Baby Tortoise

oh they are so cute, when I got there they had already put 8 of the smaller babies to bed, so we couldnt disturb them
this baby (3 mths) is with an older relative (2 yrs old)

I like tortoises. But I can see your DH's point. Those probing kitty paws might make things a little TOO interesting....

Cute, do you know they cost about £250 each over here

Originally Posted by Anakat

Cute, do you know they cost about £250 each over here

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wow, I never knew that, but I suppose it because they want to stop the illegal shipping of them.......

This couple had over 30 last year, its apparantly really hard to breed tortoises, so these lot must be happy little bunnies, cos well, they breed like bunnies

When I was a kid I had 2 tortoises which we got before live import was illegal. Unfortunately one of them didn't get through his first hibernation (this was common and one of the reasons that live import was banned) but the other one thrived and grew.

Then it was only legal to buy/sell captive UK bred tortoises and the prices shot up. In the early days of the ban, the price shot up from a pre-ban £2 for a baby tortoise, to several hundred pounds.

And my poor Humphrey was stolen from his run one night

Never found him. I hope he is alive and well somewhere, being looked after and loved and allowed to eat buttercups and getting headrubs and chin scritches.

Awwww their so cute!. It's years since i've seen one over here.

This was in our local paper today

aww, thats just so terrrible, those poor tortoises.........

whats the matter with people, cant they just leave things alone

Originally Posted by mooficat

whats the matter with people, cant they just leave things alone

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It's because they hate to see other people having things that they havent got along with not wanting to pay for things

Originally Posted by Epona

Never found him. I hope he is alive and well somewhere, being looked after and loved and allowed to eat buttercups and getting headrubs and chin scritches.

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Buttercups are toxic!

Last summer some kids that were visiting a neighbor (who was moving out) snuck into our fenced backyard, trashed the pen, and stole my female box turtle.
Even with tortoises and turtles not being banned here there are still people that will steal them, guess they figure that the larger tortoises can sell for a bit. There's also been rescue groups and reptile shows targeted.

It was a few months back and I can't find the story now, but some kids had stolen a large snapping turtle, poured gasoline on it and set it on fire. The turtle lived and the kids were caught. Horrible children with no respect for life.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Buttercups are toxic!

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I never knew that, silly thing used to head straight for them given a chance! I've had a google and found that toxicity varies by species and the ones in our garden were the type that are classed as a mild irritant rather than life threatening. He didn't ever suffer any ill effects from them.

Originally Posted by Epona

I've had a google and found that toxicity varies by species and the ones in our garden were the type that are classed as a mild irritant rather than life threatening.

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Must not have been very irritating to him then
The buttercups here are wild and a lot of our wildflowers are toxic, I suppose the native box turtles learn to avoid them. I have many little turtle mouths to feed so I've sort of memorized what plants can be bad, phosphorus, oxalates, and calcium content.

I should put some pics of my baby boxies up later.

Awww, I love tortoises

Great tortoise pics! They're such cool animals.

Epona - That must've been so upsetting. I hope he's been well looked after too.

Strangewings - What a horrible story. Those kids should be locked away. If they do stuff like that now, just what are they going to be like when they get older?
Do post your tortoise pics for us!