From the US to Australia - help?

[Katie007]

Been awhile since I've posted on here (3ish years I think?), but I'm an American living in Melbourne, Australia (Werribee actually). About 3 years ago I moved to Australia and had to re-home my two beardies. Long story short, after 3 years and no longer renting (and dealing with landlords very opposed to pets), I think I'm finally ready to welcome a new dragon into our home.

Question 1 - Can any Aussies recommend a Melbourne based breeder? I've googled but all I seem to find are Gumtree posts and pet stores. I've been to Amazing Amazon, but to be honest, felt a little uncomfortable with their husbandry and I'm not too sure I want to purchase from them (mixed enclosures including beardies, blue tongues and shinglebacks all together, lots of loose substrates, huge crickets in with tiny babies).

Question 2 - Having a hard time finding Reptisuns here (what I always used back in the US and what I'm most comfortable continuing to use). If it becomes difficult to track down Reptisuns is there another brand you would recommend?

Question 3 - Where do you guys order your feeders? There are apparently no local reptile stores within about an hour of me that sell roaches/worms. Is livefoods.com.au a good source?

Last question (maybe) - I've always used the front opening exo-terras (40gal breeder equivalent, I think 36x18x24?) but read somewhere that they aren't recommended for use in Australia (or any glass tank type enclosure). Is this true? If so, what else would you recommend. I'm not very handy so I think building something custom myself is probably out of the question.

Any other Australia specific tips would be highly appreciated! Thanks

 

[Terry15]

There is a member on this forum," kingofnobbys ", he can answer a lot of your questions, he lives in Australia. You could Private message him.

 

[kingofnobbys]

1) I'm not Melbourne based ,I'm located near the northern end of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales.
Similar situation, was a big breeder of central and Lawsons bearded dragons , easterns, northerns and blotchy BTS , and monitors in the just the next suburb but he's folded now (I think) , I got all my gang via GumTree , worked pretty well for me. Longest I'll drive is 90 mins to collect a reptile , but I will not go to Sydney.
I do know there are several very good beardie breeders in Melbourne and Geelong areas.
I'd never buy a reptile from a pet shop - ever.

GumTree , APC are your best options to locate a local breeder, is very early in the breeding season right now, give it another month and clutches of hatchlings will be hatching and adverts will build up until about March.
If you look up the local Herp club, they will have leads to members who are breeding their dragons.

2) Arcadia.
Couldn't find anyone who carried enough T5HO 12% tubes, so I imported my own supply of 4 x 24W tubes from the UK along with 4 x 24W Arcadia Slimline T5HO reflector hood kits.
Local resellers of the big brands are all ripoff merchants IMO.

3) I've been using Livefoods lately because Frog Arcade had some issue that forced them rebuild their insects stocks. Livefoods seem to be good ( I would prefer they sent the crickets in mailing tubes rather than bags with tubes or egg cartons in them).
My last order of 1000 medium crickets arrived yesterday, only 4 DOA but this batch a tad small (more like Frog Arcade 26day - 1/3 size than 2/3 size I'm was expecting).
I don't use woodies.
Their superworms and mealworms and silkworms are good too.
Been buying most my bulk insects from FrogArcade for several years, usually supers and 2/3 size crickets (700 packs) and occasionally mealworms (for the wild skinks and birds).


Biolabs are good too.

Aussie Fauna and hobbyists on GumTree for silkworms , cheaper than A-A, Biolabs, Livefoods and PeacefulSilkworms ,

Tips

Bunnings for hardware and tubs.

Pet-n-Direct for meds, equipment, and suppliments.

