PA has a law prohibiting the possession of the eggs of any of the native species of reptiles. So to breed and reproduce the animals while living in PA you would be in violation of the law.

I have not heard of anyone enforcing it as of yet but it was added in the last 10 years to the regulations covering herps. Check with Fish and Boat for the details.



That said, introduction of novel pathogens into the population is a concern as this is one of the major scenarios considered for the decline in Gopher and Desert tortoises in the USA because of the introduction of mycoplasma from infected captive animals that were released or escaped.

There have also been relatively recent reports that mycoplasma has been found in box turtles and may have been a contributing factor to some local die offs.



Ed

[ Hide Replies ]

• box turtle decline in PA - gaboonviper3, Mon Aug 23 01:14:16 2004
• RE: box turtle decline in PA - bdssff2, Mon Aug 23 12:39:56 2004
• RE: box turtle decline in PA - pacman101, Mon Aug 23 18:09:02 2004
• RE: box turtle decline in PA - dragoncjo, Mon Aug 23 18:34:03 2004
• RE: box turtle decline in PA - banjo125, Wed Aug 25 13:28:12 2004
• Probably Illegal, and Not a Good Idea Anyway >> - chris_mcmartin, Mon Aug 23 18:11:08 2004
• RE: Probably Illegal, and Not a Good Idea Anyway >> - gaboonviper3, Mon Aug 23 21:09:06 2004
• RE: Probably Illegal, and Not a Good Idea Anyway >> - dragoncjo, Mon Aug 23 22:59:09 2004
• Technically illegal - EdK, Thu Aug 26 10:28:27 2004
• RE: box turtle decline in PA - jsherps, Sat Aug 28 14:23:03 2004
• RE: box turtle decline in PA - dragoncjo, Tue Aug 31 18:18:32 2004
• RE: box turtle decline in PA - jsherps, Sun Sep 5 14:35:28 2004