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The Saffire Tasmanian Devil Experience offers you the rare opportunity to encounter Tasmanian devils in a natural setting, and to participate in the quest to save this endangered species from extinction. For further information on this complimentary experience, please visit the Saffire website or call +61 3 6256 7888.

We’ve received news that Saffire’s Tasmanian Devils continue to thrive in their new enclosure, so please read the below for an update on the four furry devil friends. 

…days of the lives of Saffire’s Tassie Devils.

“The last few months have seen some interesting developments and behaviours from our four devils. Both of the females have been through two breeding cycles. Both girls spent time displaying nesting behaviours prior to going underground, gathering material in their mouths to line their dens with. They displayed typical signs of hormonal changes, becoming very elusive, uninterested in food and developing extra body condition and a ‘scruff’ of fat at the back of their necks.

Weenie is still quite a large female devil and is entering her sixth year; she spent eight days denning underground with Malcolm, our larger male devil. Feisty little Moinee has settled in to her new home at Saffire very well, making her own dens to nest in. She is the smallest of our females, but has a confident attitude! 

Both females will have their pouches checked in a couple of weeks when we do a health check on all animals, just as a matter of routine. They are senescent or post breeding females so it will be improbable that either will produce baby devils. Both girls have currently been sharing a denning box, and can be seen snoozing in there during the day while the keeper works through daily routines.

Malcolm has been underground with both of our female devils, so we suspect that is when mating occurred. As devils don’t tend to eat during this time, Malcolm lost some body weight but has recovered it well. He had a slight dispute with his brother Murray, when competing for the girls’ attention but emerged victorious.

Murray has had an interesting time over the last few months! When our two female devils came into oestrus, Murray competed with his brother for affection. He’s a tenacious little fellow but as he is quite a bit smaller than his brother, he was driven off and received a nip on his front paw for his efforts! We isolated Murray for a couple of weeks to feed him separately without competition with the others and to allow his paw to heal (we think he secretly enjoyed having all the food to himself during this time).

All devils are in their twilight years but are remarkably fit and healthy for their respective ages.  All are enjoying their large enclosure and are taking advantage of the natural denning sites, swimming in their water features and exploring the abundance of game trails. They all display a healthy curiosity in their surroundings, and often appear when they hear voices or visitors to the viewing area”.