Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Could anyone please tell me if there are any restrictions on capturing, breeding, or selling spotted turtles in South Carolina. If not, could you point me in the right direction of where to find out? Thanks

As of last year, SC residents could capture and keep up to 9 Spotteds without a permit. For more, a permit is required. Sales are allowed, but only with a permit. Wild caught animals can only be sold if they have been part of a long term captive group. These laws are supposed to prevent "commercial collection", or the sale of wild caught turtles.

It is illegal for out of State individuals to come into the State, capture the turtles, and leave with them.

There are SO MANY captive bred Spotted turtles available, they can grow very quickly, and captive bred animals are much more hardy. I would encourage you to obtain captive bred hatchlings or juveniles. Wild caught adult Spotteds are not nearly as easy to keep as most seem to think. Just read back through this forum.

Hope this helps.

i strongly agree.........

Interesting what I discovered. In South Carolina it is legal to possess up to nine spotted turtles, but a permit is required. Mine is on the way to me. It is illegal to sell adult spotted turtles in South Carolina. It is also against federal law to sell any spotted turtles under four inches in length, but the herpatologist for the South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources who manages the Spotted Turtle Permit program told me that the federal law is not enforced. With the recent federal proposals currently being presented to ban the importation and sale of other types of reptiles it wouldn't surprise me if the cobwebs were to be dusted off of other herp regulations currently not being enforced. South Carolina does allow for C/B spotteds to be released into the wild under their supervision.