SATANIC LEAF-TAILED GECKOS IN THE WILD! (Are we keeping them correctly) 

Of course theres a need to keep them! What if, hear me out, a mystery disease ONLY infected the entire wild population of SLTG and they all perished? Wouldnt you feel bad if you had the chance to keep some captive specimen and you decided against it? ..😅 see! Theres your reason😂 youre welcome. Also agreed! Awesome series Dav and great info. What you're doing is so important

@@caughtafaygo I was saying that I don't feel the need to keep them personally. I absolutely agree with captive breeding practices though.

Hi Sean, I am from Germany and I so have some breeding trios of phantasticus aswell. What holds you back from getting them again here in Germany?

@@SurvivorVio Mostly its finding them for a reasonable price. Most breeders, even those that sell them at reptile shows are asking between 300 and 500 each and that is way more then I am willing to pay. I understand that it has been almost 20 years sense I last purchased any and 10 years sense I last sold any but going from 100 to 150 each to 300 to 500 each is way too much of an increase for me to get back into them.

@@seangere9698 the Differenzen Here is that the US geht's their stock from cheap WC Imports while in Europe they all come from captive breeding and obviously with the difficulty breeding them they have always been more expensive. Prices Always were 600-750€ a pair and are Just going up the Last 2-3 years to now reach 4 figures for a couple. I actually think the price increase could even be higher, since it is an expert species that shouldn't be kept by everyone. I wish the US would ban imports aswell to see the same price increase and focus on captive breeding instead of importing them by masses and letting so many of them die in the process. This is just my two cents, but I feel the german pet trade with Uroplatus is a bit more sustainable, while obviously leading to higher prices and lower availability, which is a fair trade off for me.

@@SurvivorVio All of the ones I purchased were CBs and I only purchase CBs of any animals I have kept except for the first Dart frogs I purchased almost 30 years ago when they were just starting to show up in the hobby. I'm sorry but the way Europe breeders raise the price on CBs vs WCs it's not really a wonder why a lot of people still pay for WCs. Though sense Uroplatus phantasticus is now on the CITES list for limited yearly export from Madagascar I can understand a slight increase for WCs and in extension CBs but an increase like it is now for CBs is insane. I agree there is way too much WC importation in the US but it does come down to supply and demand. It's part of how business works and there's no way around it. But yeah would you spend 600 to 700 or more a pair if you are used to spending half that price for CBs in another country? Now if you went from living here in Germany and moved to America would you be more willing to spend 300 at most a pair or would you still be willing to spend 600 to 700 per pair knowing you can get the same exact quality for half the price? Do you now see the dilemma in it for me for not getting back into them here in Germany? If there was a higher demand for them I would maybe think about getting back into them but for the price they are not a viable spices to think about getting more then a pair and even that is a huge price to pay. There isn't a large enough market for them to even be a reason to breed them. There are other species that are in higher demand and much easier to keep and if you do end up breeding them you can relatively easily and quickly sell to babies, unlike with Uroplatus phantasticus where you can sit on babies for months or even over a year before someone might purchase them. Yes I would like to get some as pets but I'm not ignorant enough to not know the value of even producing them on a small scale to help with housing and upkeep and really here in Europe there just isn't a high enough demand to help with that. And from what I can see that is the reason the price is so high here in not only Germany but all over the EU. It is a double edge sword. You want what you spend on them and with a low demand it raises the prices even more as you have to sit longer on what you are trying to sell for the few people willing to pay that price vs lowering the price from the start and allowing younger and newer people to the hobby enjoy such a beautiful and wonderful species, in extension creating a larger market for them to be able to sell to. In essence a lower price creates a higher demand and thus making it more profitable in the long run to supply them. Again it comes down to the old saying Supply and Demand. High prices lower the demand causing the prices to go even higher lowering the demand even more and causing the prices to raise even more and so on till it comes to the point that no one is willing to spend the money on something that has no true market value and only something that someone gets purely a decoration for a couple of years before they get bored of them and more on to something that is more colorful and more active like Dart frogs or even other species of Geckos.

@@SurvivorVio I really hate the whole idea of Beginner, Experienced, Expert level. Nothing is out of reach for beginner in the hobby if they have the right information and dedication to learning what is needed to house and keep the species happy and healthy. When I started keeping Darts as well a phantasticus there was little to no information on how to keep, house and what to feed them. It was all trial-and-error. Yes I lost my share through the beginning stages of learning what works and what doesn't but if there was someone with the knowledge I have now back then that was actually willing to teach me, unlike a lot in this hobby where they like to keep all their knowledge to themselves instead of helping other keepers, we would be much further in successful keeping of so many species in this wonderful hobby, but there are way too many keepers out there with years and decades of knowledge that refuse to share their own experiences on what works and what doesn't. If you give a beginner the knowledge base on how to properly care for a species and they take that knowledge to heart and implement it successfully does that now make them an expert or are they still a beginner?

Captive breeding 🎉

@@onesevenfour_moto9794 are they endangered?

@@Alchemy_LDN I’m not aware if they are or are not endangered in the wild , they do have well established populations in captivity tho so owning these animals poses no risk to wild populations as they are being bred in captivity

@@onesevenfour_moto9794 If they are endangered then a proper regulated captive breeding programme is fine. Ripping these beautiful , delicate creatures from their natural habitat and transporting them across continents to sell to anyone is abhorrent.

@@Alchemy_LDN I agree it is very cruel to take a wild caught animal and keep them in the confines of captivity.