Rtas' main collection

V Mammals

F) Rodents

1) Large rodents

Species : Eurasian beaver, crested porcupine, capybara, Alpine marmot
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Figures on this picture (from left to right) :
- Schleich 14245 Beaver (2002-2007)
- Schleich 14693 Beaver (2013-2016)
- Schleich 70441 Fizzio and Crested Porcupine (2011-2013)
- CollectA 88541 Capybara Babies (2012-still in production)
- CollectA 88540 Capybara (2012-still in production)
- Schleich 14230 Marmot (1997-2004)

Fun facts :
- The two beavers from Schleich fit very well together. The older, larger and glossy version is the male coming out of water while the newer smaller one is the female who stayed dry on the dam or in the lodge.
- The marmot is one of my favourite vintage figures.
- The capybara was part of my second CollectA purchase. It confirmed me CollectA's great skill. However, the capybara babies are ugly and poorly detailed, that's definitely not CollectA quality.
- The porcupine was one of the last Schleich figures I ordered. I did not need that warrior guy who was coming with it but I preferred that porcupine over the CollectA version so I finally let my mother buy it for me.
- I have the marmot and the older beaver from my childhood. I bought the more recent beaver when I was on holidays with my parents and ordered the capybaras from my favourite Ebay seller. The porcupine is a gift from my mother, she ordered it online.
- I have seen marmots and Eurasian beavers in the wild and capybaras, crested porcupines and American beavers in zoos.

Update :
- Papo 50128 Marmot (2011-still in production) was added to the collection. For further information, please check the addition topics.
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Oh the Schleich crested porcupine a figure I want desperately for my collection. In my collection I have the two species of beavers: North American & Eurasian. My only marmot is the Papo figure and the Bullyland is on my wish list. My capybara family includes the two CollectA figures and the Mojo figure as the father.

I'd be interested in the Fizzio character (if you still have him) as my brother collects knights, dragons, mythical creatures etc

Advicot wrote:

Oh the Schleich crested porcupine a figure I want desperately for my collection. In my collection I have the two species of beavers: North American & Eurasian. My only marmot is the Papo figure and the Bullyland is on my wish list. My capybara family includes the two CollectA figures and the Mojo figure as the father.

I'd be interested in the Fizzio character (if you still have him) as my brother collects knights, dragons, mythical creatures etc

Yes, sure, I can send it to you with the Papo Yak once the quarantine is over.

Indeed, I would like to find Papo's beaver as it is an American one.

Safari also did a North American beaver too. Thank you very much Ben!

Well, anytime I tell what I have I am more convinced that I am not very competent with my rule of one figure per species.
I have the AAA, Bayala and CollectA Indian crested porcupines, Safari American porcupine, Schleich and Mojö Fun Eurasian beavers, Safari North American beaver, Safari and CollectA capybaras, Bullyland, Schleich, Papo Alpine marmots, Eikoh prairie dog... and a few others more.
You will find the Papo beaver very large for your collection but I believe you know it from local shops.
I enjoy the way the Bayala porcupine was manufactured, porcupines are not easy for sculptors neither for mass production. It is a very challenging model, Bayala seems an appart world inside of Schleich. I also like a lot the newer Schleich beaver although I confess I have it once it was a gift, Mojö version was enough good for my collection. My favourite marmot is the Papo but marmots are a kind of sheep in my congregation and the more the better.

Mmm, indeed, the CollectA porcupine is an Indian crested one while the Schleich seems to be an African one... It gives me one more figure to get from CollectA !

I have never seen the Papo beaver in local shops but you know what I am likely to accept or not and I trust you if you tell me it would be too large for me.

I have seen your marmots on your Happy Easter picture

I encourage you to give up your "one figure per species" rule. Groups of animals are nicer to look at than lonely specimens. I know you don't have much room to store them and this rule helps you not being overwhelmed. So you can decide to adapt the number of figures to fit the social behaviour of the species.

