It is not illegal to buy and sell C. insculpta within the U.S., as they are listed under CITES Appendix II, same as all iguanids, uromastyx spp., Phelsuma spp. and boids, except for those listed to CITES Appendix I, which require federal permits for interstate commerce. You don't see anyone fretting over permits regarding day geckos and mali uromastyx because such are not required, except to bring them into the U.S. from their country of origin and CITES Appendix II allows for a documented number of the listed species to be exported.
As for growth, C. insculpta do not reach sexual maturity until approximately 20 years of age, some sources indicate 25-30 years of age is more likely.
As for the cost of C. insculpta, I have yet to notice an increase in price over recent years here in the U.S. and have actually noticed a decrease in teh price of juvenile specimens.

Best regards,

Jeff
-----
Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

[ Hide Replies ]

• Growth of Fly River Turtles - Regmon, Mon Sep 26 00:13:19 2005
• RE: Growth of Fly River Turtles - erico, Mon Sep 26 13:28:02 2005
• Growth is always slow - casichelydia, Mon Sep 26 23:37:50 2005
• RE: Growth is always slow - Regmon, Tue Sep 27 03:17:03 2005
• RE: Growth is always slow - epidemic, Tue Sep 27 13:31:43 2005
• RE: Growth is always slow - Regmon, Tue Sep 27 17:06:14 2005
• RE: Actually.. - epidemic, Tue Sep 27 13:29:50 2005
• RE: Actually.. - Regmon, Tue Sep 27 17:05:20 2005
• Hi Jeff - casichelydia, Tue Sep 27 23:30:32 2005
• RE: Hi Jeff - epidemic, Wed Sep 28 13:19:47 2005
• hahahahaha - casichelydia, Thu Sep 29 00:45:22 2005
• RE: and ha... - epidemic, Thu Sep 29 14:57:44 2005
• RE: and ha... - forrest, Thu Sep 29 17:18:50 2005
• Digging deeper for legal truth on Carettochelys - casichelydia, Fri Sep 30 00:42:48 2005