= Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal

= 2012 Expo Overview

= Top Ten Most Venomous Snakes

= Meeting Review – Ollie, Russell and Brian – December 2011

= After The Serpents Sting – A Reflection

= Custom Reptile Enclosures

= Herp Happenings

VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE Odatria_12_APR12

Our next meeting is:

Wednesday 30th May 2012

Prahran RSL – 301 High Street – Prahran

7.15pm – 10.30pm

Dr Shane Simpson

Dr Shane Simpson, BVSc(Hons), GCM(VP), CMAVA, has always had an interest in reptiles and amphibians. He has been lucky enough to develop this area of interest into his professional career and is now one of the few reptile vets in Melbourne. Shane is a partner in a three veterinary practice group and is based at Karingal Veterinary Hospital in Frankston.

Over the past 8 years Shane has continued to develop the reptile department of the practice and now over 80% of his clinical work involves treating these amazing animals. With the creation of “The Reptile Doctor” brand in 2011 this expansion has continued. He regularly contributes to reptile magazines and other publications; lectures to other veterinarians and veterinary nurses on a range of topics relating to reptile medicine and surgery and also provides his time and services to treat sick and injured wild reptiles and amphibians. He is a member of the Unusual and Exotic Pet Veterinarians group and the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians.

Shane’s presentation will divided into two parts.

Part one will be entitled “Reptiles – A Vet’s Perspective”. He will cover what things to consider before purchasing a reptile; where the veterinary industry is with respect to reptile and amphibian medicine; how to maximise your visit to the vet and the basic husbandry things you need to understand to ensure your animals remain healthy.

In the second part of his presentation, “Common Conditions in Common Reptiles”, Shane will cover those medical problems seen in the more commonly kept species, namely Central Bearded Dragons, Blue-tongue Lizards, Eastern Long Neck Turtles and Carpet Pythons. He will discuss what causes them, how to prevent them occurring and how they are treated. It will be highlighted with some of the more interesting cases that Shane has seen in his practice.

A review of this meeting will be in Odatria #13

= Herpetofauna – Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne – Ollie Sherlock

= Expo 2012

= Top Ten Most Exotic Frogs

= Meeting Review – David Kirshner – September 2011

= My Story – Cherie Campbell

= First Aid for Snake Bite

= Herp Happenings

VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE Odatria_11_NOV11

Our last meeting (also our Annual General Meeting) for the year is:

Wednesday 7th December 2011

Prahran RSL – 301 High Street – Prahran

7.15pm – 10.30pm

Ollie Sherlock

Ollie Sherlock will be talking about two trips he’s made over the past 6 months to Shark Bay Western Australia and Arid Recovery (a conservation project in Roxby Downs, South Australia).

Whilst in Shark Bay, Ollie spent a week pitfall trapping on the Peron Peninsula, surveying for small reptiles and mammals with The Department of Environment and Conservation, Western Australia. He encountered a diverse range of small herp’s’ including geckos, skinks and pygopods which he will share with us. The second part of the talk will be on a trip to Arid Recovery, Roxby Downs South Australia where Ollie worked for a week learning about this fascinating conservation project. Ollie will talk about the project and the amazing plants and animals found in the area.

Brian Barnett & Russell Grant

Brian & Russell will give a joint talk on ‘Incubating Snake eggs”. This will include many early photos of the pioneering era where nothing much was known on this subject through to the modern day methods which have moved away from the traditional substrate/water mix method that had been used for several decades. The two speakers are experts in this field having incubated thousands of eggs in a variety of methods.

]]> http://vhs.com.au/vhs-agm-7-dec/feed/ 1 http://vhs.com.au/odatria-issue-10/ http://vhs.com.au/odatria-issue-10/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:44:35 +0000 admin http://vhs.com.au/?p=1056 = Editorial – Brian Barnett

= Meeting Review – John McGrath – 25th May 2011

= 10 Fascinating and Unique Crocodilians

= Profile – Bryan Fry

= Jerry’s Adventures – Steph McKenzie & James Branagan

= Langkawi Reptile Sanctuary – Kevin Welsh

= WPTAC Update – Peter Comber

= Herp Happenings

= 2012 VHS Reptile Expo – Seeking Sponsors

VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE Odatria_10_AUG11

Our next meeting is:

Wednesday 21st September 2011

Prahran RSL – 301 High Street – Prahran

7.15pm – 10.30pm

David Kirshner

David came to Australia from Canada over 30 years ago, originally to carry out research on crocodiles but he has always had a fascination with goannas. He’s been keeping and breeding lace monitors in his home for several years, which has allowed him to observe their behaviours up close.

