Captive Breeding in Australia

[Joanna Pendleton]

Just watched the programme on Eden called Tarantula (thanks Lee)

It mentioned the guy who captive bred Ts he collected from the wild and I thought the voiceover said he held "Australia's only license to captive breed"

Do they mean license to collect from the wild for captive breeding or do they have a really strict policy on captive breeding? Im really confused by this? Surely they'd rather people captive bred?

Did anyone see this programme or have any knowledge of the situation down and under or what the voiceover really said if I've heard it wrong?

Thank you

J x

[Mandy Clinch]

My mum has Sky plussed this for me (i don't have Eden) so i'm watching it tomorrow and i'll have a listen. You would think they would want people to breed in captivity rather than take from the wild...x

[Joanna Pendleton]

Thats why I think I may have misheard what they said Mand, doesn't make sense the way I heard it lol.

Was good to see them visit Germany as well as Oz

x

[Scott Pritchard]

You definitely heard right Joanna. Just watches it now and he says he holds the first and only licence to CB native tarantulas. I can't shed any light on the reasoning for this though I am as baffled as you are.

[Lee Corless]

Yes, he says "Stuart Douglas has Australia's first and only license to captive breed the native Tarantulas". He then goes on to say "Stuart sometimes looks for females to boost his captive stock. But they all go back into the wild to help the spices survive."

[Scott Pritchard]

This is what baffles me most. I am willing to bet my life that he is not the only person in Australia with the knowledge and experience to help with the native tarantula population. Surely it would be more beneficial to the tarantula population to have more than One guy legally breeding them. Perhaps the licence is so hard to acquire most don't bother, which to me seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face with regards to the agencies controlling the licensing

[Lee Corless]

After listening to it again, The narrator starts off by talking about a Whistling Tarantula from the rain forest in the Tropical North. I am just wondering if Stuart has the only license to breed this one species

[Scott Pritchard]

If thats the case its a bit needless with the whole "license to breed native tarantula" quote. Ah well I am sure some sense will be made of this at some point

[Peter Lacey]

I think perhaps you are missing an important point made in this programme.
Bus loads of people were descending on areas completely stripping the area of species, perhaps before some had been identified.

I'm sure there are others in Australia breeding these, might be worthwhile taking a look here:

http://www.theata.org/home.php

[Mark Pennell]

I think perhaps you are missing an important point made in this programme.
Bus loads of people were descending on areas completely stripping the area of species, perhaps before some had been identified.

I'm sure there are others in Australia breeding these, might be worthwhile taking a look here:
http://www.theata.org/home.php

Peter is spot on there.. also pretty sure the license to breed is not needed but a license to breed for export is.. and this is whats hard to get...

cheers
Mark

P.S I am pretty sure Steve Nunn would be able to clear all these points and in duew course will, as he ofthen swings by this forum.

[Lee Corless]

Peter is spot on there.. also pretty sure the license to breed is not needed but a license to breed for export is.

But the narrator says that Stuart only sometimes removes females from the wild to boost his captive stock, and that all his stock goes back into the wild to help the survival of the species and not the pet trade.

[Daniel Klaer]

Hey guys, I have never really posted here before, just have a look now and then. But saw this had never got cleared up by Steve so I will comment. As far as I was aware Steve was the only one able to export tarantulas. And as far as breeding anybody can do it (and they do). The other person you mention.... does not have a lot of respect from the T community here and that is all I will say about that