Fennec Fox interest?

[freekygeeky]

from what I have heard it is usually around £4000 for a pair. maybe more maybe less.

[craigb]

That counts me out then. They also have a high mortality rate in captive litters. I have sourced some husbandry guildlines they seem easy enough just their breeding is a little tricky. There's only 80 in european zoos with only four collections in the UK. Colchester got a breeding pair in 2006 and i dont think they have had any breeding success with them. There are only around 80 in U.S.A zoos although they do sell them over there in the pet trade for around £500-£750 each so cheaper then £4000 a pair.

[craigb]

just found out it costs around £200 per animal per month to quarantine if being shipped in from abroad. Thats £1200 just for quarantine for one animal. Bloody hell thats alot of pennies.

[TSKA Rory Matier]

Actually the quarantine figure is about £75 per week, or £1950 for the 6 months using a DEFRA inspection vet.

If you were to bring in 1 animal = £2000 for the period, but if you were to bring in say 20 animals, it would still only cost you £2000.

If you were the importer and a self quarantine station, £2000 just for quarantine is a lot of money, but if you were a wise importer and brought in say 5 pairs from abroad then that equals £200 per animal over the six months.

There is of course the chance that you may lose an animal and possibly two, but if you were to lose one pair from five, you are still left with four, and the three pairs afterwards would not just make you a profit but also pay for your pair.

Mind you, if you are a self quarantiner, then you also have to build your centre and get it passed.

Then of course there is the other bills, such as electric, water, poss labour and of course food, and of course the initial freighting factor.

R

[craigb]

That doesn't make sense that it costs the same for one animal as it would for 20. To be honest i've not looked into it from a private collectors point of view. Its very different importing animals through the zoos. Its something i will certainly look into as its really interesting to know. I guess all the laws and regs are on the the customs website? Thanks for the info Rory

[TSKA Rory Matier]

Hi Craig,

My figures of £75 are for the DEFRA vet to a private keeper with a quarantine centre, they would of course be cheaper if performed by a zoo.

We handle quite a few self quarantines every year, and of course the Skunk import from the States is no different.

The vet will charge a set fee to the centre for a weekly visit, be this for one animal or several.

Which is why we have recently advised a keeper looking to bring in various Mongoose species, to not just bring in one pair of this and one pair of that, but several pairs of each, and this way, the figure for the inspections will still be the same, but the keeper has a much wider chance of making the monies back if the qty is higher.

R

[StephenXx]

I'm interested in Fennec foxes, but find that 3,000 is out of my pocket, so if anyone knows of a dealer who can give me a better price would be great thanks.