Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, all, i have a tough choice, i can either get a 10inch brown MT tort. or a baby, star tort. What should i go with? I have 2 stars right now, babies as well, it would be cool to have a MT. tort. but want to get your guys opinion on what i should do,

thanks

If the Brown Mt. is imported, it's a health risk tot get it established and healthy, no matter what the dealer says about how it's "an eating machine," etc. The mortality of wc emys is high. I'd go for the star unless the emys is captive bred.
Craig

I've been working with Burmese Brown Mt. Tortoises now for several years, Yes there is a lot of junk that comes in the country. But if you can find someone reliable, that can bring nice emys in, there tanks. I've gotten some junk over the years just full of worms, and you hear all the bad stories. I since then, have found someone that flys over and see's how the tortoises are housed, he likes that, he buys from him, and has them imported over. If the tortoises are taken care before they are exported and not sitting around in markets for several weeks, they come in fine. I can't remember the last time i had a bad emys come in. I have some giant adults that came in, (bought from a different importer) and yes these were loaded with worms, i mean loaded!! But now two years later, they acclimated and they are tanks, you couldn't kill these guys if you had too. The smaller they are anyways, usually the easyier they are to acclimate anyways. Basically> it boils down to, who you are buying the emys from. IF they are taken care of the whole way, they are VERY hardy and get VERY personable!! But like i said... its all boils down to, if you know there history and how they came into the country

'Andys Turts and Torts'

RedoFootMan@yahoo.com

How much is a full grown brown mountain tortoise? I see that the 10inch ones are like $300, or so, but are bigger ones more? Or is $300 about the price for them?

I love the picture of your Burmese Brwn, but the way it's eye-balling the camera is creeping me out

I'm just talking about the mortality stats for emys. Ask any long term breeder/keeper who has seen many imports of this species and they will agree with what I said - wild caught M. emys are a bad risk with a substantial risk of dying within a year or two. And of course, you really can't justify the ethics of buying wild caught tortoises when captive bred M. emys are relatively easy to come by these days. I work with this species in the wild (Thailand) and in captivity, so I may be sensitive about seeing them exploited by the US pet trade.
Craig Stanford
Dept. Biological Sciences
USC