 

[label]

G'day from St Kilda! Amazing Amazon is one of the best specialist shops in the area; I know the big enclosure you're talking about. I've wondered a bit about it but there are multiple basking spots and hides. They do use sand in most of the enclosures but I imagine (but don't actually know) that it's play sand (like you get from Bunnings), which is the most widely recommended substrate on the Australian beardie board (http://www.australianbeardies.net/index.php). You might look on there if you are looking for a private breeder; you could post there looking for a local one. I got my beardie from a now defunct shop that turned out to be a source of crap advice but I've gotten my shinglebacks and angle-headed dragons from Amazing Amazon; the advice I got when one of my shingles brumated and the other didn't was spot-on. They usually stock Reptisun--that's where I've gotten mine. But you're right--there aren't many good shops. And the only 2 specialist vets I know of are in Warranwood and Karingal, though in Weribee you could take advantage of the Melbourne Uni vet school clinic.

Hope you find a beardie source you're happy with.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

We definitely have several Aussies here on the board to help out.
What a huge accomplishment, moving to Australia has always been a dream for me also.
I am pretty sure you should be able to find a nice quality dragon there. The genetics are
much better over there than here in the US now.
You should be able to find Arcadia's easily & they are actually better than the Reptisuns,
too.
Please post pictures of any new dragon (s) you acquire, we would like to see them.

Tracie

 

[Katie007]

kingofnobbys, planning on waiting at least another month anyway (in the process of moving house right now so will probably wait until we're a little more settled). Thanks for the Arcadia tip, I had a look and they definitely seem like the better option.

label, didn't mean to completely bash Amazing Amazon, they had a lot of good supplies and pretty healthy looking animals, the animals in that big enclosure just looked a bit stressed (lots of beardie head bobbing/black beards going on lol). Also didn't know that play sand was recommended here! I thought any kind of loose swallowable substrate, especially sand and crushed walnut, were big impaction risks (maybe thats just the calcisand though?). Also definitely planned to just go to Uvet here in Werribee

Drache613, thank you!! Moving across the world was totally stressful though to be honest haha But now that I'm more settled I love it here! I'll post pictures ASAP

 

[label]

kingofnobbys, planning on waiting at least another month anyway (in the process of moving house right now so will probably wait until we're a little more settled). Thanks for the Arcadia tip, I had a look and they definitely seem like the better option.

label, didn't mean to completely bash Amazing Amazon, they had a lot of good supplies and pretty healthy looking animals, the animals in that big enclosure just looked a bit stressed (lots of beardie head bobbing/black beards going on lol). Also didn't know that play sand was recommended here! I thought any kind of loose swallowable substrate, especially sand and crushed walnut, were big impaction risks (maybe thats just the calcisand though?). Also definitely planned to just go to Uvet here in Werribee

Drache613, thank you!! Moving across the world was totally stressful though to be honest haha But now that I'm more settled I love it here! I'll post pictures ASAP

Hi, again--

On ABDF most of the breeders there use play sand but years ago I mentioned that here and got caught in a flame war. I actually use fake grass (also from Bunnings--my favourite store!). I don't know if Amazing Amazon take the lizards out of that big enclosure when they close but I've seen some bobbing going on too, though I've never actually seen any fights--maybe because it's so big).

Check out the breeders' register on ABDF: http://www.australianbeardies.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?70-Reptile-Breeders-Register ; there are some Victorian breeders there. I just breed southern angle-headed dragons.

I've been in Oz over 21 years now and don't regret it (especially after a certain political event in the US last November). I actually found it much easier to adjust to life in Melbourne than when I moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Indianapolis, so I hope you get settled in well as well.

 

[kingofnobbys]

kingofnobbys, planning on waiting at least another month anyway (in the process of moving house right now so will probably wait until we're a little more settled). Thanks for the Arcadia tip, I had a look and they definitely seem like the better option.

label, didn't mean to completely bash Amazing Amazon, they had a lot of good supplies and pretty healthy looking animals, the animals in that big enclosure just looked a bit stressed (lots of beardie head bobbing/black beards going on lol). Also didn't know that play sand was recommended here! I thought any kind of loose swallowable substrate, especially sand and crushed walnut, were big impaction risks (maybe thats just the calcisand though?). Also definitely planned to just go to Uvet here in Werribee <<<< yeh , some people advocate Bunnings PlaySand , I don't . And I don't believe their claims that they safely keep even newly born hatchlings on the stuff.

