Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello im derek and i live in pa.. i have an outdoor set up with 3 easterns ( 1 male , 2 females) and i have a female three toed... can i leave her out during the winter in PA with the easterns??
also the local pet shop ( they actualy get animals fom local breeders and take care of their animals) has a female 3 toed for 30 bucks..shes in very good condition.. if i want to breed her should i buy her now ( and hibernate her ) or buy her later ( have him save her for me) will she breed with out hibernation??

I dont know what the store employee, manager.. whatever told you but I highly doubt he gets his turtles from breeders, as I'm sure you know there is a 4" law w/ turtles.. so they have to be 4" or bigger... for a 3-toed to reach 4".. which is usually adult length .. it would take years, I dont know of any breeder that would wait 4 yrs+ to sell an animal for less than $30, thats years of care..
and I dont understand what your going to breed your female(s) to.. you said you have an eastern male, so your going to create mutts?
I dont know if you've checked the kingsnake classifieds lately but there has been an ad for 10-20 ornate/3-toed cross hatchlings on there for months, and will most likely be there for a good while longer, I think anyone here would tell you, mixing shouldn't be done.

as for the one at the petstore, I dont think you should buy her at all, it's a bad idea to buy from any petstore.. even if you think they are CBB.

I would think that alot could depend on where in PA you live: parts of the state get extremely cold.
Rouen makes excellent points about size requirements and breeding of mutts: I have noticed that mutts are not as desirable.
As for puchasing from petstores...hmmm.