Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Their quite attractive, just kinda stumbled onto them........

thanx for your help

Dean

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.pl?photo=96556

They look to me to be a star tortoise!!
Great find!! very beautifull!!

Those are a group of Geoclemys hamiltoni. They are commonly called Indian or Pakistan or Black spotted pond turtles. They are an Appendix I species and difficult to obtain unless you have a CBW permit or live in the state were they are being bred.

One of my favorites. I keep a group of 29.

are hamiltoni really appendix I??? i didnt even know they were endangered! darn i wanted one

There is actually no valid reason for this species to be on Appendix I. In reality, they are not endagered, but they are on paper and have been for 40 years. The problem is that when India was asked to join C.I.T.E.S. and give reports on the status of their animals they just went ahead and basically made everything endangered whether it actualy was or not.

They weren't 'Star Tortoises' Too bad a lot of aninamls get tagged as CITES for no apparent reason other than 'an assumption' I'm surprized that since Cows are soooo sacred in India the Indian Govt. did try to make the lowly Bovine CITES appendix 1 Try setting up a McDonalds in Calcutta then will ya ;-0

Now can anybody tell me where I may be able to get some of these turtles???

Thanx
Dean

They are currently bred by a few private individuals. They are always available at the Daytona expo...but you have to be a Florida resident to buy them there or have a CBW permit (as would be the case in any state).

I have seen them sporatically in the kingsnake classifieds over the past year. They generally sell for $300-500 each for hatchlings.

Batagur- ive been looking through the forums and you seem to be very knowledgeable! are you a herpetologist or what?

Yes, I am a true herpetologist and a naturalist, among other things. I've been studying turtles obsessively for 25 years now.

someday i hope to be a herpetologist. ive been studying turtles obsessively for 2.5 years lol

I know what they are!Those are my hamiltoni.Wayne Hill bred them.

How many do you currently have????

Dean

Right now,i have 1.3 but The guy who breeds them is working on new stuff,so hes always into trades.And i have a tom of stuff.