko (Gekko monarchus) -- at Ti Point

*Northern dtella (Gehyra australis) -- at Ti Point

CHELONIANS

(the turtles are found mainly in the private sector and range in abundance from very common to very rare; zoos could obtain them easily from breeders if they wanted them. Apart for the Greek and Hermann's most of the tortoises could be classed as rare to very rare in NZ, and are mostly housed at Ti Point. There's probably a few more species in NZ than listed below but they would be composed of one or two old individuals unless descended from smuggled animals)

*Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra) -- a male and two females at Auckland Zoo, and one male at Ti Point (ex-Auckland Zoo). I believe all four were imported from Honolulu Zoo in 1983 (the two males definitely were).

*Red-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonaria) -- at Ti Point

*Yellow-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis denticulata) -- at Ti Point

*Chaco / pampas tortoise (Chelonoidis petersi / C. chilensis) -- at Ti Point [in NZ these are called chaco tortoises with the scientific name Geochelone chilensis (under the older genus name), but the chaco tortoise is petersi and the pampas tortoise is chilensis so I'm not actually sure which is the species in NZ]

*Texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri) -- at Ti Point

*Indian star tortoise (Geochelone elegans) -- at Ti Point and Auckland Zoo

*Elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata) -- a few in private hands

*Greek (spur-thighed) tortoise (Testudo graeca) -- the commonest tortoise in the NZ pet trade

*Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni) -- the second-commonest tortoise in the NZ pet trade

*Leopard tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis) -- two females confiscated at Wellington airport in 1996 were sent to Auckland Zoo where they were joined in 2002 by a male donated by a lady from Dunedin who had been keeping him as a pet since being given him in northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1958! Ti Point also had at least one leopard tortoise, but Auckland Zoo has bred quite a number from their trio and the young ones can be seen in several other NZ zoos now. They are not currently legal to keep privately.

*Red-eared terrapin (Trachemys scripta elegans) -- very common in the pet trade. There are suggestions in some circles that they should be banned to prevent them becoming established in the wild as a pest.

*Cumberlands terrapin (Trachemys scripta troostii)

*Painted terrapin (Chrysemys picta)

*Florida cooter (Pseudemys floridana)

*Diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) -- may be none left now

*Carolina box turtle (Terrapene carolina) -- may still be some other Terrapene species around as well

*Reeves' turtle (Chinemys reevesii)

*Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)

*Striped leaf turtle (Cyclemys atripons)

*Spiny turtle (Heosemys spinosa)

*Asian box turtle (Cuora amboinensis)

*Chinese box turtle (Cuora flavomarginata) and possibly some of the other Cuora species

*Murray River turtle (Emydura macquarii)

*Eastern snakeneck (Chelodina longicollis)

*Narrow-breasted snakeneck (Chelodina oblonga) -- may still be around

*Broad-shelled snakeneck (Chelodina expansa) -- may still be around

*Matamata (Chelus fimbriatus) -- used to be in NZ, probably none left now

*Florida softshell turtle (Apalone ferox) -- at Ti Point and (formerly?) National Aquarium in Napier (the Ti Point ones were bred at Napier)

*Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis)

*Snapping turtle -- I can't remember if the one(s) in NZ were common or alligator snappers. I doubt there's any left now.

*Marine turtles are/have been kept at Kelly Tarlton's and the National Aquarium in Napier. The latter keeps two hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) which came from Fiji in 1979. Kelly Tarlton's rescues any sea turtles that wash up in NZ and after recovery at the facility return them to the wild in the tropical Pacific.