A keen photographer and videographer, David has kept a detailed visual record of his monitors and will be using many of these photographs and videos to illustrate his talk.

The talk will be divided into two parts: Part one will be on captive care of monitors and part two on breeding. Although many of the images and videos will be of lace monitors, both talks will contain useful information for keepers and breeders of all monitor species and where differences occur between lace monitors and other species these will be highlighted.

A review of this meeting will be in Odatria #11

Our next meeting is:

Wednesday 25th May 2011

Prahran RSL – 301 High Street – Prahran

7.15pm – 10.30pm

“The Holden Ute vs. the Elfin

– Road testing Australian Geckos”

by John McGrath

Home-grown products are often the best; the enduring success of the Holden Ute is underpinned by capacity to function effectively as a workhorse in a wide variety of conditions. Elfin, which has the distinction of being the oldest continuous manufacturer of sports cars in Australia, have adopted a completely different approach, and since 1951 have relied upon appealing to a small niche market.

Admittedly, this talk is (predominantly) about geckos, not motor vehicles, but the two native sub-families of gekkonids have also adopted very different strategies in order to conquer the continent. As a result, Australia is blessed with an assemblage of species – some incredibly bizarre in appearance – to rival any other region of the globe. Many are highly prized among hobbyists, both in this country and overseas.

Tonight we will examine the lineage and evolution of both sub-families, together with the captive maintenance of a variety of species. We will also explore recent advances in husbandry equipment, and to this end a couple of leading authorities have agreed to design and exhibit state-of –the-art gecko display enclosures.

So there may not be much of interest for petrol heads after all – unless they also happen to be amateur herps…

About our speaker

Unfortunately, the ubiquitous “Gecko Wrangler” is not the curator of a reptile park, zoo or museum (he remains open to offers). To his chagrin he is also yet to make his debut on syndicated television, although he has roughed out a couple of scripts.

As a small child in his native England, the budding hobbyist became fascinated by newts and slow worms (there’s not much else in the UK). Upon arrival in Australia at the age of 10, a host of herpetological wonders were to be found outside the back door. The capture of his first snake (a copperhead) proved to be extremely fortuitous, since his parents quickly negotiated a trade-off, whereby John could keep any animal he desired so long as it wasn’t venomous.

John has kept Australian geckos since his teens (when the world was still flat) and is particularly interested in the potential for line breeding variants of some of our species. He has contributed many articles to herpetological publications, is co-author of “Keeping & Breeding Australian Lizards” and has conducted (irregular) presentations on Australian geckos.

John’s other hobbies include playing drums and, with wife Lala, travel and fishing. Unfortunately Lala catches all the big ones. He remains hopeful that, if there is room in Australia for a “Crocoseum”, a Gecko World theme park may just be viable.

A review of this meeting is in Odatria #10

= 2011 Expo Overview – Andrew Owen

= WPTAC Update – Peter Comber

= Meeting Review - Doody/Scheelings – 8th December 2010

= Odatria Survey Results

= Wanted – Murray Darling – Damian Michael

= 10 Unusual and Amazing Snakes

= DIY Reptile Racks – Andrew Owen

= Herp Happenings

VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE Odatria_9_APR11

Nominated and supported by his peers, the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) has been offered to and accepted by Brian Barnett.

It has been designated the position of Conservation & Environment in particular Herpetology. Brian has been recognized by his peers and country for the lifelong dedication and application to helping others in the field of herpetoculture. For over 50 years he has pioneered and implemented many of the facets of herpetoculture that we all take for granted. There are so many ‘firsts’ that could be attributed to him and as he always states, “I have made every mistake possible – but that is the track of learning, never repeat a mistake”.

A full response by Brian will be issued in the next edition of Odatria (#9) the online publication of the Victorian Herpetological Society. http://vhs.com.au/odatria/

Brian and his Grandson Taipan get ready for the 2011 VHS Expo

The following are some links to newapaper articles about Brian’s fantastic award

http://www.brimbankweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/brian-barnett-gong-for-a-happy-herpetologist/2063083.aspx

http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/star/stalbans-deer-park-caroline-springs/282/story/127717.html

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