Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey! I am new to the forums so you'll have to forgive me if I mess up.

I am interested in getting a smooth softshell turtle but can not find one. I also want to know if there are any websites with care sheets for them. I have looked up and down with no luck.

-Thanks-

A guy named Chris who is active on this forum alot knows a guy who sells baby turtles, the guy currently has no Spiny Softshells but has Florida ones. Good choice for wanting to get a Smooth, they are the smallest out of all of them. You'll have to talk to Chris his email is Skiwee10@aol.com
Mine's is Helmz614@aol.com
Michael

Hey guys. A guy named Mike(info@excellexotics.com) has both Smooth and Florida softshell hatchlings. They are about the size of a quarter. He will also ship them priority mail, which runs about $6 and will save you the $25 overnight charge. Mine have all arrived fine with priority(2-3 days). If you order from him let him know I referred you. My name is Chris and my email is Skiwee10@aol.com, email me if you have any more questions. Later, Chris

Hey,

Not trying to be an ass, but I feel responsible for letting others know bout EXCELLEXOTICS.COM. My personal experience ordering from them left me with a 3 week frustrated ordeal. It was my first online purchase of baby hatchlings and I had ordered 5 turtles: western painted, texas map, miss. map, florida softshell, and red-bellied. The last 4 came alright ( he shipped next day for $19.99) but the day I received the baby painted, it was acting VERY strange. If you go to the painted turtle forums, I had described its symptoms: leg twitching, frequent biting to his left side, swimming in circles, not knowing how to dive, etc. I called the dealer many times as well as emailed him about why this condition when he promised that he would select a healthy hatchling. Unfortunately, the baby painted died the very next day after I had to watch his legs spaz. Now I'm not accusing excellexotics of giving me what possibly could have been a healthy turtle before the shipment, but from the symptoms it looked like it had some inherent neurological disease so I was really suspicious. I even asked him to write "THIS SIDE UP" or "FRAGILE" but I didn't see the labeling when the package arrived and the mail personell told me it's been shuffled and thrown around! Anyway, I asked the dealer about it and he was really angry, emailing me saying "Hey man, don't insult me!" Then he proceeded to remind me that he sold me his last Texas Map baby and "you better damn well like that map turtle. I was going to save him for my personal collection but I was out of stock." This was interesting to me, considering he kept posting his ads offering Texas maps the very same day. And I wasn't asking for a gift--he had every choice to keep that map turtle if he wanted to. I just wanted to buy one and it was his call.

In any case, this first turtle deal went sour and I have all the emails to back up my conversations with him. My girlfriend talked to him the next week to ask about a refund or replacement turtle. He thought about it for a while and agreed for a replacement, but then changed his mind because he said he would lose money that way. The refund check arrived a week shortly after.

My 2 cents is just that online purchases can be risky. And even though all the other 4 turtles are doing great (I thank excellexotics.com for that), I had to rethink the idea of shipping babies that are fragile (esp. painteds). And the way Excellexotics.com responded my emails I found very unprofessional and felt the need to disclose this tidbit after I read the post above. I'm not trying to offend anyone who had a good experience buying turtles from them but here you have it-- my own personal ordeal. Be careful when you purchase a live animal online to ensure all packaging and health conditions are up to par. Sorry this was so long. Thanks.

Johnny