# Help!!! Wanted Porcupine



## raybies9 (Apr 28, 2009)

Hi,

I'm looking to get a porcupine. I am having trouble finding where to get one from. I really like the idea of getting an African Crested Porcupine, but we really don't have the space. Can anyone recommend a smaller, similar looking species and where to get one from? I'm based in Bucks, Uk.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ray


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## farmercoope (Aug 19, 2008)

Contact Nerys on here, shes part of TSKA exotics and may be able to help you!


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## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

dont you need a liscence for those? wouldnt like to be near those quills!


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## raybies9 (Apr 28, 2009)

No don't need a license. Cheers for advice, have contacted TSKA. Waiting to hear back. Any further info will be much appreciated.


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## KJ Exotics (Jun 16, 2007)

I know of a pair for sale but not cheap etc. 

What do you know about them, what will the diet be off, and where will you be housing ?


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## raybies9 (Apr 28, 2009)

It depends what type of porcupine they are. I am looking to keep it as an indoor pet, housed in an appropriate size cage. I am looking for a small breed as I don't have enough space to accommodate an African or Indian crested porcupine.


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## TSKA Rory Matier (May 27, 2007)

To the O/P, have answered your email contact form.

Regards Rory


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## KJ Exotics (Jun 16, 2007)

They are Common White Tailed Porcupines.


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## Nerys (Apr 18, 2005)

KJ - those the ones on simons list?

they are, to the best of my knowledge, Indian Crested, i know the breeder.

N


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## KJ Exotics (Jun 16, 2007)

Yer there the ones, i didnt/dont think it was what they said ? :S

Would not mind them, but cant afford them at the moment


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## Nerys (Apr 18, 2005)

who did you speak to, katie.. of the Dooooormice lol2 like she knows :whistling2::whistling2:

if you google "common white tailed porcupine" the closest you get is the "white tailed porcupine" - Hystrix leucura - although there are actually over 45 members of the Hystrix genus

Simon was thought to be selling African Crested Porcupines (Hystrix cristata), which would have course have been breaking the EPS unless they were had the license.

Turns out he was actually selling Indian Crested Porcupines (Hystrix indica), which do not fall under the EPS.

for instance the ones he supplied to Capricorn Connections, were h.indica, not h.cristata)

we know the guy who keeps them, breeds them, and supplied them to simon incidently..


Hystrix cristata










Hystrix indica


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## stubeanz (Mar 28, 2007)

some of the stuff i see on simons list have confusing common names lol especily the porcupine species.
there are brush tailed porcupine which would probably be better for you,saw them on tska so maybe nerys or rory could give you more info on them.
from what i have heard porcupines can dig out of very strong enclosures(even concrete!), and so will need very thick walls.
indian cresteds are a species i would love to own one day but it would need alot of planning on the enclosure side of it.:gasp:
stu


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## TSKA Rory Matier (May 27, 2007)

Of the five species, l have handled in the last few years only 4 have l, and in the last species Nerys and l have had the joy of owning and maintaining.

The five most commonly kept species to appear in collections over the last decade in the UK have been the African Brush Tailed Porcupine [Atherurus africanus], the African Crested porcupine [pre EPS] [Hystrix cristata], the Indian Crested Porcupine [Hystrix indica], North American Porcupine [Erethizon dorsatum] and the Prehensile Tailed Porcupine [Coendou prehensilis].

Of the species listed above, l have owned in the past the African Crested Porcupine, Brush Tailed Porcupine, and with Nerys more recently the North American Porcupine, we have both worked with the Indian Crested and we have clients whom have the prehensiles.

I have to be honest and admit to a genuine passion for porcupine species, and although l live in a house with the Skunk lady and her residents, given the choice l would happily take on board porcupine species, a species that does not seem to have a chip on its shoulder and in certain terms can be relied upon to not attack you whilst you slumber nor try and hijack you off the toilet seat!

The Brush Tailed a much smaller species than some of the larger species, are a genuine pleasure to work with, easy to maintain and manage in husbandry, environment and diet. This is a species that despite what many people may believe is bloody fast on its chubby little legs and quite arboreal. I used to own both a single and a pair who gave birth to a youngster. My single - notably Hector, known by a few of the veterans on this forum, was always the charactor, three good legs and a deformed [from birth] front limb, could still move at considerable speed.

On the Crested Porcupine front [Africans] l had the pleasure of importing many years back now a few [as said before EPS] of these for collections and even owned my own pair. And yesm by God, they can chew for Britain.

Max and Mini as were called - were the only rodent in my entire collection that had successfully chewed/gnawed their way thru 18" of brickwork one week and were soon to be viewing me from a different side to their enclosure, a side that previous had not just not existed, but in the history of the building had never existed and was not on any forwards building plans.

Insatiable appetites, but again very easy to maintain and manage, not quite as arboreally minded as the Brush's, but equally as fast and very dedicated quill raisers, should the need arise. Surprise them and up came the quills, with the Brush Tails, the worst they would is rattle their tails at you.

Indian Crested Porcupies, we have both worked with and we have clients that own them and successfully breed them, very similiar species to the Africans bar a small demarcation difference and to the specially trained eye easy to tell apart,to the non trained eye, difficult to say at best.

North American Porcupines, well some will have recalled the photographs of our Wilma, who now resides down in Eagle Heights in Kent, and is awaiting the hopeful arrival of a male sometime this season, all going well. This is truly a beautiful species, that makes a noise not to far a cry from whale song and our Wilma was a very evenly tempered young lady, and overall the species is a really nice animal to work with. Not overally destructive, highly arboreal, a bit fussy on diet, realtively timid until they get to know their keepers - but a real thumbs up from me on this one.

Prehensiles, the one species l have never owned but would love to tbh. We have clients whom own them, and have seen them up close and personal within inches of our noses, a charming species at best, totally arboreal in their caprive environment, not terribly destructive, but relatively easy to maintain and keep, but a real gem for a porcupine collection, if they were not so damned expensive.


R


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## Paradoxurus (Jan 10, 2008)

This forum is a scream, it really is.

Hystrix leucura (the White-tailed) and Hystrix indica (the Indian) are synonymous. They are the same species. Sometimes the White-tailed is labelled "Hystrix indica", similarly the Indian as "Hystrix leucura". 

Most of the Hystrix porcupines in the UK stem from generation after generation of captive-bred animals. It has recently been pointed out that the zoo population is largely of hybrid parentage - the most comonly imported species 'back in the day' being H.cristata, H.africaeaustralis and H.indica - particularly the first two. In fact the Cape Crested (H.africaeaustralis) appears to be by far the most common.

Though H.cristata may fall under EPS legislation, the three species and any hybrids thereof are so similar in appearance that any one of them could pass as another.........

Unless any particular individual Hystrix can be traced back to wild-caught ancestors I think it unwise to state for fact that it is of a definite and pure species.


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