Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here's the long and short of it. Texas is revising thier non-game wildlife regulations to ban the commercial harvest/use of Texas turtles. This is good science and should be applauded.

HOWEVER, the new regs will not allow the keeping of more than six of any given native species. Texas has a "white list" of non-game species that can be used for commercial purposes. If you have more than six of a species NOT on the "white list", you'll be considered in violation as having them for commercial purposes.

This means, in all reality, that hobby breeding of native turtles (and any native reptiles or amphibians not on the "white list" will be illegal, as one clutch of eggs could put you over the legal "non-commercial" limit.

Many turtles will readily breed in captivity if given the proper husbandry. Hobbyists in other states such as Maryland and New Jersey are allowed to keep, breed, and trade or give away native captive bred turtles with a permit. Why can't Texas do the same? If you'd like to comment on proposed Texas regulations to allow a hobby permit for the breeding and trading (non-commercial use) of native reptiles, please visit the following website before May 21st.

You'll have to enter a TX county for your comments to be "valid".
*Non-resident comments will not be valid.*

Here is a list of some Texas counties and the county seats. I still have family in Coryell and Bell, so they'll be commenting.

Bastrop County (Bastrop)
Bell County (Belton)
Coryell County (Gatesville)
Harris County (Houston)
San Saba County (San Saba)
Taylor County (Abilene)
Walker County (Huntsville)
Wichita County (Wichita Falls)

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/feedback/public_comment/proposals/200705_nongame.phtml

what if u still hold a texas drivers license

Go ahead and send in your comments - you know which county you were in, and they're not asking for addresses, just counties.

Katrina

The changes also allow property owners to kill unwanted turtles but will not allow them to have them removed for commercial use or relocated to a Farm such as ours. This is another step at taking away our property rights and will effect more than harvestors. There are less than 350 harvestors/dealers in Texas and more than 22 million acres of water of which less than half we may legally harvest from. We can not allow these changes to take place as proposed because it will only lead to more rights as property owners and citizens to be taken away.

I am in west TX. I have sent my comments, I've asked everyone I know to do the same. This goes to vote in 2 days doesn't it?

If it does pass, I wonder how on Earth are they ever going to find out who has what? Most people that we personally know have no idea at all about any types of regulations that exist now for any reptiles.

In Odessa/Midland and the surrounding areas there are people who have been keeping box turtles in their backyards for decades, literally 30 years or more.
These types of turtle keepers who keep 25 or more in their backyard do it because they think they are cute & they like to feed them. These people do not sell or trade them.

Last week we spoke to someone who'd called us because his daughter had found a baby turtle & wanted to know what to feed it. They let the baby go but when I mentioned this ban to him, he couldn't believe it.
He said "Who would even KNOW that a law like that exists? Where would you learn about that?"
I said TX Parks & Wildlife website.. as if people like that EVER look at that website. They buy their fishing license every year, that's the extent of their brush with game/nongame laws.

What he said did make me think, seriously if you have a lot of turtles, but you do not ever sell or trade them... in reality who would ever know what you have?
If this passes the people we know who have large turtle groups in the backyard aren't going to know it passed, they don't know now that it's even an issue. I know people from ages 50-70 who've kept turtles for decades, I don't think they're going to know that this law passed if it does.

I am all for the ban on commercial collection of hundreds of thousands of turtles but to limit pet keepers to only six is going too far.
If this passes as is.. I sure hope it can be modified later.
:::sigh:::