Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone, i finally decided to get a pet, and doing my research, i came to my conclusion , i want a baby Russian turtle. I want to get one, but don't know where and how? I live in NJ and they don't have any turtles in my local shops. What should i do?
If you can recommend me a place where i can get a baby Russian tortoise, i would really appreciate it.

Thank you very much for your help.

Hi,

Russians are great torts. You could try Julie Maguire at Turtle Rescue of Long Island (I think she breeds russians) http://www.turtlerescues.org/ . But first go to the russian tortoise site ( http://www.russiantortoise.org/ ) and read up about them so that you're well prepared.

Nina

I agree with what lepinsky said. I live in PA which is pretty close to NJ. I got mine at a pet store near windgap pa. Called washington pet shop. I got a Russian tortoise very nice male. 70.00 Dollars it was. SO not to bad. If willing to drive to pa email me i will give you several stores around here that will have russians for sale. Now any turtle under 4 inches in technically illegal to sell in PA. As in jersey you are not allowed to sell turtles at all. My email is Brizzdown@aim.com and your could check out Reptile auctions, Reptile classifieds, Faunaclassifieds, Here Kingsnake classfieds and see what anyone has available. Good luck!

Thank you Nina and Brizzdown, i really appreciate your help. I just filled out the Adoption form and still searching for more links so i can get one for the spring.

If anyone else has some suggestions please feel free to help.

Thank you.

I think it's good that you're considering a more local breeder, but I'm pretty surprised that you're not buying one from the classifieds section of this site. They always have quite a few russians for sale. Whatever you decide to do, do your research first. And don't get an import. Make SURE it's a captive bred (CB) tortoise. It will be healthier, less stressed, not as likely to have internal parasites, and you'll be doing a good deed for Tortoises. Good luck!

Internal parasites can happen at anytime with a tortoise as they have a slow digestive system that it can cause a build up of sugars and it can cause parasites.

So yes just make sure all your homework is done. Good luck!

>Internal parasites can happen at anytime with a tortoise...

Not necessarily. Depends on exposure to eggs of parasites. Captive-bred torts have far less exposure than wild-caught.

>as they have a slow digestive system that it can cause a build up of sugars...

Feeding fruit to a weed-eating tortoise can cause a parasite bloom because the "sugar" is favorable for the growth of some parasites.

>...and it (sugar) can cause parasites.

Sugar does NOT cause parasites; parasite eggs cause parasites.

>So yes just make sure all your homework is done. Good luck!

Indeed! You should.
Russian Tortoise care