Wctroublesome561;4497990; said:
You will have to separate all in due course, in particular the snapper. The painteds should be able to live in the same enclosure, which will of course be upsized to far more than a 40 gal.
Little Turtles at pet shops
- Thread starter fhawk362
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You will have to separate all in due course, in particular the snapper. The painteds should be able to live in the same enclosure, which will of course be upsized to far more than a 40 gal.
Loosely on aquatic turtles you should have about 10 gallons for every inch of turtle. So if you would have a 12" female RES you should have about 120 gallons for that one turtle. If you are in Florida then the turtle you are looking at is most likely a yellow belly. Also like someone pointed out it is illegal for pet stores in the US to sell any turtle under 4". A better aquatic turtle is a Chinemys reevesii : Reeves Turtle they are about 5" when they are adults.
on the Painteds, Southerns stay small but not Westerns which can easily reach 10 inches if female.
And if you do go for the hatchling turtles at the store, have someone feed them and pick one that goes right after the food. I tried to do a hatchling one time, and it never started eating and eventually passed away.
It is illegal to sell them though...at one point they were selling them in FL malls in these little plastic containers. I was talking to a pet store nearby, and they said they had tons of uninformed people come in with feeding and care problems. I contacted a local news station after getting no response from the mall itself, and they shut that operation down, thank god.
It is illegal to sell them though...at one point they were selling them in FL malls in these little plastic containers. I was talking to a pet store nearby, and they said they had tons of uninformed people come in with feeding and care problems. I contacted a local news station after getting no response from the mall itself, and they shut that operation down, thank god.
_Jessica_;4499417; said:
It is NOT Illegal to sell any Turtle/Tortoise under 4" for scientific, display, educational, or Export purposes........Not to mention the few hobbiest exceptions buried in the pages of small print associated with the law.....
With that said, I don't know anyone who doesn't "display" their Turtles or Tortoises......
'Display' is not part of that law, especially not private in home displays. Most shops will have a little tiny sign on the tank stating that the turtles are for "scientific, educational, or export purposes only" or have you sign a contract stating the same. After that it is up to the consumer to buy accordingly. The shops cannot sell them as pets, but do not have to verify any of the legal purposes either. If the store was caught selling them for pets, or even after a customer stated it was a pet, they face a $10,000 fine per animal. This includes holding the turtles for public distribution (as in: 'free turtle with purchase of setup'). However, a private person selling them on their own and not in association with a business can sell them as pets.
Reptileguy is mostly right - it's $1,000 potential fine per turtle, and the law states for "bona fide" educational purposes. The FDA does not consider a pet store as a "bona fide" place to sell turtles for educational purposes - a pet store is for pets! So, in all 50 states, any business selling baby turtles (or "distrubuting" them with the purchase of a set-up) to the general public is violating the law, pure and simple. As mentioned, though, a hobbyist (i.e. "not in connection with a business") CAN sell baby turtles - so long as it doesn't violate state and/or city/county regulations. In NJ it's illegal to sell a turtle at all, and in MD it's illegal to sell a turtle under 4".
And as far as box turtles only being 5", they still need a minimum of 8 square feet of space if kept indoors even if they are smallish turtles - and roaming the house "free range" style usually isn't healthy for a box turtle or tortoise.
North American mud turtles stay pretty small, about 4", and that's as small of an adult turtle as you'll get. Even they need at least a 30 gallon tank.
And as far as box turtles only being 5", they still need a minimum of 8 square feet of space if kept indoors even if they are smallish turtles - and roaming the house "free range" style usually isn't healthy for a box turtle or tortoise.
North American mud turtles stay pretty small, about 4", and that's as small of an adult turtle as you'll get. Even they need at least a 30 gallon tank.
