About a year ago i stumbled on the Uroplatus species when browsing for leachies and just fell in love. between me and the GF we own hundreds of different reptiles but have never been a huge fan of geckos (leopard comes to mind) other than the standings and giant day. just to give an example of what we have currently:
10x chinese water dragons
3x aussie water dragons
20x frilled dragons -- aussie, crosses, new guinea
10x bearded dragons -- usually high color morphs
10x monitors (mangrove, blue tail, peach throat, argus, black rough neck, savannah, black tree, blue spot timor)
3x mountain horned dragons
5x giant plated lizards
3x fire skink
3x rare spiny tail iguanas
3x sailfin dragons
16x sikorae
4x lineatus
4x ebenaui
4x fimbriatus
2x (was 3) henkeli
1x phantasticus
2x giant day geckos
6x standings day geckos
2x tegu ( red and B&W)
1x cayman lizard
5x alligator lizards (local WC)
and i'm sure i'm forgetting a bunch but you get the general idea.
we didn't know too much about the uroplatus so obviously did some homework and started purchasing. found a 1.1 fimbriatus close to me and got them then soon after found a 2.2 sikorae and got those as well. the owner of the sikorae also had some phantasticus he had already sold off but did have a hatchling and 2 incubating eggs he was willing to part with after they were established for at least 4 months. so i waited him out and bought the 1 CB phant and another hatchling phant which ended up dying a week later (the clutch mate had already died) but we got it for a super reduced cost because of the risk. after more research the incubation temp might be to blame for the 2 hatchlings dying as there was no reason for the deaths.
while poking around for more for sale i realized that there is a shortage of uroplatus breeders in the USA and since i enjoyed them so much figured i'd try to do my part to help expand the CB population. the more i looked and talked to several breeders it became apparent that the species may not be imported within the next 5 years or so which is sad in the respect that so many have been exported and so few breeding colonies exist
this also serves to motivate me to keep this species around.
on the uprplatus purchases i missed out on a few buys, bought others then stumbled on Chris Van Aken who was selling a "proven" pair of "CB" fimbriatus ($560). i contacted him and made a deal for these 2 then he told me he had a 1.1 henkeli ($450) and another 1.1 fimbriatus then 1.1 ebenaui ($650). so through some emailing back and forth i picked up the entire lot. right before he shipped them off i had him hold the shipment for a week because i ended up being out of town for longer than expected. he decided to pull the second 1.1 fimbriatus pair because "the female wasn't looking well" so he sent me a refund for them ($325).... at this point i had a small thought to just cancel the whole thing but went against my better judgement.....
shipment arrives and packaging is good but no heat pack in the box and it's COLD. remove the animals 1 by one and inspect them and find that the ebenaui and henkeli have mites... GREAT... just GREAT. i immediatly take pics and notify C.V.A. about the mites and he just kinda brushes it off with a "oops... better check my collection... if you need help removing the mites let me know". yeah... what a response. again against better judgement i didn't treat these same as i do the WC imports and just quarantined them until the mite situation could be dealt with. trust me... on uroplatus mites are NOT fun to deal with and you can't (some idiots do) treat them with chemicals to kill the mites and mite eggs. a few days later the female henkeli goes from normal to dead within a few hour span. have pics of her right as she expired and it really irritated me + pretty much confirmed that what i purchased was $600 worth of WC uroplatus.
when i was emailing back and forth with Chris Van Aken i had specifically asked if these were WC and he said "NO".... i asked because i knew a shipment of them had arrived recently. **i got sloppy, i didn't do the research i should have** let this be a lesson to anyone looking for uroplatus and buying "CB" as they need to be proven to CB and there are many ways to do that which is pretty easy for true breeders and WC slingers cannot provide that info because they do not breed them. i suggest making a call and asking detailed questions and they better have the right answer on the spot + pictures to back up any claims. ANY breeder worth their salt will have no problem chatting it up with you and going through the entire process + sending pics, having bloodlines, etc.
i email CVA about the dead henkeli immediately and he says he'll send me a replacement and that he's "very sorry". next thing i know i'm getting a $225 refund through paypal... great. so now i have been treating HIS "CB" as WC and they have been coming around, most mites gone so far and they are starting to look healthier.
