Herpetoculture In Europe

Hi.

The colletti is probably from Papua New Guinea. The micros were either snuck in or the offspring could have been obtained from zoological institutes?

Just a guess.
Marthinus

Pseudechis colletti does not occur in Papua New Guinea - it's an Australian endemic, so unless it's zoo surplus or something like that, it or its ancestors would have been smuggled out of Australia. In any case, PNG does not allow commercial fauna exports either.

Let's face it, I strongly suspect that the founder stock of a very appreciable proportion of the species currently widely bred and kept in captivity arrived in someone's suitcase.... which probably gave them a much higher chance of survival than if they had been part of a shipment from the average exporter!

Thanks for rectifying Wolfgang.

Hi, i'm French cityzen and i'm currently under working holidays visa in Australia and i apply for my second years in Febuary.

I hope to stay in Australia with my girlfriend (she's australian).

I tried several times to speak to the Australian gouvernment about Australian captive breed reptiles export.

But unfortunately i never received real answer about this subject.

So i did my personnal research about australian reptiles import export oversea.

For the moment i think you can't export Australian reptiles for commercial purpose, except for this few reasons :

Approved captive breeding programs
Approved artificial propagation programs
Approved wildlife trade operations
Approved wildlife trade management plans
Accredited wildlife trade management plans
( follow the link for more informations): http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/sources/index.html

After read a several times the conditions to export australian native wildlive, i think the gouvernment speak only about wild native animals.

So i think in fact you don't have laws for control the commercial trade of "Australian captive breed reptiles"( only for the wildlife).

And also you can import some Venomous snakes (and probably wild specimens) to Australia !
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/lists/import/pubs/live-import-list.pdf

Finally, I find the laws about the import/export of Australian reptiles in Australia is little confused !

Sorry for my bad english,
Nicolas.

Hi Drew, I think the probleme is you don't have a approved breeding programs can sell live animals.

For example: Venom supplies is approved breeding programs by the gouvernment but they can't sell live animals, only blood, part of body or venom i think.

We have only one solution i think.
Come to Australia, get your Australian Nationality, start a venomous snakes farm and hope your Farm will be approved by the gouvernment !!!

It's real challenge and you have very small opportunity to succeed !

you ca find some information about the breeding programs in this link
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/sources/forms/wildlife-programs.html

Hi Drew, i'm just about to send you an email but thought i'd post the jist of things here for the clarifaction of others also. Australian native reptiles can be sent out of Australia, we have done so twice and i know some of the zoos here have also, but (and this is a big but) you (the importer) needs to get a licence from our government and you can pretty well count yourself out unless you are a big name zoo or a researcher at a recognised institution with a specific project in mind, and even then they make you jump through all sorts of hoops. You will also be required to enter into an agreement that the animals (and progeny of) are not to be used for any purpose other than that stated in the export licence and especially not passed along to others.

I hope this helps clear things up a little.

Cheers

Nathan
Production Manager
Venom Supplies Pty Ltd

These strict laws on Aussie reptiles create a massive demand. This just fuels smuggling and is completely counterproductive for conservation. Many Aussie sp. Are bred fairly regularly in captivity over there, why can these not be exported? This makes very little sense, but I suppose that’s the case with many environmental laws!

Exactly ! Many Australian reptiles are breed in captivy with success !
I think export Australian reptiles captive breeding don't do problems for the environment.

But prohibit the Export of Australian reptiles for commercial purpose push more people to smuggling.

Hello Drew,

I know people who did and I know people who tried and ended up in jail.

My brother in law lives in Australia and he is active in preserving nature there. He told me quite a lot about how people try to smuggle wildlife out and how they get caught.

Making fun, he said to me that he would not come and see me in jail if I would have been caught trying to smuggle snakes out. But - and he knew that of course - I had never had any intention to do so.
All wildlife I took home from there was inside my camera - legally, as photos.