Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was looking at the classifieds for turtles on this page and checked out the sponsored link just out of curiosity.. they offer a "box turtle setup" that includes "everything you need to house one or two box turtles" .. they have a bunch of random stuff and a ten gallon tank.. i cant believe that they would suggest that any box turtle could live in that small a cage.. im just disgusted and horrified by this.. i hope they dont really mean it.
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

Maybe two hactlings? I doubt it though because that place sells adults.

This would be a good case for "buyer beware"! It really is up to the buyers to educate themselves before buying anything to do with herps, and that includes their housing. Luckily more and more people have access to the Internet and resources like this one, so perhaps people will make good choices.
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host

Yeah buyer beware is right.
The new pet store I went into a week ago not only was selling one inch RES they had a stack of those plastic bowls that have the plastic palm tree that you stick into the ramp. Hard to believe those things are still manufactured.
You'd think that nobody would buy one of those death traps but if somebody sells them, somebody probably buys them.
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PHRatz

we had those at the last petstore i worked at and much to the owners dismay never sold a single one because i constantly told people that they were a useless waste of money... he tried to sell yellowbelly slider hatchlings and alligator snapper hatchlings... the majority of the employees refused to sell them and i threatened to call the dept of ag. because 1.) they were under four inches 2.) native species in georgia 3.) alligator snappers are threatened species... he was furious with me but finally sent them back to the supplier... although it does amaze me how many people do not know the 4 inch law.. i end up telling at least one person a week about it .. and sometimes get called a liar because i assure them that there is no such thing as a turtle that stays half dollar size regardless of what "that guy in florida" said.. ..
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

>>and sometimes get called a liar because i assure them that there is no such thing as a turtle that stays half dollar size regardless of what "that guy in florida" said.. ..

That one! LOL I've heard that one over & over. Yeah they do stay half dollar sized because they don't live long enough to grow up!

I wish that more people like you would work at the pet stores around here. They are so bad I've thought in the past I should open one of my own but then I realized I'd never make it in a business like that. I couldn't sell the animals to anyone.

I realize on the one hand if we didn't have pet stores, most people wouldn't find a place to get pets from but on the other hand they can be such horrible places. I wish there was a way to change things. The only ways I can think of wouldn't be "cost effective."
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PHRatz

>>I wish that more people like you would work at the pet stores around here.>>

thats quite nice of you to say! it can be a very very discouraging job, well.. if you are an animal nut anyway.. yesterday i had a guy bring in a leopard gecko to get my advice on what to do with it.. i guess a friend of mine had suggested that he get my opinion on it but i wish he hadnt.. he called the store and said he had the gecko for 2 years and that it had suddently stopped eating and was lethargic and wouldnt open its eyes.. i asked him how long it had been like that and he told me TWO MONTHS... he brought it in for me to look at and it was the saddest thing.. so emaciated you could see all its bones and skull, its feet were covered in several layers of shed skin that hadnt come off, mouth crusted with blue sand that was stuck like glue to his mouth.. and its stomach was black on the inside.. he wanted me to save it somehow.. i felt so helpless.. all i could tell him was that i wasnt a vet and that i could only give him my opinion and that i didnt think it would make it regardless of what he did.. i told him there might be something a vet could do that i couldnt but that i didnt think it was going to bounce back from this point.. honestly i am amazed it was still alive at all.. so he asked me to freeze it at the store because he didnt want to do it at home..
it was horrible.. and i cried ... how do you let your pet get that sick? i just cant understand.. i wanted to yell at him but didnt.. i am taking his other leo till i can find him a GOOD home..

on the other hand.. i get to help people who would otherwise be completely uninformed and try to prevent stuff like this from happening.. i love it when someone just casually mentions that they have a turtle and by asking questions i get to help them correct things that they are doing wrong inadvertantly.. and its even better when they come back and tell me how much happier thier pet is.. ive been doing this for 6 years and things still get to me.. but the ones i help make it worth it..

sorry so long.. i needed to tell someone about that poor gecko and my boyfriend doesnt understand my "animal thing"
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

>>sorry so long.. i needed to tell someone about that poor gecko and my boyfriend doesnt understand my "animal thing"

Poor gecko. I can see why you needed to rant.
I used to know all the reptile people at the pet store, none of them work there anymore. The best one they had moved away to another state.
The people working there now don't know diddly squat.
Back when I knew people there I would hear stories from them that would just about curl your hair.
Box turtles were one of their biggest complaints about the customers. Because it's not illegal to take box turtles from the wild here, people would find hatchlings, bring them to the store & expect the store employees to teach them everything they needed to know in 5 minutes.
The employees would start out with let it go but too often the baby box was to be a toy for the kids & the people wouldn't hear of releasing it. There's no telling how many boxies die each year here because of people doing this.

I can relate to people not understanding. It took years for my DH to transform into an "animal guy." It can happen though, when they stay around us long enough they learn to understand it.

We spent a little time with some people on Saturday who said their dachshund had killed the box turtle they had in their backyard.
When we left I started talking about our Hobo the wild boy who is in hibernation. I felt bad at first about making him stay here even though our lawn has for years been part of his territory.
Hobo was taken from the mouth of a dog, we now have Shell E who's 100% healed from her dog chewing & Chip who got here after Hobo went into hibernation and is not healed from his dog chewing. Hobo was lucky enough to be taken out of that dog's mouth before he was broken.
Then the man who used to not be an animal guy said we had to do it, we couldn't leave him out there to die. Not with all these new houses being built for all the people with kids & dogs moving in.

If you marry your boyfriend or stay with him for years then he'll have to learn to understand it & he can. There is hope for people like him, I told this story because I wanted you to know that there is hope!
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PHRatz