Thorny Devils

These creatures look amazing.

Anyone ever come in contact with them or anyone that has keep them as pets?

Here are some cool pics I found:

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

I don't think any exist in US collections...besides zoos maybe. The australians like to bogart their local wildlife.:(

love the wicking action of their skin... but jason, you may know better than i would, but i don't even think zoos have them do they?

I doubt if many zoos have them. They will apparently eat only a certain type of ant found in their region, so unless a zoo can sustain a large ant colony they won't last very long.

I agree, though... they are amazing lizards.

It's amazing the way they move to mimic the wind rushing through a thorn bush.

Thorny devils rock :D ,
a few years ago a friend of mine had a trio of thorny devils VERY CUTE! :D , the guy she got them off told her how he fed them on normal every day ants :eek: , he dips a cotton bud in vinegar and dabs it on the ants adomens also works on pin head crickets from a plant sprayer , at first i thought he was having a laugh at her expense and was ripping her off but when i saw her doing this trick they were flying at them clearing them up like little vacuums cleaners :eek: quite a fuss thou as the are fed every day and eat ALOT , she swapped them after having them a few years in the end for a pair of GTPS,

Wow, that's pretty interesting and does seem like a lot of work. What was the purpose of dabbing the ants with vinegar?

probably to mimick the natural scent/taste etc of the ant so the lil devil will eat regular ants instead of just the crazy aussie ants. lol

yup gooseman exactly right :)

I was acctually abe to come in contact with one while traveling in Australia. here he is with me:

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...01037Small.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...01038WinCE.jpg

steveo, that trio was possibly smuggled into the country, since australia doesn't export any of its herptofauna, and i haven't heard of anyone breeding them here in the US at least, or even being bred in captivity.

~mike

you lucky sob wildlifewarrior , i didnt see any at all when i was out there :(
cool photo mate
and yeah i suspected they must of been smuggled in or something as Australia will not export any lizards/reptiles at all , which i tend to agree with

Please read this thread: http://www.repticzone.com/forums/Exo...es/217412.html

Ive read it that ace guy sounded dodgy lol
thing is people think all they eat is ants..they dont, in the wild maybe as food is scarce in there habitat , the trio i saw being kept fed on small crickets and ants etc its true they eat a HELL of alot thats the reason she swapped them back then for a pair of GTP'S , also even thou Australia has VERY strict rules on there flora/fauna regarding exports ie NOTHING gets out (which i think is totally correct ) and most of the time its true BUT animals do get smuggled out from time to time thats where Bearded Dragons originaly came from smuggled WC's now there all captive bred but the original animals were smuggled into different countries way back
people in the know can get hold of any animal they wish which i think is wrong tbh but sh@t happens :(

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Originally Posted by steveo

Ive read it that ace guy sounded dodgy lol
thing is people think all they eat is ants..they dont, in the wild maybe as food is scarce in there habitat , the trio i saw being kept fed on small crickets and ants etc its true they eat a HELL of alot thats the reason she swapped them back then for a pair of GTP'S , also even thou Australia has VERY strict rules on there flora/fauna regarding exports ie NOTHING gets out (which i think is totally correct ) and most of the time its true BUT animals do get smuggled out from time to time thats where Bearded Dragons originaly came from smuggled WC's now there all captive bred but the original animals were smuggled into different countries way back
people in the know can get hold of any animal they wish which i think is wrong tbh but sh@t happens :(

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Yup, just look at our borders....:salute:

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Originally Posted by xdeus

I doubt if many zoos have them. They will apparently eat only a certain type of ant found in their region, so unless a zoo can sustain a large ant colony they won't last very long.

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They are cool! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by steveo

you lucky sob wildlifewarrior , i didnt see any at all when i was out there :(
cool photo mate

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Thanks man, i have better still pics but these were the ones my girlfriend took. Yea i was driving up the West Coast from Perth to Exmouth, i was sittin shotty in a bus of 22 chattin with the driver about everything. I mentioned i love herps pulled out my field guide and said "I would love to find these" pointing to the Moloch's pic, he was like o you wanna see one look for a horse shoe in the road. So i kept lookin finally we found one!! It is a herpetologist's dream! she was AWSOME!! beautiful face, awsome colors!!

steveo where were you at? I was based outta Fremantle, (near perth) WA

~mike

Im thinking about going back to Austrailia again in the near future , the last time i was there i spent my time travelling through the east coast from sydney up to cairns i landed in Cairns then had to travel down to Brisbane for a month of conservation work ( that was great fun brilliant team i was in) , when i finished my work i flew down to sydney and travelled through most of the east coast on the way back up to Cairns to fly home. It was the best 3 months of my life out there :) (made a point after sydney of staying away from the cities though , so glad i did the outback rules) :rockon:

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Originally Posted by JBallPython

I don't think any exist in US collections...besides zoos maybe. The australians like to bogart their local wildlife.:(

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Hmmmm. Maybe thats why we don't have masses of wild Aussie animals in the glades.

They are pretty cool but I don't see anyone legally getting them in the US anytime soon