I neglected to mention that to become a CITES registered breeder of a CITES protected species, one must have produced two generations of CB offspring of the species for which the registration is requested from at least two pairs of adults.

This means that the breeder must have bred offspring from (legally obtained) wild caught parents (first generation CB), grown those CB offspring to adulthood and then bred them to each other to produce their own babies (second generation CB). This must be documented and proven to have been done by the breeder with AT LEAST two separate pairs of his first generation CB animals.

With tortoises, this requires having bred them for ten to twelve years at the very least. Hence you can see that registering as a CITES recognized tortoise breeder is not possible for most people. The last time I checked, there were NONE registered. Even though I could qualify, it was only after 30 years of work, and it still requires a two year waiting period while the CITES signatory nations decide if it is a good idea to let one register and approve the application.

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