i don't mind buying WC as i can treat them no problem and all of my uroplatus have been either WC, LTC or one CB..... even though i tried to get more CB but got burned in the process
10x chinese water dragons
3x aussie water dragons
20x frilled dragons -- aussie, crosses, new guinea
10x bearded dragons -- usually high color morphs
10x monitors (mangrove, blue tail, peach throat, argus, black rough neck, savannah, black tree, blue spot timor)
3x mountain horned dragons
5x giant plated lizards
3x fire skink
3x rare spiny tail iguanas
3x sailfin dragons
16x sikorae
4x lineatus
4x ebenaui
4x fimbriatus
2x (was 3) henkeli
1x phantasticus
2x giant day geckos
6x standings day geckos
2x tegu ( red and B&W)
1x cayman lizard
5x alligator lizards (local WC)
and i'm sure i'm forgetting a bunch but you get the general idea.
we didn't know too much about the uroplatus so obviously did some homework and started purchasing. found a 1.1 fimbriatus close to me and got them then soon after found a 2.2 sikorae and got those as well. the owner of the sikorae also had some phantasticus he had already sold off but did have a hatchling and 2 incubating eggs he was willing to part with after they were established for at least 4 months. so i waited him out and bought the 1 CB phant and another hatchling phant which ended up dying a week later (the clutch mate had already died) but we got it for a super reduced cost because of the risk. after more research the incubation temp might be to blame for the 2 hatchlings dying as there was no reason for the deaths.
while poking around for more for sale i realized that there is a shortage of uroplatus breeders in the USA and since i enjoyed them so much figured i'd try to do my part to help expand the CB population. the more i looked and talked to several breeders it became apparent that the species may not be imported within the next 5 years or so which is sad in the respect that so many have been exported and so few breeding colonies exist
this also serves to motivate me to keep this species around.on the uprplatus purchases i missed out on a few buys, bought others then stumbled on Chris Van Aken who was selling a "proven" pair of "CB" fimbriatus ($560). i contacted him and made a deal for these 2 then he told me he had a 1.1 henkeli ($450) and another 1.1 fimbriatus then 1.1 ebenaui ($650). so through some emailing back and forth i picked up the entire lot. right before he shipped them off i had him hold the shipment for a week because i ended up being out of town for longer than expected. he decided to pull the second 1.1 fimbriatus pair because "the female wasn't looking well" so he sent me a refund for them ($325).... at this point i had a small thought to just cancel the whole thing but went against my better judgement.....
shipment arrives and packaging is good but no heat pack in the box and it's COLD. remove the animals 1 by one and inspect them and find that the ebenaui and henkeli have mites... GREAT... just GREAT. i immediatly take pics and notify C.V.A. about the mites and he just kinda brushes it off with a "oops... better check my collection... if you need help removing the mites let me know". yeah... what a response. again against better judgement i didn't treat these same as i do the WC imports and just quarantined them until the mite situation could be dealt with. trust me... on uroplatus mites are NOT fun to deal with and you can't (some idiots do) treat them with chemicals to kill the mites and mite eggs. a few days later the female henkeli goes from normal to dead within a few hour span. have pics of her right as she expired and it really irritated me + pretty much confirmed that what i purchased was $600 worth of WC uroplatus.
when i was emailing back and forth with Chris Van Aken i had specifically asked if these were WC and he said "NO".... i asked because i knew a shipment of them had arrived recently. **i got sloppy, i didn't do the research i should have** let this be a lesson to anyone looking for uroplatus and buying "CB" as they need to be proven to CB and there are many ways to do that which is pretty easy for true breeders and WC slingers cannot provide that info because they do not breed them. i suggest making a call and asking detailed questions and they better have the right answer on the spot + pictures to back up any claims. ANY breeder worth their salt will have no problem chatting it up with you and going through the entire process + sending pics, having bloodlines, etc.
i email CVA about the dead henkeli immediately and he says he'll send me a replacement and that he's "very sorry". next thing i know i'm getting a $225 refund through paypal... great. so now i have been treating HIS "CB" as WC and they have been coming around, most mites gone so far and they are starting to look healthier.
i don't mind buying WC as i can treat them no problem and all of my uroplatus have been either WC, LTC or one CB..... even though i tried to get more CB but got burned in the process
