Alrighty… first things first. When it comes to shinglebacks, you cannot really “plan on” getting a nice pair at any point because the availability for one, let alone 1.1 is very rare and not with any sort of regularity. I generally might see one or two available a year, and then for a few years… nothing. Some are actually nice, some older animals are a bit beat up. Last year, I happened to see 6 available, but the source was questionable. This year I actually did see a pair from a very reputable breeder. There are only a handful of breeders in the US who have had any real success and they tend to be sold and traded among those breeders. Most successful rugosa breeding has happened in Europe, specifically the Netherlands and Germany. Obviously you cannot get these from Australia, but you also cannot legally import tiliqua species that are of australian in origin direct from Europe either, even if they were CB in Europe, due to a current ban. There are legal workarounds to this that you will need to do your due diligence on. Also, expect to pay anywhere from 4k-6K for a single animal before shipping / import fees. My best advice, save up 10-15K, and wait. If you do find them, ask a LOT of questions and ask for photos as there are a lot of people looking to scam you. You also should not purchase these with the expectation of being able to make that back. Breeding can be a bit tricky. There is some truth to the monogamy claim, but many males will also mate with several females. There is a book, known as the Blue Tongue Bible: “BLUE-TONGUED SKINKS Contributions to Tiliqua and Cyclodomorphus” that has all of the information regarding temperatures and brumation for breeding. I recommend hunting this down. It pops up from time to time for about $100. As far as finding actual animals, I would recommend joining as many skink and rare reptile forums and Facebook groups that you can tolerate. I wish you the very best of luck. There is a lot of gatekeeping with rare reptiles, but one person’s success can be everyone’s when it comes to availability. It is expensive and competitive, but they are such remarkable animals, easily my favorite reptile, ever.
5 Likes