BREEDING

A Wish List


Introduction

What follows is a fairly intuitive list of herptiles that I believe we can and should be breeding in order to preserve their future and the future of our interest. I freely admit that I am less informed about snakes and amphibians than about lizards and chelonians, while crocodiles should probably be left to zoos (who could cope with the possible outcome of fifty crocodile eggs?). I hope that reading this may stimulate some people to think more about the issue and hopefully start a breeding program of their own.

Tortoises

All tortoises are under threat in their natural environment, as much from native humans as from global trends or deforestation. A good start for Europeans to make would be with Agrionemys (Testudo) horsfieldi, Horsfield's Tortoise, which at the moment faces a ban on imports into the EU. These are hardy tortoises and provided they are kept dry are fairly temperature tolerant. US citizens of Arizona or Florida could breed those tortoises from high-temperature areas which require either complete dryness or high humidity. All tortoise specialists should hope to see viable captive-bred individuals of the Pancake Tortoise established within herpetoculture.

Lizards

The Solomons Island Skink, Corucia zebrata, is at the moment imported on rather a haphazard basis, with too many being lost between capture and sale to the keeper due to poor conditions (de Vosjoli). With their fairly low reproductive rate (one or two live young) and restricted range, these intelligent skinks are crying out to be bred in captivity. Although they require largeish cages, their husbandry would still require less space than some of the larger monitors.

Monitors (Varanus species) are still rarely captive bred, despite their attraction to many keepers and advances in their husbandry over the years. These large lizards have got a lot still going for them in the wild compared with other threatened species, but even so many are on the CITES list and others are from areas now closed for the time being to herpetological export (mainly Australia). The difficulties in monitor husbandry and breeding are probably offset by the fact that these will never be, nor should be, common household pets. Captive-bred monitors are notably better-behaved and easier to deal with than their wild-caught cousins.

Of the various gecko species, the specialities of Madagascar, Day Geckos (Phelsuma spp.) and Leaf-Tailed Geckos (Uroplatus spp.) need as much captive breeding as possible given the state of the island's ecology. Some are in fact quite hardy and will breed readily if set up correctly, and both genera will always find a ready market due to their interesting appearance. Some of the Gekko genus from SE Asia, whose breeding has been largely neglected through the years, will probably also need breeding if these geckos are to remain available, particular the Vietnam Golden Gecko G. ulikovski, another beautiful species.

Of the Iguanid species, surprisingly enough it is the seemingly common Iguana iguana and Anolis caroliniensis which would both benefit from more captive breeding. At the moment too many of both species are taken willy-nilly from the wild to satisfy the often fickle demands of the pet market - both often arrive stressed and neglected, and both species are under threat in their native environment. Again, the increased difficulty of breeding iguanas in captivity is compensated for by the fact that at the moment there are simply too many imported iguanas languishing in animal rescue centres. One would like to see a situation in the future where imports drop sharply and the demands of responsible would-be ig keepers are met by captive-raised specimens. The Green Anole is under threat from alien competition in Florida and other places so may be much harder to find in years to come, and breeding such a small and willing lizard should be a fairly straightforward challenge to most people.

Lacertids have been long neglected, in the UK at least, although I believe German and Dutch herpetologists have had some success. European keepers should really be concentrating on producing more captive-bred specimens, particularly those keepers in the southern part of the continent (eg Spain, Italy) who have the right climate for these often beautiful lizards. None of the Lacertid species grow to a huge size, and many of the Podarcis lizards will happily fit a small tank and indeed form part of a good naturalistic display. Of the Asian lacertids, little is known about them, a situation that could be improved with some captive-raised individuals.

Chameleons, like large monitors, are too specialised ever to become really common, but as many of them live in areas threatened by habitat destruction, it would be sensible to breed those we have. In addition, chameleons are another family where wild-caught individuals are usually much less adaptable than captive-bred.

To be continued....