V Mammals

F) Rodents

2) Small rodents

Species : Brown rat, house mouse, Eurasian red squirrel, eatern chipmunk, long-tailed chinchilla, guinea pig, golden hamster
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Figures on this picture (from left to right) :
- Schleich 14405 Rat (2002-2008)
- Schleich 14406 White Mouse (2002-2016)
- Schleich 14252 Squirrel Eating (2003-2013)
- Schleich 14722 Chipmunk (2014-2016)
- CollectA 88722 Long-Tailed Chinchilla (2015-still in production)
- Schleich 14417 Guinea Pig (2006-2016)
- Schleich 14412 Hamster (2005-2009)

Fun facts :
- I don't have the most recent Schleich red squirrel anymore because I gave it to my grandmother in order to console her after the real squirrel from her garden disappeared suddenly.
- I have the rat, mouse and squirrel from my childhood. I found the chipmunk and the hamster during my figure hunts, got the guinea pig for free as part of a sales offer and ordered the chinchilla from my usual Ebay seller.
- I have seen rats, mouses and red squirrels in the wild, hamsters, guinea pigs and chinchillas in pet shops. I have seen chipmunks but mostly siberian chipmunks, I don't remember if I have ever seen an Eastern chipmunk or not

Update :
- Papo 50255 Squirrel (2020-still in production) was added to the collection. For further information, please check the addition topics.
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From this last batch, I think I only miss the red squirrel eating, I have the last CollectA version that is my favourite regarding this species. If you ever want another red squirrel, I recomend you the CollectA figure. There's a new one on Papo range but I still don't know it.
As these are small animals, you can try here loads of other brands with tube sized figures but they are so many that you ahve to study it yourself.
I have also Safari grey squirrel and AAA flying squirrel standing, both too big for you. I am surprised you don't have Schleich gerbills are they too small for you?
Have you any evidence that Schleich porcupine is an African crested and not an Indian? I hope you are right.

I have all these rodents except the rat and the red squirrel. I'm 100% getting the new Papo figure when it becomes available, as it looks very good. The worry is that some Papo are a hit and miss, and as most of the 2020 figures from them are on my wish list.

CollectA capybara is another figurine that I doubt if include it or not in my collection. Probably I will not get it until I can have a good anteater in my collection first, for ask comparison pictures after I get it
Maybe the sculptor of capybara babies is different than for the adult one. CollectA, as any other brands, shows sometimes great difference in quality in different models. For example, CollectA is the king of ungulates, but look at their mountain goats, they're the worst of the three big brand mountain goat. Safari is the shark brand for excellence, but its most recent Great White is much worst than Schleich's.[/quote]

RtasVadumee wrote:

So you can decide to adapt the number of figures to fit the social behaviour of the species.

Thanks for the advice Ben. That was such a great idea for my wildebeests collection!  

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Roger wrote:

From this last batch, I think I only miss the red squirrel eating, I have the last CollectA version that is my favourite regarding this species. If you ever want another red squirrel, I recomend you the CollectA figure. There's a new one on Papo range but I still don't know it.

I think the new Papo and CollectA figures will work very very nicely together. They may replace my old Schleich squirrel but not soon, they are not my priority and the red squirrel is not a very excinting figure to me.

Roger wrote:

I am surprised you don't have Schleich gerbills are they too small for you?
Have you any evidence that Schleich porcupine is an African crested and not an Indian? I hope you are right.

I don't have the Schleich gerbills because they were not my priority since I found them poorly detailed and I just forgot to buy them ! I have no evidence the Schleich model is an African crested porcupine. It is just tagged as "crested porcupine" one TAI and when you don't precise if it's African or Indian, it is African by default : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
However, I read Megaptera arguing that the Schleich one is an Indian porcupine while the CollectA is an African, even though it is marketed as an Indian... So who knows ?

Pardofelis wrote:

CollectA even intorduced originally these mountain goats in their Farm life series what is very strange.

The maned wolf is still considered as an African animal on their website, which at least as strange !

spacelab wrote:

Thanks for the advice Ben. That was such a great idea for my wildebeests collection!

I don't know how this happened but these are NOT my words and I didn't put there in the message. It's a quotation for another message in an old thread, I think maybe from Roger?

"CollectA capybara is a very nice model, you have the Safari that is equally excellent though a little larger. For a giant anteater I see you missed both Papo and Safari, I think they are outstanding and Safari's is again larger.
CollectA mountain goats were in my opinion a wrong decision of the company, they can't be compared with the ungulates that started appearing two years later because the company changed a lot between both phases, I even use to call the era of the first antelopes as the 2nd wave. Wildlife and horses sculptors changed and the style of the figures too. CollectA even intorduced originally these mountain goats in their Farm life series what is very strange. I find CollectA very consistent despite a few exceptions from these earlier releases, their ungulates, when they are not good, they are very good and even a few early ungulates look really great to me as it is the moose and bison. "