Playsand is nothing like the soil they have to live on in their natural range (which is ancient highly weathered hydrophobic clays which can be very fine). Not many Australians bother seeing the natural range of central bearded dragons until they retire and some become "grey nomads", even fewer live and work the natural range , so they fall for the same trap as people in the USA thinking the interior looks like the Sahara.

Drache613, thank you!! Moving across the world was totally stressful though to be honest haha But now that I'm more settled I love it here! I'll post pictures ASAP

 

[Katie007]

kingofnobbys, I'll probably stick to a non-loose substrate anyway for my own peace of mind. I used to slate tiles and was pretty happy with them, so I think that's what I'll use again.

I've been in Oz over 21 years now and don't regret it (especially after a certain political event in the US last November). I actually found it much easier to adjust to life in Melbourne than when I moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Indianapolis, so I hope you get settled in well as well.

I'm still adjusting, mostly because my family is still in the US, but I'm hoping to be able to visit them more often (and they visit me) starting next year. Really can't help but love Melbourne though (and Australia in general just seems to all around function better than the US in most ways).

 

[kingofnobbys]

kingofnobbys, I'll probably stick to a non-loose substrate anyway for my own peace of mind. I used to slate tiles and was pretty happy with them, so I think that's what I'll use again.

I've been in Oz over 21 years now and don't regret it (especially after a certain political event in the US last November). I actually found it much easier to adjust to life in Melbourne than when I moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Indianapolis, so I hope you get settled in well as well.

I'm still adjusting, mostly because my family is still in the US, but I'm hoping to be able to visit them more often (and they visit me) starting next year. Really can't help but love Melbourne though (and Australia in general just seems to all around function better than the US in most ways).

Melbourne is a very spread out city (like Brisbane is) , and it gets HOT in Melbourne in summer (summer heat waves are very common).
I'm sure you'll enjoy living there , very much a multicultural city (very large greek population and very very large jewish population there too, and housing is no where near as shockingly expensive as it is in Sydney.

You are pretty handily located for road trips to the interior too. Don't pass up the opportunity to explore by car.

 

[label]

I've got to second kingofnobbies' comment on the size of Melbourne--it's huge! But I still am really glad to live here; I only return to the US when I need to for work. And they're not lizards but you may also really enjoy the birdlife; I love seeing all the different sorts of parrots that live in the city, never mind in the bush. And don't miss the Victorian Herpetological Society Expo next year (either in February or March). They also have several meetings a year. So welcome south! And do be sure to visit the national parks but keep in mind how hot it can get and, in the less populated bits, how far the next town can be.

 

[Katie007]

I love Melbourne for how multicultural it is. I thought my city in the US was multicultural until I came here lol. But I LOVE the birds here. After 3 years I’m still amazed every time I see a cockatoo! Haha

I think the herp society expo is in March. I’m definitely planning on going. In terms of parks I’ve been to a couple in Mt. Dandenong but I’d like to go to the Grampians before it gets too hot to hike.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I've got to second kingofnobbies' comment on the size of Melbourne--it's huge! But I still am really glad to live here; I only return to the US when I need to for work. And they're not lizards but you may also really enjoy the birdlife; I love seeing all the different sorts of parrots that live in the city, never mind in the bush. And don't miss the Victorian Herpetological Society Expo next year (either in February or March). They also have several meetings a year. So welcome south! And do be sure to visit the national parks but keep in mind how hot it can get and, in the less populated bits, how far the next town can be.

If you choose to explore inland areas in the warmer months, an airconditioned car is a must, and I recommend investing a 39-40L Engal Carfridge , beats using an esky and having to find ice every day.
Take plenty of water and if exploring inland.