Hello from far,far North ( Normandy,France)

by **thorrshamri** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 3:29 pm

Hello all.
I'm from NW France ,34 yrs old,and I have met your administrator on Reptile Forums UK.
I find it interesting to come here because RSA has such an amazing herp fauna.
As English is not my native language I hope I won't make too many mistakes.
I've kept and bred herps for many years .
I'm a teacher in an agriculture High school,member of AFT (french Herp Hobbyists association) and Global Gecko Association.
I am particularly interested in geckonids,I keep or used to keep several Uroplatus (sikorae,lineatus,guentheri),and Rhacodactylus species (auriculatus,ciliatus,leachianus).I have also regular leopard geckoes,ball pythons,Pachydactylus turneri,I used to have agamids (Uromastyx geyri,Pogona vitticeps,Agama agama),Eryx colubrinus,Phelsuma quadriocellata,Ptychozoon kuhli,Gekko ulikovskii,Teratoscincus makranensis,amphibians like Megophrys nasuta,Litoria caerulea,and many more.

I opened a Herp forum in October 2005,and there is a new "international " section in English,so as to open the French Herp hobbyists to other practices and to data exchange,friendship & so on with members from the whole world.I don't know if there are other French people around-well,I'm first Norman,and there IS a difference^^-but too often the French suffer from the langage barrier and we tend to keep false certitudes about the hobby tightly locked within our boundaries.

Hope I will have a great time with you all here.

by **drummer** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 3:33 pm

welcome...nice to have some people from the other side of the world...

by **Bushbaby** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 3:40 pm

Welcome! Always nice to have international guests. I am really looking forward to seeing photographs of your beasts. Please don't be shy and post some pics for us. Pretty please.

Remember to resize your pictures because many people here on the tip of Africa only have dialup access.

Thanks

by **Bushviper** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:08 pm

Hi and welcome.

You must have a lot of information that we will bother you for. Your english is very good so do not worry about it. Some of the locals write in such a way that I cannot understand them.

Have you ever had an interest in Lepidodactylus lugubris? I find them rather ugly but fascinating because they dont have to mate to produce viable eggs.

Are you producing any R. leachianus and what do they cost?

by **thorrshamri** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 6:03 pm

Hello again and thanks for the welcome.
I have no personal experience with L. lugubris so far,being mostly interested in desertic or tree-dwelling tropical geckoes.
I once had a male R. leachianus whom I had to resell,but i did not get any young.Normal morph here costs 300 €/200£ for a CB hatchling in events,and are almost impossible to find in pet shops.Dark morph is rarer still,a friend of mine bought his couple in Hamm meeting in Germany for 2500 €/£1700.

by **thorrshamri** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 6:20 pm

Would you be kind enough to find a complete list of SA geckos for me?

by **Bushviper** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 6:44 pm

Okay so they are not that cheap!

Do you have the book by Bill Branch called Snakes and other reptiles of Southern Africa. That has almost all the species although there are a few species that have been described since the publication.

by **thorrshamri** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 6:47 pm

No sorry I haven't got this book but are there any web links with your national geckonid fauna?Is this allowed to keep your national fauna in vivs?In France it is absolutely forbidden.

by **Bushviper** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:03 pm

We have 9 provinces and each has different laws regarding keeping indigenous fauna. In some places it is allowed, in others you need permit which can be almost impossible to get and in other provinces it is not allowed.

Very few people keep our local geckos. There are a few that keep some chondrodactylus and large pachydactylus with a number of homopholis as well.

Try looking at saherps.net and there you should get some assistance.

by **thorrshamri** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:21 pm

Thanks for the advice,I'll have a look .If any of you has gecko pics in their natural surroundings,I would be very glad to see them.

by **froot** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:27 pm

A warm welcome Thorrshamri.

by **Mongoose** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:01 pm

Welcome

Here is a pic of what i think is a Cape thick toed gecko.

Mongoose

by **thorrshamri** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:28 pm

I think it could either be Pachydactylus capensis,P. (capensis ) formosus or P. labialis,any idea?

by **Mongoose** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:06 am

Im pretty sure it is P.capensis. The other one does not occur in this area.

Mongoose

by **Gabi** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:27 am

Hi there and welcome to the forum thorrshamri.

Hello from far,far North ( Normandy,France)

Hello from far,far North ( Normandy,France)

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