This paragraph is not mine

V Mammals

G) Toothless mammals

Species : Giant pangolin, giant anteater, brown-throated sloth, Linnaeus's two-toed sloth, southern tamandua, nine banded armadillo
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Figures on this picture (from left to right and up to bottom) :
- Schleich 14757 Giant Pangolin (2016-2019)
- Schleich 14313 Giant Anteater (2003-2007)
- Schleich 14793 Sloth (2017-still in production)
- Mojo 387180 Linnaeus's Two-Toed Sloth (2013-still in production)
- Mojo 387179 Tamandua (2013-2018)
- Schleich 14314 Nine Banded Armadillo (2003-2005)

Fun facts :
- As I told you before, the giant pangolin was the first figure I got, along with the puffin, when I started collecting again. It made me realise that I missed a lot of interesting and original species when I stopped collecting.
- The tamandua is the only figure I ordered from a non-European country (United States).
- The two-toed sloth was part of my very first Mojo purchase.
- I consider the giant anteater and the nine banded armadillo as two of my most precious figures, along with the condor and the old 1:32 whales.
- I am waiting for CollectA's 2020 three-toed sloth to go with my Schleich one.
- The closest zoo to my hometown was one of the first in France to have giant anteaters.
- I have the giant anteater and the nine banded armadillo from my childhood. I bought the giant pangolin and the brown-throated sloth in my favourite Schleich shop and ordered the southern tamandua and Linnaeus's two-toed sloth online.
- I have seen giant anteaters and Linnaeus's two-toed sloths in zoos. I have seen southern tamanduas only in London zoo and falled in love with this species (that's why I could not resist a figure of it, even though the Mojo model is a bit large compared with my Schleich anteater). I have never seen nine banded armadillos but I have seen six and three banded ones. I have never seen any pangolin species nor any three-toed sloth species and I hope Pardo will explain us why three-toed are so rare while two-toed are so common.

Pardofelis wrote:

I don't know how this happened but these are NOT my words and I didn't put there in the message. It's a quotation for another message in an old thread, I think maybe from Roger?

"CollectA capybara is a very nice model, you have the Safari that is equally excellent though a little larger. For a giant anteater I see you missed both Papo and Safari, I think they are outstanding and Safari's is again larger.
CollectA mountain goats were in my opinion a wrong decision of the company, they can't be compared with the ungulates that started appearing two years later because the company changed a lot between both phases, I even use to call the era of the first antelopes as the 2nd wave. Wildlife and horses sculptors changed and the style of the figures too. CollectA even intorduced originally these mountain goats in their Farm life series what is very strange. I find CollectA very consistent despite a few exceptions from these earlier releases, their ungulates, when they are not good, they are very good and even a few early ungulates look really great to me as it is the moose and bison. "

This paragraph is not mine

It happened a few times to me too. I don't know how and why Roger does this, I think it is not intentional.

I have been looking for a decently sized armadillo for ages, they are badly represented in toy form as hardly any major brand does one. Anyone got any for sale? I have 3 species of sloth in my collection as well as two giant anteaters, one aardvark, 2 species of pangolin and a tamandua.

Pardofelis wrote:

This paragraph is not mine

Yeah, I saw it last night and thought you were drunk. Weird.

RtasVadumee wrote:

Pardofelis wrote:

I don't know how this happened but these are NOT my words and I didn't put there in the message. It's a quotation for another message in an old thread, I think maybe from Roger?

"CollectA capybara is a very nice model, you have the Safari that is equally excellent though a little larger. For a giant anteater I see you missed both Papo and Safari, I think they are outstanding and Safari's is again larger.
CollectA mountain goats were in my opinion a wrong decision of the company, they can't be compared with the ungulates that started appearing two years later because the company changed a lot between both phases, I even use to call the era of the first antelopes as the 2nd wave. Wildlife and horses sculptors changed and the style of the figures too. CollectA even intorduced originally these mountain goats in their Farm life series what is very strange. I find CollectA very consistent despite a few exceptions from these earlier releases, their ungulates, when they are not good, they are very good and even a few early ungulates look really great to me as it is the moose and bison. "

This paragraph is not mine

It happened a few times to me too. I don't know how and why Roger does this, I think it is not intentional.

Those are my words, Isidro. I am sorry, I am doing very strange things lately. Instead of replying to your topic I edited your topic. I even think I deleted a part of your post and I can't recover it. I think that so many years after having Admin tools, I am loosing my skills. I am also accidentally posting in wrong topics. This is a disaster, I am here to help solving things and not to cause them.

I would love that armadillo too. Beautiful models Benjamin!

Thanks Kostas, those toothless mammals are among my favourite figures and this family picture is one of my favourite too.