CROCODYLIANS

(obviously not legal to hold privately in NZ. Most public facilities aren't set up to hold large crocodylians so there's not many here. Individuals held here in the past few decades included a spectacled caiman Caiman crocodilus at Auckland Zoo, an American alligator at Wellington Zoo, and a saltwater crocodile at the now-closed Mini Zoo in Christchurch)

*American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) -- five at Butterfly Creek (imported as babies in 2009, presumably from Australia but I haven't been able to find that out); five at Auckland Zoo (four of them being eight-year-old females imported from Australia Zoo in 2010, the other being the thirty-year-old female Doris that they have had for decades); and two at Ti Point (the female moved there from Auckland Zoo in 1998 is now gone, presumably she died; I'm not sure where their male came from originally - probably Auckland Zoo - but he is currently about 35 years old; an eight-year-old female from Australia Zoo was imported in 2010 together with the four that went to Auckland Zoo)

*Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) -- now only at Butterfly Creek (two large adult males imported in 2009 from Australian crocodile farms -- originally wild-caught in Queensland and the Northern Territory). The one at the National Aquarium in Napier - originally from a Singapore crocodile farm - died in July 2010.

[FACEAnthrax]

admit it,you were dreaming,or do you partake in recreational drugs of some sort? :rotf:

repto stop being such a rude ****.

Believe what you will, I'm 100% sure there was one back then. Mainly because it was so interesting to see a reptile with spikes all over. Unless there's another reptile that looks exactly like a thorny but isn't a thorny.

Regardless can anyone answer me any questions on the frillies or monitors? Like I've been trying to find out this whole time and the original topic was about?

[alanmin4304]

Interesting as they may be I can't see people feeding them very easily considering that they eat only one type of ant and can eat up to 3000 a day. Good luck feeding one.

[A-town...]

No frillies no monitors end of story

[livingart]

LIZARDS

(there are more species than listed here kept privately, mainly Australian species, but most of those are either outright illegal or are on shaky legal ground.

they won't be declaring they had them on a public forum

[repto]

next time you are up this way faceanthrax,you can come over and see my komodo dragon,just don`t tell anyone,i have some juvenilles forsale,just working out a deal with animates. :rotf:

[aotealotl]

Other species are also held illegally, ones that have cropped up most recently being White's tree frog Litoria caerulea in 2009

hmmmm :happy2:

[Navarre]

Monitors were held pre 96by a zoo here. both of the pair passed away...which isn't all that bad considering they were seven foot long tree climbing bird eating machines

[A-town...]

Monitors were held pre 96by a zoo here. both of the pair passed away...which isn't all that bad considering they were seven foot long tree climbing bird eating machines

I have vague memories of monitors at auckland zoo from wen I was younger. Didnt seem to do much from what I remember just laze around most of the day.

[henward]

i would be highly doubtful if such a 'marginally legal' and specialised lizard would be for sale

BUT stranger things have happened lol

as for monitors... well, thats definitely not gonna be discussed here if it exists, whcih rumour has it MAY, but then again, Rumours had it that we had wild moose in nz.......that turned out to be a diddy......

rumour also had it that the bigfoot exists...... oh, and ufos...... i think i saw one last night.....

[henward]

next time you are up this way faceanthrax,you can come over and see my komodo dragon,just don`t tell anyone,i have some juvenilles forsale,just working out a deal with animates. :rotf:

Dont joke about things like that.................you got me super excited :sml1:

[henward]

as for being jealous of the UK, well, many animals are not allowed in nz and fish included.

i think to some degree, we are all jealous of the UK in that regard.... maybe not the weather though!

If you ever visit Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia (though i dont recommend philippines, im from there and its really quite gross)

you will see, the range is disgustingly awesome!

i remember, snakes as far as the eyes can see, eagles, owls, large wild cats, large fish, sharks, sting rays fresh and salt water. STURGEON!!

nz weather i recon would be awesome for sturgeon!! maybe a new industry of caviar can sprout from the pure waters of nz:D

[sneaky2]

yea had a sturgeon back in the early 90s think they came in at the same time as chinese fire belly newts n asian soft shell turtles,had all of them back then when i think about it. siiiigh :facepalm:

[aotealotl]

someone interested to get some European Fire-bellied Toads ? just asking... :spop:

[F15hguy]

nah, all we need is some cane toads, give it 3 years and we won't have any native wildlife left and we will be allowed to import anything we want!!!

plus they make good golf balls