egyptian tortoise
 

just to check...

whats the status with buying/selling egyptian tortoises nowadays?

i saw this advert on a certain reptile site.........

For Sale: tortoise for sale Posted by: boris15
Advertiser: Trader Posted: 9 May 2008
these tortoise are all in great condition, no pyramiding, has been on a stable diet of varied leafy greens and never had any health problems. the are 8 months" and is going to max out at 10-11".
so mail back if you need Egyptian Tortoise,Horsefield's or Russian Tortoise,Marginated Tortoise,Herman's Tortoise (Western Race),
contact borisbrown15@gmail.com

the whole thing looks suspicious to me...

Neil. :?

You can buy and sell properly paper worked Egyptian tortoises, moving them between countries is more difficult from what Dan has told me.

Buying captive bred UK torts, and I believe from within the EU is OK. They are just usually very thin on the ground.

They are legally identical to Spur Thigh, Hermans & Marginated Tortoises in that they need CITES papers.

They are very hard to get hold of and are hugely expensive. I saw a geniune ad for a juvenile female for £600 late last year. I think you should be very wary with respect to the ad you have found. Generally, if something is too good to be true it usually is. By all means follow it up but if they ask you where your nearest airport is of whether you can send money via Western Union to the Cameroon then you you know you are being scammed.

They aren't identical Egyptians are appendix one on CITES, some of the other Testudo species are appendix 2. Those on appendix one have far greater restrictions placed on there movements, even if they are captive bred.

thanks for the info..

i'm not about to buy one but i just wanted to know. i don't think people should really be selling a tortoise as delicate as that really.

Neil :wink:

They are certainly not an entry level tortoise but I don't think that should prevent people having a go. Egyptians are under serious pressure in the wild & successful breeding in captivity is surely a positive.

I think there is actually a recognised breeding program setup for this species. they keep track of all adults and offspring.

My knowledge of these is limited, but i think i am correct in saying that there is one breeder of egyptians in the UK who do this commerically and due to clutch sizes of this speices, not many are breed each year therefore there is a waiting list for hatchlings, also 10-11" for an adult egyptian i thought they genrally attain half this !!

Dazza

I think you are correct - the people behind XXXX REMOVED BY SARAH (I don't know who they are) run a breeding program. The times they are a changing!!! We are now seeing Burmese Brown Tortoises readily available & within a few years radiated & impressed tortoises as well.