From these, I only have the Giant pangolin, also one of my earliest figures (the second figure, together with gemsbok bought at same time). We often critizice that Schleich only do famous species for children and lacks obscure species, but sometimes there are wonderful exceptions like this fantastic giant pangolin.

Three-toed sloths are so rare and two-toed so common because three-toed have a very specialized diet, they can eat only Cecropia leaves that are very difficult to get outside the native range of these trees. Two-toed sloths adapt easily to a substitute diet. So the only zoo in the world to have a three-toed sloth is the mythical Dallas World Aquarium that is one of my most dreamed zoos because the incredible collection of extremely rare and very amazing species of birds and mammals, tough sadly many of them are behind-the-scenes and with no possibility of seeing them.

I've seen pangolins at Taipei zoo, but at a nocturnal house where take a decent photo was impossible. I missed the pangolin presentation at San Diego Zoo by lack of time for seeing all (is the zoo where I lost my camera!). So for now my only pangolin photos are from taxidermy ones in museums. Where do you saw six-banded armadillos??? They're quite rare in captivity,,, three-banded and big hairy are the most common ones, and besides these two I also saw small hairy, that is a rarity. I don't think there is any giant pangolin in captivity in the whole world, not even in its native range. I've seen tamanduas at 4 different zoos but missed them when I visited London zoo (2006).

I want a giant anteater figure in my collection, but I will get the Papo one instead Schleich's.

Roger wrote:

Those are my words, Isidro. I am sorry, I am doing very strange things lately. Instead of replying to your topic I edited your topic. I even think I deleted a part of your post and I can't recover it. I think that so many years after having Admin tools, I am loosing my skills. I am also accidentally posting in wrong topics. This is a disaster, I am here to help solving things and not to cause them.

Hahahahah, never mind my friend I tought that I myself touched something in the reply for quote and old message from another part of the forum. I'm glad I've recognized your style of writing haha. Never apologize my friend, it's just an unintentional fail that can happen to everybody. Big hugs

Benjamin, that is a very special group of animals for me. I still need the Schleich sloth but it is something that I plan to acquire.

Pardofelis wrote:

Roger wrote:

Those are my words, Isidro. I am sorry, I am doing very strange things lately. Instead of replying to your topic I edited your topic. I even think I deleted a part of your post and I can't recover it. I think that so many years after having Admin tools, I am loosing my skills. I am also accidentally posting in wrong topics. This is a disaster, I am here to help solving things and not to cause them.

Hahahahah, never mind my friend I tought that I myself touched something in the reply for quote and old message from another part of the forum. I'm glad I've recognized your style of writing haha. Never apologize my friend, it's just an unintentional fail that can happen to everybody. Big hugs

Thanks for your understanding Isidro, the problem is that so many mistakes in a short time is not normal. I need some rest probably, a new computer or just some new medicine.

Pardofelis wrote:

From these, I only have the Giant pangolin, also one of my earliest figures (the second figure, together with gemsbok bought at same time). We often critizice that Schleich only do famous species for children and lacks obscure species, but sometimes there are wonderful exceptions like this fantastic giant pangolin.

Or the bowmouth guitarfish ! I was very surprised when I saw it with the giant pangolin in this shop which would later become my favourite one. I thought "Schleich changed a lot, I missed many amazing species for all these years, I have to collect animal figures again !" And that's how it started again, thanks to a pangolin and a strange ray !

Pardofelis wrote:

Three-toed sloths are so rare and two-toed so common because three-toed have a very specialized diet, they can eat only Cecropia leaves that are very difficult to get outside the native range of these trees. Two-toed sloths adapt easily to a substitute diet. So the only zoo in the world to have a three-toed sloth is the mythical Dallas World Aquarium that is one of my most dreamed zoos because the incredible collection of extremely rare and very amazing species of birds and mammals, tough sadly many of them are behind-the-scenes and with no possibility of seeing them.

Thanks for that explanation. I see on zootierliste that one French zoo also has pale-throated sloths, in French Guiana.

Pardofelis wrote:

Where do you saw six-banded armadillos??? They're quite rare in captivity,,, three-banded and big hairy are the most common ones, and besides these two I also saw small hairy, that is a rarity.

Yes, I forgot the big hairy one which I have seen too. I don't understand your question. The six-banded armadillo is by far the most common armadillo species in western France, 7 zoos I visited keep them. I mean, those are six-banded armadillos aren't they ?
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Pardofelis wrote:

I want a giant anteater figure in my collection, but I will get the Papo one instead Schleich's.

I understand. The Schleich one is too "clean" to look realistic. But I like its classy touch, typical of Schleich, and I don't want to replace it.