Is that a gecko in your pants?

Dave W · January 28, 2010, 08:44:54 AM

Pilgrim · January 28, 2010, 10:45:55 AM

I am now prepared for the riffs on the word "skink" that will no doubt be provided by our esteemed forum members....

Highlander · January 28, 2010, 04:18:40 PM

My hovercraft is full of skinks...

Lightyear · January 28, 2010, 04:40:57 PM

And he was going home to Germany with them! How long of a flight would that be?

I guess the Germans just have a thing for skinks. That or they just love sewing reptiles in their drawers

Dave W · January 28, 2010, 06:15:37 PM

Uwe is a reptile owner. Maybe the authorities should find out who hired the defendant.

Lightyear · January 28, 2010, 07:54:06 PM

Mmmmm, well, he does have predilection for kollekting

Do all German reptile collectors sew reptiles into their underwear

Freuds_Cat · January 28, 2010, 08:51:37 PM

Better to have a skink than a skank in your pants as far as I'm concerned.

Pilgrim · January 28, 2010, 08:55:53 PM

What, he idly reflected, is the past tense of skink?

Skunk?

uwe · January 29, 2010, 05:04:01 AM

Quote from: Dave W on January 28, 2010, 06:15:37 PM
Uwe is a reptile owner. Maybe the authorities should find out who hired the defendant.

Currently, my terrarium only features one protected species - the Australian spiketail monitor. All the other inhabitants, bluetongue skinks, tokehs, giant shield lizards and the three iguanas are not protected (iguanas are actually bred on farms in Central America either for eating as the local chicken or as pets for Europe and North America). And my spiketail monitor is licensed with the authorities. Should I ever sell him (I won't), I would have to notify the "Regierungspräsidium in Darmstadt, Artenschutzbehörde", in Germany we do everything ordentlich.

That said, the smuggler was heroic. Australian skinks (I don't know which species it was, even the bluetongue might be protected by now) are docile animals and make great, if slightly boring pets, but their jaws are incredibly muscular for their size (a large part of their diet is snails which they crack) and they never let go, kind of like the Gila monster. So if one of those skinks would have bitten ... they do like anything egg-shapped, you know ...

Freuds_Cat · January 29, 2010, 07:03:58 AM

"The geckos may have been worth 2,000 euros ($2,800) each on the European market, he noted."

OK this really gets me. Bloody geckos? are you serious? The cute little suckers abound up in the Top end of Australia. They are good because they eat Mozzies, apart from that.........they cant be serious.....can they?

Its like the price in different countries of Sulpher crested Cockatoos or Yellow or red tailed Black cockatoos. I keep shoo-ing the annoying family of SCC's away from my apple tree in the mornings when they drop in to my back yard, all 12 of them. Funny buggers to watch though. There is a running joke whenever we see a family of them on the ground under a tree or suchlike where we count the Cockys like this: One thousand dollars, two thousand dollars.....etc

What is so annoying about the animal laws here is that there are native animals that are becoming extinct that we are not allowed to keep as pets. If we could keep something like the Eastern Quoll as pets it would stop them becoming extinct.
They are currently extinct on mainland Australia, this little Australian marsupial is the perfect choice for a cat owner. They are about the same size as a cat, they have a similar level of intelligence and affection and they will even use the kitty litter tray. What they won't do is go feral and pose a problem for other native wildlife.

I'm becoming totally convinced that bureaucrats are all complete idiots.